These Three Defensemen Have Already Scored 20 Goals
As we close in on the end of the regular season, there are three OHL defensemen who have already met the 20-goal threshold. The question remains, how many more will achieve the feat?
Scoring 20 goals in a single season is an impressive accomplishment for any OHL defender. Last season, only five blue-liners met the mark while the year before that six defensemen scored 20 or more goals.
The latest player to meet the mark is Barrie Colts defender Kashawn Aitcheson, who scored a pair against the Peterborough Petes last Saturday.
This is the first time that Aitcheson, who is eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft, has scored 20 goals in a single season. He has more than doubled the total of nine goals he scored during his first two years in the league.
Aitcheson is having his most productive OHL season by far having recorded 45 points in 54 games. The explosion of scoring has undoubtedly played a large role in raising the Barrie defender's draft stock. He was ranked fifteenth among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings.
San Jose Sharks prospect Sam Dickinson is another of the three defenders to score 20 or more goals this season.
This is also the first time Dickinson has met the 20-goal mark having fallen just short of it last season with 18.
Dickinson displayed truly explosive production in the first half of the season, which has waned slightly in the second half of the year. In 44 games, the 2006-born defender has 69 points and 22 goals this season.
While Dicksinon's production has waned slightly in the second half of the year the opposite is true of the final player on this list.
After a relatively slow start to the season, Calgary Flames prospect Zayne Parekh has taken off since the start of January. In that time, the 2006-born defender has 46 points in 22 games.
Parekh leads all defenders with 28 goals this season. He stands out on this list and the league in general as the only defenseman to have scored 20 or more goals for the last three seasons. Indeed, he has never failed to meet the mark during his three-year OHL career.
While these three have already met the mark, it remains to be seen how many more defenders will do so this year. The league has averaged 5.5 defenders who have met the mark over the last two seasons.
Luca Marrelli, who has 17 goals currently, could easily do so. It may be a tougher task for Henry Mews and Lukas Fischer who both have 14 goals.
If any of these players hope to reach the mark they will need to get a move on as there is less than a quarter of the season remaining.
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