The hope was to get pure goal scorers with their early picks and Soo Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis is hopeful that the outcome from the opening rounds of the Ontario Hockey League draft will provide them with just that.
The annual OHL Priority Selection kicked off on Friday evening with the opening three rounds of the 15-round draft and the Greyhounds had a pair of picks on day one, including the third overall pick.
It was there that the Greyhounds selected Waterloo Wolves centre Brady Martin in hopes that the 16-year-old will eventually become that high-scoring player the team was looking for.
“It’s those off-ice intangibles why he’s the captain of that team,” Raftis said. “He just brings players on his team along with him. When you have an elite player like that that has all of those tools on the ice and off the ice, it’s a no-brainer.”
“Everyone speaks so highly of him, but it comes as advertised when you get to sit down with him,” Raftis also said.
Raftis added that Martin’s background working on a farm also played into the pick from a work ethic standpoint.
“When you’re trying to separate guys in terms of projecting them and what they’re going to be, you always want to bet on the high skill, high compete and that work ethic on top of it,” Raftis said.
“That’s not something that can’t be taught,” Raftis added. “It’s not something that a coach can get through to you.”
OHL Central Scouting described Martin as “a complete elite centre that can play the game any way you want him to.
“He is a very strong skater with good separation speed. He has elite puck skills and offensive creativity that he uses to make everyone on the ice around him better. He is both a playmaker and goal-scorer and is always dangerous when he has the puck on his stick. He is a fierce competitor that will do anything it takes to score a goal or win a game; he is physical when he needs to be and does not lose many puck battles.”
With their second round pick, the Greyhounds selected Detroit Compuware winger Travis Hayes 25th overall.
“We were looking at our first couple of picks in terms of guys that were on the board that are pure goal scorers and Hayes is in that mix,” Raftis said.
The Greyhounds general manager added that Hayes is “kind of a mix of his two brothers” who are also OHL players.
Hayes’ brother Avery is currently playing in his overage season with the Peterborough Petes while his other brother, Gavin, recently completed his second season in the league with the Flint Firebirds and is a draft pick of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
“He definitely has a nasty streak to him too, which is going to add elements to his game,” Raftis said of the youngest Hayes.
On a local front, the Sudbury Wolves used their third round pick to select Soo Jr. Greyhounds centre Hudson Chitaroni.
Chitaroni led the Jr. Greyhounds in scoring with 48 points in 28 games this season in the Great North Under-18 League. Chitaroni’s 22 goals were also tops on the team.
The draft resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday morning with rounds four through 15.