If there was any doubt, there is none now. The Barrie Colts are all in.
The Ontario Hockey League club has made another significant trade, acquiring forwards Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel from the North Bay Battalion on Sunday.
The price was steep: Parker Vaughan, the club’s most recent first-round pick (fifth overall), steady overager Zach Wigle and four mid-round draft selections, but none earlier than 2027.
The trade makes the Colts, already first in the Eastern Conference, much stronger on paper. But, critically, both players add playoff experience and reunite with their former Battalion linemate, Dalyn Wakely.
Wakely and Van Steensel have already played 98 playoff contests combined, including two Eastern Conference final appearances. Romani, injured for most of last spring’s post-season, has appeared in 36 playoff games.
The trio finished 1-2-3 in team scoring on last year’s Battalion squad, highlighted by Romani’s 58 goals.
If there is any immediate concern, it’s Romani’s health. He hasn’t played for months after a shoulder injury. It is not clear when he's expected to make his debut with the Colts.
The deal was an open secret for about 10 days and, incredibly, aside from the dark corners of social media, most people in the digital universe respected the players' privacy, with the doubly delicate situation of it also being the holiday season.
The trade was made possible in part because the Colts did not acquire Orillia native Colby Barlow at the beginning of the season and were able to use an overage spot on Wakely instead of goaltender Austin Elliot, who was briefly their property before being dealt to London.
It’s unknown whether another move or two could be coming. The deadline is Friday.
Even if this is it, Beau Akey, Cole Beaudoin, Emil Hemming and Sam Hillebrandt will soon return to the Colts' lineup after missing almost a month at the world junior tournament. Akey and Beaudoin are expected back for Wednesday’s road game in Owen Sound, and it may be another game or two before Hemming and Hillebrandt return.
With Sunday’s trade being a two-for-two (plus picks), no one will be bumped from the current roster aside from a few younger players/prospects who have drawn in temporarily for the four world junior absentees.
The deal does not necessarily mean the Colts are in win-now-then-rebuild mode, as is often the case when trades such as this one are made. That’s because if the Colts manage their situation effectively, the team could remain strong in 2025-26 as well.
They will need help – pro teams that hold certain players' NHL rights will need to send them back to junior rather than the American Hockey League or Europe – to maximize who comes back next season.
Those questions need to be kept in mind ahead of Friday's deadline and will be answered in due course through the summer and fall.
The biggest ache from this move some day will be losing Vaughan. Though his totals were modest so far, the 16-year-old forward is the genuine article. Skilled and edgy with a nose for the net, Vaughan could become the best of the four players involved in today's trade.
Wigle leaves town having given the team three years of loyal service as a middle-six forward. He generally was better in the post-season and is headed to Rochester to play college hockey next season. You get the feeling some day he’ll be a star in the business world.
The Colts have again dealt one of the team’s first-round picks. The team probably does that more than any other OHL club, but, for the most part, it works out.
Future NHLers Brendan Perlini and Ryan Strome were dealt for Alex Pietrangelo and Mitch Theoret, respectively, who played critical roles in the team twice making the league final.
The Colts haven’t been back since.
More recently, Ethan Cardwell, Connor Punnett and Evan Vierling came to Barrie in multi-player deals that saw former Colts first-rounders go the other way.
The biggest example in that bracket was Ryan Suzuki, but a combination of Cardwell, Punnett and Vierling never getting past the second round – in large part because of Romani, Van Steensel and Wakely got in the way – and the pandemic meant Suzuki’s junior career ended unceremoniously, nor did the trades completely work out for the Colts.
In 18 months, we’ll all know whether this one does.
Peter Robinson is a reporter at BarrieToday, covering courts and sports.
