Once action got going at the Barrie Colts’ annual intrasquad game on Thursday night, one feeling took hold.
It was obvious you were looking at a vastly improved group compared to a year ago. There were probably 25, perhaps one or two more, who could play in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) right now. A few more were sitting out with injuries.
The situation has come about because the Colts accomplished three objectives last season, even if their overall performance fell short of initial expectations. Firstly, the team pulled off a controlled sell-off, hanging onto all its younger players and letting a few older ones leave for a collection of draft picks and older players, who themselves have now all moved on.
Secondly, a few key youngsters, primarily forwards Cole Beaudoin, Riley Patterson and Bode Stewart, along with defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson, continued to improve last season, helped by more ice time.
Then, with that young lineup, the team gave an honourable performance in exiting in six games in its Eastern Conference quarter-final playoff series.
The Oshawa Generals arrive in town tonight for the first preseason game. Puck drop is 7:30; doors to Sadlon Arena swing open an hour before. It’s a rare — some would argue scary — opportunity to watch legit OHL action before the calendar switches to September. It will never feel right to watch hockey with warm temperatures outside.
The Colts are back at it two days later against the visiting Owen Sound Attack, who are expected to have local product Jake Crawford in their lineup but not Orillia native Colby Barlow.
Barlow didn’t turn up when the Attack convened a few days ago and is preparing to attend Winnipeg training camp in a couple of weeks. Barlow, who had an injury-filled season last year but was still considered to be the best pure sniper in the OHL, will be the most notable available player on the trade market if he is returned to junior.
As it happens, the Generals and the Colts are among the leading suitors to land the 19-year-old forward. With already a host of interesting roster decisions to make, Colts general manager/head coach Marty Willamson will need to assess whether he has the trade capital to go after Barlow, who has family in Barrie.
Williamson has already done some impressive work in bolstering his roster. The first move came at the import draft and subsequent signing of Emil Hemming, who is a first-round pick of the Dallas Stars. Two more Stars prospects, forward Brad Gardiner and defenceman Tristan Bertucci, were acquired before training camp. The Colts sent mostly picks the other way, though they did lose promising blueliner Jack Brauti in getting Bertucci.
The Colts expect seven players to attend NHL training camps, but most, perhaps apart from Beaudoin and Beau Akey, should be back by the time the games count in the standings.
Until then, a collection of 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds have a handful of exhibition games over the next few weeks to show they can crack one of the OHL’s deepest rosters. With rookie Parker Vaughan, who looked good on Thursday night while scoring a beautiful goal, and Shamar Moses assured a spot as first-round picks, there are six or seven others battling for one or two spots on the flanks.
There will be capable forwards who lose out who could be traded or released to pursue opportunities on less crowded rosters around the OHL, or in Junior A.
Twelve defencemen dressed on Thursday, and no one looked out of place, with Bertucci and Aitcheson going through the motions at times. Akey returns from an almost year-long absence from double shoulder surgery soon but likely not before he attends Edmonton Oilers training camp.
In goal, Sam Hillebrandt is headed to training camp with the Philadelphia Flyers but will be the No. 1 netminder when he returns. Ben Hrebik is the leading contender to back him up.
The Colts have quietly departed ways with former scouting/player personnel director Mark Seidel.
Seidel was linked to the departure of Jeff Marek from Sportsnet earlier this month after it was alleged the broadcaster was tipping draft information to Seidel during the television broadcast. The incident and subsequent investigation by the National Hockey League put the Colts in a bind. As the hockey world began to wake up from its summer slumber, people were starting to revisit Seidel’s possible involvement in Marek’s reporting of a bounty being put on Aitcheson by the Sudbury Wolves last season.
With new commissioner Bryan Crawford now in charge and the potential awkward situation of the Wolves visiting for the Colts’ home opener later this month with two players still serving suspensions from the OHL’s investigation, Seidel’s continued presence on the Colts’ staff was a headache that apparently could no longer be justified.
