Bulldogs win, work on trade
HAMILTON 3, SUDBURY 2
They didn’t acquire any new weapons over the weekend, but the Hamilton Bulldogs are still party to the Ontario Hockey League arms race.
Steve Staios confirmed the team has been working on a swap involving rookie Connor McMichael and several draft picks. He wouldn’t name his target, though he did say the player has a notrade clause, which had not been waived as of Sunday afternoon.
Online and around the rink rumours were rampant that London Knights captain Robert Thomas was the return.
Neither the newly-minted world junior champion nor McMichael, Hamilton’s first-round selection in last year’s OHL draft, dressed for their respective teams Sunday. Staios said the latter, who was also scratched Friday when the North Bay Battalion came to town, was awaiting news at home.
“Until the deal is done — there is no deal,” the Bulldogs general manager added before his club downed the Sudbury Wolves, 3-2, in an unusually violent matinee. Grimsby native Brandon Saigeon scored the game-winner.
A trade for McMichael may not be the only one of the horizon for Hamilton, in the lead-up to Wednesday’s noon deadline. Staios said he is willing to entertain “anything that makes sense.”
That includes a forward, a defenceman or a combination of the two, “and a lot of it depends on what happens with the (McMichael) deal.” He also said he is not shopping for a goaltender, “but don’t tell the other teams that,” he joked.
A string of big-name trades were made official elsewhere in the league over the weekend. The Kingston Frontenacs, who eliminated the Bulldogs in the first round of the playoffs last spring (in Game 7 overtime, no less), picked up NHL first-rounder Max Jones from the Knights — their fourth acquisition in a week. They also added Gabe Vilardi and Sean Day from the Windsor Spitfires, along with Jones’s London teammate Cliff Pu.
The Sarnia Sting, meanwhile, got Cam Dineen from the Battalion, the Erie Otters shipped Taylor Raddysh to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Guelph sent Givani Smith to the Kitchener Rangers.
Asked if he’s feeling any pressure to keep up with the competition, Staios said the transactions don’t concern him. He won’t construct his team on account of anyone else and he goes off what he thinks he needs.
When that was scoring, for instance, he went out and got Nick Caamano and Ryan Moore from the Flint Firebirds. They have both scored at more than a point-pergame clip since that deal in late November.
On Sunday, it was Ancaster’s Caamano who led the way with a goal and an assist against the Wolves — a must-win matchup for the host Bulldogs, who were coming off an ugly loss to North Bay. It was an unusually scrappy game, at least at the start.
There were three fights — Ben Garagan, Mackenzie Entwistle and Justin Lemcke all dropped the gloves for Hamilton, along with Dawson Baker, Doug Blaisdell and Macauley Carson for Sudbury — in a five-minute span midway through the first. That was before Matt Strome took a pass from Will Bitten and fired it past Mario Culina to put the Bulldogs on the board late in the period. Then, early in the second, Caamano added to the lead with his shot from the far circle.
Sudbury responded before the end of the frame with David Levin scoring on the power play — a goal set up by former Bulldogs defenceman Cole Candella — and Dmitry Sokolov beating Kaden Fulcher from close range. Saigeon scored the go-ahead marker just over six minutes into the third.
Had Culina not played as well as he did, the result would have been more lopsided. Hamilton outshot the league’s second-to-last place Wolves 49-25.
“I think we had a good bounce back,” said Caamano. Head coach John Gruden agreed. “Much better than last game,” he said, although there were still some things he’d like to “clean up.”
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 25-9-3-3 and added to their now seven-point cushion at the top of the Eastern Conference. They’re off until Friday when they make their annual trip to London.