Happy Holidays everyone! It is the most wonderful time of the year… The World Juniors are officially underway in Gothenburg Sweden. There is 10 days of junior hockey to look forward to, as well as the return of OHL hockey on December 28th. This will be a short one, as everyone is busy for the holidays! But I wanted to give my thoughts moving into the second half of the season before it begins.
HOUNDS REPRESENT AT WORLD JUNIORS
Greyhound players Owen Allard and Arttu Karki will play for their respective countries at this years tournament. They ended up playing each other in Game 1 on Boxing Day. Allard had a goal in the opening game for Canada, while his Greyhound teammate, Karki, had multiple assists for Finland. Good luck to both! They are both off to an impressive start, and I don’t believe there was any doubt that both players would well represent the Greyhounds organization.
Interestingly, former Hounds picks Julian Lutz (Germany) and Rutger McGroarty (USA) will each take a lead role with their respective countries. Lutz, drafted by the Greyhounds in the 2nd round of the 2021 import draft, has 23 points in 19 games for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Lutz will not don the Greyhound uniform, as his junior career ends after this year and the Greyhounds are set with two imports already. McGroarty plays for the University of Michigan and after being selected in the 4th round of the 2020 OHL priority selection, was always a long shot to report. Even today, he is having a great year at one of the most prestigious NCAA schools and will not be joining this year’s Greyhounds, as amazing that would be.
THE SITUATION
The Greyhounds final weekend before the Christmas holidays was ultimately successful. Missing Allard, Karki, Bryce McConnell-Barker and Jordan D’Intino the Hounds took 5 of 6 points on a road trip against North Bay, Kitchener and Guelph. The success of the road trip had them finishing 2nd overall in the OHL. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, things will begin to get interesting in the next two weeks as teams will emerge as buyers and sellers. However, the forecast is still a bit foggy as there is quite a bit of parity among the league, there are few “powerhouses” who are known all-in buyers. Nevertheless, here is what we know for sure about the league market.
BUYERS:
Saginaw Spirit
London Knights
Sudbury Wolves
SELLERS:
Windsor Spitfires
Niagara IceDogs
Peterborough Petes
Notes: The Spirit, hosting the Memorial Cup, is obviously still not finished even after acquiring forwards Ethan Hay, Alex Christopolous and defenceman Rodwin Dionicio. They still have some draft picks to unload, and will no doubt try to acquire some of the best players on the market. The Knights will no doubt look to buy, with a solid core of older players, (I really enjoyed watching Sam Dickinson when they came to the Soo) a few additions will definitely make them lethal. The Wolves are an interesting team, but are no doubt in their buy window with heavy hitters such as Goyette, Musty and Dvorsky.
Windsor will be looking to gain any picks or young talent as they can after going all in for Shane Wright last year and being swept in the first round. Niagara will be looking to build a future around their newest 2nd overall selection Ryan Roobreck. Both teams sit last in their conferences. The Petes are known to be sellers on off years, they currently own the most popular trade piece, Team Canada forward Owen Beck. Any team that acquires the face off and defensive specialist will no doubt be in the running for a long playoff run.
SHOULD BE BUYERS:
Kitchener Rangers
Soo Greyhounds
North Bay Battalion
Ottawa 67’s
SHOULD BE SELLERS
Flint Firebirds
Kingston Frontenacs
Sarnia Sting
I included this list as well since… it’s junior hockey and you just never know! Flint has a huge opportunity to sell Team USA player Gavin Hayes (brother to Travis👀👀👀), for a huge return. Sarnia already sold 19 year old goalie Ben Gaudreau, so it can be assumed they’ll be looking to add youth. (**Sault native Tyson Doucette is having a great sophomore season for the Sting with 21 points in 32 games). Kitchener is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as they have very minimal to deal to acquire assets but have arguably the best top 6 in the league.
WHAT SHOULD THE HOUNDS DO?
Now to discuss our very own red and white. And to answer to this question… I truly believe the Greyhounds should go for it. The depth and maturity on this team is very noticeable. They are not your typical star studded, top heavy talented, flashy Greyhounds team of the past decade. They are fast, strong, physical and most importantly deep. They have character, and their younger players and 3rd and 4th lines are more role playing than before. Not to mention, a buy this year would open up the window to sell Andrew Gibson next year to set themselves back up to build around Brady Martin and Travis Hayes. Then again! I have no idea, I’m just a fan and I am looking forward to the rest of the way either way!
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