Alexander Karmanov: Tall. (Photo: Brian Smiley, The Brantford Expositor)

You can coach a hockey player to do many things, such as how to shoot, how to backcheck or how to kill a penalty. But there is one thing nobody can coach a player to do: How to be tall.  

And that is the leading explanation for why the San Jose Sharks used the 201st pick in last weekend’s NHL Entry Draft on Alexander Karmanov, the Moldovan defenceman who still needs to work on his skating.  

He is listed at 7-foot-1, 272 pounds.  

"It's nuts," fellow Sharks prospect Keaton Verhoeff told the San Francisco Chronicle. "He's not tall and skinny, either. He's tall, big, strong." 

Someone asked how Verhoeff would try to get by Karmanov on the ice. 

"Maybe try to sneak through his legs?" he said. “Glad he's on my team." 

The 18-year-old made his OHL debut with the North Bay Battalion this season, and he had two points (both assists) in 20 regular season games.  

"I chose that way because I thought it's better for my development," Karmanov told the Chronicle. "In Canada it's the biggest sport, and in North America it's one of the biggest sports. It's great. Just all the professionals, I think, the best hockey league in the world is here. So it's, I think, the best spot to develop." 

You can read the full story right here.

Is Bomber also on the road to Edmonton? (Photo: Sarah Grishpul)

Writing in The Windsor Star, Jim Parker offers an interesting perspective on the power the Spitfires appear to be gathering within the ranks of one NHL franchise. It’s not the one just across the river in Detroit, either.  

It’s the Edmonton Oilers.  

“Last week, Windsor native and former Spitfires’ coach and captain D.J. Smith signed on to be the Oilers’ associate coach,” Parker writes. “He joined former Spitfires’ captain Paul McFarland, who is an assistant coach with the team, and Windsor native Peter Aubry, who is Edmonton’s goaltending coach.” 

There is some history there, of course. In 2010, the Oilers used the first pick in the draft to take Spitfires star Taylor Hall. (Now 34, Hall recently won the first Stanley Cup title of his career, albeit with the Carolina Hurricanes, and not the Oilers.)  

“Former Spitfires’ general manager Warren Rychel is Edmonton’s director of pro scouting,” Parker writes, noting “assistant general manager Keith Gretzky is a former Spitfire while Oilers’ director of amateur scouting Rick Pracey was the Spitfires’ goalie coach at the turn of the century." 

You can read the whole story right here. 

Not that long ago, there was an established point in the calendar where hockey went quiet, and all the players and decision-makers retreated to the lake. Which lake? We were never quite sure, but that is where a lot of them said they were spending their summer break.  

The lake is still there, but the emergence of social media has helped erode the quiet time of the hockey summer. If major news breaks this summer, our OHL reporters will be there to offer insight and context.  

Otherwise? We, too, will be on the shores of that metaphorical lake.  

Beginning today, the OHL Newsletter will maintain its summer tradition and head out on hiatus. We will be back in your inbox after Labour Day, ready as always to talk about the game, the players, and the world that revolves around junior hockey in this province.  

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to click the link below and offer any questions, tips, or ideas you think might improve our OHL coverage.  

Have a safe, restful summer. 

Former Medicine Hat Tigers star Gavin McKenna chats with an unidentifed fan during the NHL Entry Draft. (Update: We're being told it's Justin Bieber.) (Photo:  Bruce Bennett, Getty Images)

Thanks for reading, hockey fans. See you next time.