Doyle: Yakupov takes Twitter vote for OHL Top Scorer

On Sunday night, we turned to the Loosepucks Twitter followers to find who they think will be the top scorer in the OHL for the 2011-12 season.

Sarnia Sting sophomore Nail Yakupov, the highly rated forward for the 2012 NHL Draft, won the unofficial voting. Yakupov scored 49 goals and 101 points for the Sting last season. He broke the Sting rookie record of 42 goals in a season, previously held by Steven Stamkos (Yakupov was 17, Stamkos was 16). Ottawa's Tyler Toffoli, who tied with Jason Akeson of Kitchener to lead the league with 108 last season, came in second. Then it was Ryan Strome of Niagara and Oshawa's Christian Thomas. Strome was third in league scoring last year with 106 points while Thomas had 54 goals and 99 points in his third season in the league. Both could miss time at New York NHL training camps as Strome is a 2011 first round pick of the Islanders while the Rangers grabbed Thomas in the second round in 2010.

Others receiving consideration included Brandon Saad (Saginaw), Alexander Khokhlachev and Tom Kuhnhackl (Windsor), Alex Galchenyuk and Taylor Carnevale (Sarnia), Matt Puempel (Peterborough), Brett Thompson (Erie), Stefan Noesen (Plymouth), Michael Sgarbossa (Sudbury). Being Twitter you never know what to expect - we had a couple votes from teammates, including nominations for defensive defencemen. Another defensive defenceman jokingly voted for himself. We also had an odd vote for former Saginaw forward Marc-Andre Rizk, who is now 27 years old and last played for Concordia University in 2010.

tdoyle@loosepucks.com
Twitter: Loosepucks