Update (5:30 p.m., Jan. 5): The Ontario Hockey League confirmed the deal to be North Bay sending Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel to Barrie in exchange for Parker Vaughan and Zach Wigle, as well as a fourth-round pick in 2027 (Kitchener), a fifth-round pick in 2027 (London), a sixth-round pick in 2027 (Peterborough) and Barrie's own seventh-round pick in 2028. All of the picks are noted as conditional.
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ORIGINAL STORY
NORTH BAY — Multiple sources across the Ontario Hockey League are reporting another blockbuster deal between the North Bay Battalion and the Barrie Colts.
Sources say North Bay forwards Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel are heading to Barrie in exchange for overage forward Zach Wigle, 16-year-old forward Parker Vaughan and draft picks.
With the move, the Colts are reuniting one of the most lethal lines in junior hockey from last season joining former Battalion linemate Dalyn Wakely.
The first half of the 2024-25 season has been nearly a complete write-off for Romani. After scoring two goals and collecting three assists in six games, Romani broke his clavicle in an early October visit to Erie, only hours after the Barrie-North Bay deal involving Wakely took place, sending Shamar Moses to North Bay.
Romani, who started practising again with the Battalion in late November, still has not dressed for a game since the injury.
In the 2023-24 season, Romani had a breakout 58-goal campaign (58-55—111), was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, and had an invitation to Hockey Canada's world junior evaluation camp this past summer.
Van Steensel, who was named the Battalion captain this fall, has 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in 36 games this season.
Last year, playing alongside Romani and Wakely, he netted 41 goals and 45 assists for 86 points.
Battalion return
In Parker Vaughan, the Battalion receives a skilled forward who was selected fifth overall in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection.
In 32 games, the rookie from St. Thomas, Ont., has four goals and three assists for seven points.
With that move, Adam Dennis, North Bay's president and director of hockey operations, and general manager John Winstanley will have three 2024 first-round picks on their roster for the 2024-25 season, with Ryder Carey taken 16th overall by the Troops and Ryder Cali, selected 18th overall by the Soo Greyhounds.
Cali, who started the season with the Ontario Junior Hockey League's Milton Menace, was acquired in a trade with the Hounds after Cali committed to play NCAA hockey with Harvard and did not report to Greyhounds main camp.
Cali is expected to be available to the Troops as a call-up from the Menace in the second half before joining the Battalion full-time in 2025-26.
Wigle, an overage forward, has spent his entire career with the Colts. The 6'0", 192 lb. forward from Oakville has six goals and 16 assists for 22 points in 36 games with the Colts this season.
Wigle, who was selected in the ninth round, 169th overall in the 2020 draft by the Colts, recently committed to play at the NCAA Division I hockey next season at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
OHL trade - The North Bay Battalion send Anthony Romani (VAN) & Owen Van Steensel to the Barrie Colts for Parker Vaughan, Zach Wigle & picks (4th, 5th, 6th's).
— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) January 5, 2025
