For all the tooth-gnashing the London Knights generated with how they ended up with ticketed-for-stardom talents, current Toronto Maple Leafs GM Mark Hunter made his bones by building depth by finding value with lower picks in the OHL priority selection draft.
Point being, the Hunter-led Knights didn't defy the cycle of junior hockey simply because they could get a great player to break a NCAA commitment, or just magically sniff out which highly touted minor midget player was using his NCAA option as a smoke screen. For instance, that's how Hunter and his brother, Knights coach Dale Hunter, turned up contributors such as present-day Leafs farmhand Ryan Rupert.