Eleven years ago, Ryan Callahan, a determined but seemingly unexceptional teenager from Rochester, was the beneficiary of a favor between an agent and a coach.
In the spring, Steve Bartlett, Callahan’s agent since he was 15, called Jeff Jackson, the coach of the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League.
“Steve had this kid from upstate New York who really wanted to play in the O.H.L.,” said Jackson, now the coach at Notre Dame. “He said he was asking for a favor but I wouldn’t regret it. He said Ryan wasn’t that big and didn’t have the hardest shot, but nobody would do more to help our team win. He wanted me to draft him.”