NHL draft tracker: Josh Wesley, Plymouth Whalers

Since Josh Wesley plays defence for the Plymouth Whalers, one would assume he is falling into step with his father.

That assumption would be wrong. The son of 20-year NHLer Glen Wesley only moved to the back end once his growing frame and skill set dictated a change. That's of a piece with Josh Wesley, who was raised in Raleigh, N.C., where his dad spent the second half of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes, trying to forge his own hockey identity.

"My dad never really wanted me to play defence," says the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Wesley, who is NHL Central Scouting Service's No. 111-ranked North American skater. "I had a little bit more of an offensive mind growing up and he wanted me to stay up front. But we were coming up to a big tournament in my U14 year [the U.S. equivalent to minor bantam] and my coach, Colin Muldoon pulled me aside and said, 'we really need you to play defence for this tournament.' I agreed with him — I wasn't happy at first — but we went to the tournament and I started to like the position more and more and just stuck to it.

"We kind of skate the same," Wesley says when the bloodline question comes up. "There's bits and pieces where we're the same."

Wesley's build, reach and tendency to be what he calls an "in-your-face, nasty-to-play-against defenceman who'll add anything to help the team out" should earn him some later-rounds consideration during next week's NHL draft. Teams tend to hold off until the late stages of the draft before adding a defenceman who needs work on his skating and mobility. Wesley did show progress over the run of playing all 68 games for Plymouth, finishing with two goals and nine points.

"We had 15 guys making their OHL debut coming into our team, so there was a big adjustment," says Wesley, who played for the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based U.S. under-17 team in 2012-13. "Over the year, any advice or tips that I received, I tried to take those in and show it on the ice. I thought every single day I improved."

The draft class of 2014 includes numerous aspiring second-generation NHLers, including projected first-rounders Sam Reinhart, Kasperi Kapanen and Brendan Lemieux. Wesley, who played youth hockey with Kapanen when their fathers were teammates with the 'Canes, doesn't see legacy as a burden.

"You can't ever complain about that [being the son of a long-time NHLer]," Josh Wesley says. "I love my dad to death and he's always there. He would never force things on me, which now that I look at it, I appreciate it so much. You see these parents these days and they're yelling at their kids on the ice and they really don't know what. I think they're forcing them to play hockey. My dad didn't force me to play hockey. He took me aside when I was eight years old and said, 'do you really want to play this sport?' and I said, 'absolutely.' He never came up to me said, 'do this-this-this.' "

1. Beyond increasing your muscle mass and your first few strides, where do you want demonstrate improvement on the ice?

"I want to start working on developing a bit more offence. I took a role as a shutdown defenceman in Plymouth. Ever since I chose that, I want to work on improving my offence and taking some extra steps on defence. Improve my game as a whole, as a two-way defenceman."

2. What was your 'welcome to the OHL' moment?

"I don't know if there was just one moment. There was just kind of a step back to see how fast these guys are and how organized they are and how tough they are. Every game, you have to be on your toes and give it your all."

3. Which teammate(s) do you credit for helping you adapt to the OHL?

"I really appreciated [Carolina signing] Carter Sandlak and what he did as a leader. It was pretty funny, we initially didn't know each other, or actually I didn't realize we knew each other. His did [Jim Sandlak] and my dad played together in Hartford; we were in diapers together. He just became a role model for me and helped me throughout the entire season."

4. Aside from your dad, who do you really credit for helping you reach this point?

"Just all of my coaches. [Former Plymouth coach-GM] Mike Vellucci just helped me so much with improving my overall game. He just had all the confidence in the world to give to me. It just boosted my confidence to play under him.

"I just give a lot of credit to him, and the Lord."

5. Who is the most challenging forward you have faced so far in the OHL?

"I would say Connor McDavid. He's just so special, a really gifted player. He reads the ice really well and has really good hockey sense. He's going to do really well later on in life."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.