Dissecting OHL’s trade deadline deals
What Oshawa gave up to land IceDogs’ Tomasino was a real whopper
It’s over. Done. Finito.
Trade deadline week, one of the craziest times on the Ontario Hockey League schedule, has wrapped up.
No more rumours and rebuilds. At least, until next year, when we get to do it all over again.
There were 24 deals, involving 35 players and 73 draft picks from the time the post-Christmas freeze lifted until the deadline, last Friday at noon.
1. The big whopper happened, just not by the teams we expected. Oshawa wins the Burger King award by sending nine draft picks — including six second rounders — and a prospect to Niagara for Phil Tomasino. Tasty.
2. Warning: Generals fans avert your eyes. There is a growing camp that believes Tomasino might just make the leap to the Predators next season.
3. Oh, and that bare draft cupboard in Niagara? Yeah, it’s restocked now. But boy are there going to be some ugly games the rest of the way.
4. The biggest surprise might have been what didn’t happen. Guelph didn’t unload. London never made an all-in move. Nor did Ottawa. And that just means the west, and to a lesser extent the east, are truly up for grabs.
5. Saginaw and Flint adding big pieces — Ryan Suzuki for the Spirit and Tyler Tucker for the Firebirds — really gums things up in the west. There are six legit teams in the running for the title.
6. Are we beginning to see the benefits of the rule changes that only allow teams to swap draft picks for the next five drafts? Looks like it.
7. Sudbury star Quinton Byfield and newcomer Matej Pekar are a hit. The duo has combined for 13 points in three games since joining forces. But scoring was never the problem for the Wolves. They needed help in net and on the blue line.
8. The worst kept secret is that Oshawa wants to host next year’s Memorial Cup. And I guess the team is banking on goalie Jordan Kooy in net. He has half a season to prove it.
9. I love how Oshawa GM Roger Hunt always rebuilds and goes for it at the same deadline. He sells F Serron Noel to Kitchener for picks and a player and then lands Tomasino. Remind me to never play poker with Rog.
10. That said, there is still work to do to build that Memorial Cup squad. Oshawa has to replace forwards Brett Neumann, Cole Resnick, Kyle MacLean and defender Nico Gross and possibly Giovanni Vallati and Allan McShane.
11. OK, back to the deals. The winner? Saginaw. The Spirit add an 18-year-old difference maker in Suzuki and, I’m told, are getting Bode Wilde back from the New York Islanders’ system. That’s a nice one-two punch.
12. Other moves I liked: Niagara getting the picks it did, London addressing two needs by adding Markus Phillips and leadership in Jason Willms and Kitchener grabbing Noel and veteran Holden Wale without giving up a prospect.
13. Head scratchers: Sudbury’s lateral move from Shane Bulitka to Brad Chenier, London and Ottawa not adding star power up front, Windsor remaining idle and Sarnia keeping most of its veterans.
14. Serious question, is anyone left in Barrie? The Colts moved Willms, their captain, forwards Suzuki and Pekar, veteran defencemen Tucker and Jack York (to the Peterborough Petes) and prospect Riley Piercey.
15. The beauty of the Niagara and Barrie sell-offs? The clubs were able to rebuild and will still probably make the playoffs this season. That’s a win-win.
16. There is a lot of hate out there for the OHL Insider Twitter account. While I don’t agree with some of his methods and don’t enjoy the freedom he does in passing along rumours, there is no denying that he nailed some of the biggest swaps.
17. Also, with the Insider, teams can’t really complain when their own staff, or at least folks tied to their organization, are leaking details to him.
18. In the end, Guelph kept its roster intact and even added Martin Has. That’s GM/coach George Burnett telling his troops that he believes in them. That said, I don’t think the trade value of Nico Daws will ever be higher.
19. This season, Kitchener got Jacob Ingham, Liam Hawel, Serron Noel and Holden Wale for five second-round draft picks, six thirds, one fifth, sixth, eighth, 15th and depth forward Ryan Stepien. That’s fewer seconds than the Tomasino package. 20. In that vein, there is something to be said about making your moves early. Ingham, Joseph Garreffa (Ottawa) and former Petes defenceman Ryan Merkley (London) look like steals now and their respective clubs got an extra half season out of them.
21. Call me next year: Hamilton (Arthur Kaliyev), Guelph ( Nico Daws, Pavel Gogolev), Ottawa ( Merrick Rippon), Peterborough ( Max Grondin, Nick Robertson), Flint (D Riley McCourt, D Owen Lalonde) and Kitchener (D Michael Vukojevic).