Buyers and Sellers (Part 1)
Updated 2023-11-15
Now that we are into November, creeping the 15+ games played mark to the season, we have seen enough hockey to notice what teams have gaps to fill and what teams are looking towards the future. We have already seen some moves early on, but as we move closer to the January 10th deadline, teams will start to get more aggressive to secure those impact players. As part 1 of this series will cover the teams that I believe will be “sellers” this year in the OHL, that being the teams looking to trade away valuable players who are likely to be in their final year of junior hockey for either draft picks or young prospects.
Barrie Colts
Coming into the season, I thought Barrie would fair better, but after watching some of their games I have a very different opinion. Yes, they have one of the best OA groups in the league with Punnett and Frasca, as well as a strong number of 04’s making up their offense, but this is a young team especially on the backend. With only two NHL drafted players, both of which are 05’s, it makes sense for Barrie to look at making moves to round out their squad to build around the solid group of 05’s and 06’s they currently have on the roster.
Brantford Bulldogs
This team is obviously not living up to the hype they had coming off of a surprisingly strong second half of the year last season. Clearly Panwar was an incredibly important part of that success as the Bulldogs at the time of writing this don’t even have a point per game player on the roster. That said, it is Nick Lardis who is the center piece for this teams rebuild and I expect some of the older forwards to be sold to get pieces for a push next year.
Kingston Frontenacs
You’d think a team that put in a Memorial Cup bid for this year would be looking to go on a run, but unfortunately for Kingston I think its a year to soon. The majority of the roster is made up of 05’s, particularly in the backend, and their slow start doesn’t support this being the year. Despite having some picks in the cupboard and the players to buy whoever they might want, it just makes no sense to do so when the Fronts are set to compete for the top of the league next season.
North Bay Battalion
North Bay is a team that is forced to be a seller this year, despite any success. After going for deep runs a couple years in a row, they are just out of draft picks, with no 2nds and only two 3rds until 2027. That said, they have a lot of desirable players to move, and in my opinion the most out of any team selling. With likely the best goalie still left on the market, some key forwards, and the top offensive defensemen they will likely wait till the deadline to make most of their big moves. I expect them to be selling again next year as they are only just starting a big rebuild.
Ottawa 67’s
A little controversial I know, but Ottawa is just to young to expect a deep run this year. With their forward group comprising only two 04’s and one OA, it just makes sense for the 67’s to move a couple pieces. That said, it will likely be borderline retooling than selling, but Ottawa will likely seek to restock some of their draft picks to give them more buying power for the next couple seasons to support a very talented roster of 05’s and 06’s.
Peterborough Petes
Yes, they are currently sitting top of East Division, which is arguably the weakest division this year, but still number one and with the best percentile in the league! That said, they have about as much buying power as North Bay currently does, and this is after making a couple moves to trade away Simpson and Lockhart. Yes they could just sit still and bank on the early success they have shown, but they can’t make more than small moves to round out the roster, which even if they did, would leave them starved for draft picks, without a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th for this years draft. Doing so would just make for a very tough and long rebuild which is not how to run a successful hockey club at this level when junior is so cyclical. So, trades will be made, and we will finally get the answer we want to the who gets Owen Beck?
Sarnia Sting
The third team that banked a lot into last years run, Sarnia, who I daresay had an astounding team last year, needs to rebuild. To their credit, the club is aware and has fully committed to that already, as is evidenced through their focus on their young players. Bringing in the LeBlanc twins to round out their leadership group now allows them to move the returnees from last years run that have trade value. But the question is, what does Sarnia need? Well, like the Battalion and Petes, they needs picks to restock the cupboard.
Windsor Spitfires
Despite a good number of returning 04’s, Windsor has fallen flat to start the year. That said, they still do have talented 04’s to trade, which I think they will focus on using to acquire 06 born players to add to their strong draft that year, along with draft picks of course. Windsor will probably need a couple years to recover from a lengthy time of being on top in this league but I expect this year will be the worst of it.