Jets’ 2024 6th-Rounder Walton Having Surprisingly-Dominant OHL Season

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Sixth-round selections in NHL Entry Drafts are usually stab-in-the-dark picks to some degree and don’t often make the NHL. However, the Winnipeg Jets’ most-recent sixth-rounder is making serious and surprising waves in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) this season.

Pop Off, Kieron Walton!

Kieron Walton, a centre Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff chose at 187th overall in the 2024 Draft last June, didn’t have an impressive resume back then.

He does now.

The monster of a man had 43 points in 65 games for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves last season, a fairly modest total considering how high scoring the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) is. For context, he was ninth on his team in points.

The 6-foot-6, 216-pound 18 year old has blown those totals out of the water this season, racking up 27 goals and 43 assists for 70 points in just 42 games. Not only does he lead his team in points by 20, but he’s third in the entire OHL behind only Liam Greentree (76 points) and Michael Misa (75 points.) Greentree is a first-round pick (Los Angeles Kings, 26th overall, 2024) while Misa projects as a top-five pick in the upcoming 2025 Draft and has been granted the rare Exceptional Status.

Yes, the Edmonton-born Walton has been good enough to be right in the conversation with most-hyped and most-highly-anticipated prospects in hockey and has even outdone most of them production-wise to this point.

The Jets obviously didn’t draft Walton completely blind. Their scouting department clearly saw things they liked in his game — aside from his size, which he uses effectively, THW’s own Peter Baracchini noted Walton is crafty, has a great puck-handling skills, can read plays well, and is tough to knock off the puck (no surprise on the latter.)

However, not even Cheveldayoff could have predicted someone drafted so low, when GMs are making picks with minimal expectations, would pop off to this degree seemingly out of nowhere.

Kieron Walton Sudbury Wolves
Kieron Walton, Sudbury Wolves (Terry Wilson / OHL Images)

Baracchini, in his prospect profile, noted Walton had problems with consistency in his first two OHL seasons. That hasn’t been an issue this season as he has five four-point games, 20 multi-point games, and has been held off the scoresheet only eight times.

Could Walton Be an Impact NHLer One Day?

It’s too early to say — one outstanding juniors season does not an impactful big-leaguer make. Plenty of high scorers in juniors cannot translate their skills to the professional game enough to be full-time NHLers, and the Jets — like every team — have had a few of those like Nic Petan and Skyler McKenzie.

The odds are stacked against Walton simply because of his draft placement. Only 30.6 per cent of sixth rounders (423/1380) ever suit up for an NHL game and only 15.1 per cent play more than 100 (209/1380), a THW deep dive of prospect success rate between 1963 and 2023 shows.

Related: Success Rates of NHL Draft Picks

That doesn’t mean Walton can’t buck the trend. Pavel Datsyuk, Brett Hull, and Mark Stone, for example, were all sixth-rounders who turned out wonderfully. That doesn’t even take into consideration the undrafted players who manage to find their niche; the Jets currently have a pair of those in Alex Iafallo and Neal Pionk.

Walton is at least two years away from turning pro. CHLers can’t play in the American Hockey League (AHL) until they’re 20 as per the CHL-NHL Player Transfer Agreement, meaning Walton’s first professional season won’t be until at least 2026-27, when he is 20 and a half. (CHLers can play in the AHL after their season ends but they must be 20. Walton won’t be until April 22, 2026, so he won’t be able to have a cup of coffee with the Manitoba Moose late next season.)

Walton is someone Jets fans should keep their eye on despite being a longer-term project. Even if his newfound offensive flair fizzles next OHL season or doesn’t translate to the pro level, he could still be a useful player given his size and other tools. If he does crack the Jets one day, he would be only the second Jets’ sixth-rounder to suit up for them — current third-liner Mason Appleton, who has played 366-plus career games since being chosen 168th in 2015 is the other one — and would represent a significant draft steal for Cheveldayoff.