With a September 18 birthdate, Timmins missed the 2016 draft cut-off by three days and didn’t put himself on the radar with a 13-point rookie season as a 17-year-old in 2015-16. Quietly, however, the Thorold, Ontario native led his team in plus/minus by a significant margin with a plus-27 — 12th-best in the OHL among defencemen and second among rookies (behind London’s Olli Juolevi).
While it’s not the most meaningful — and often the most misleading — statistic in hockey, the fact that the Greyhounds were one of the youngest teams in the CHL in 2015-16 and that their next best defenceman (by plus/minus) finished at a plus-three hinted there could be more to Timmins’ ability to drive play at even-strength than what showed in his rookie season point production.