Aaron Ekblad was 14 when the idea first dawned on him. Sitting in the locker room after his Sun County Panthers had just lost, Ekblad’s coach, Todd Lalonde, addressed the minor midget team.



I know everyone in this room wants to get drafted, Ekblad remembers him saying, referencing the OHL Draft. Everybody wants to see their name on the draft list … even Ekky wants to have his name on the draft list.



The comment didn’t make much sense to Ekblad. He was the young kid on the team and a year out from that kind of radar. How would his name be on a draft list?



“And he said, ‘Well, you know you can get exceptional status,’ Ekblad recalled. “’You can apply to play early.’”



At the time, only one player had ever received exceptional status in its current form — John Tavares, who had gone No. 1 overall in the NHL Draft just one year prior. Others, in past years, had played a year early, but...