Greyhounds, Attack swap forwards, picks

With the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline set for noon Tuesday, the Soo Greyhounds have swapped forwards with the Owen Sound Attack.

The team has dealt winger Landen Hookey and a 15th round draft pick to the Attack for winger Julian Fantino and a 15th round pick.

Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Monday afternoon that Fantino was a player the team had discussions about with the Attack earlier in the season

Raftis said the recent play of Hookey, which has seen him play on the Greyhounds top line with Bryce McConnell-Barker and Kalvyn Watson, led to an increased interest in the 2004-born forward on the trade market.

“It kind of made sense looking at a swap there and that was the player we unfortunately had to give up,” Raftis said. “It wasn’t something that we were shopping Landen, but it was a situation where that’s who they wanted so it was a fit on both sides.”

Fantino had three goals and 14 points in 34 games this season with the Attack after posting three tallies and 10 points in 55 games as an OHL rookie last season. In the playoffs Fantino scored four times and assisted on one goal in Owen Sound’s seven-game series loss against Flint in the opening round of the playoffs.

“He’s got a great shot, good speed, good skill,” Raftis said of the 18 -year-old. “He’s got a motor and can play aggressively. At times, it just hasn’t translated consistently. You look back at his playoff run with them against Flint (last spring), he was excellent at that point, but this season it just hasn’t translated for whatever reason. We’re hopeful that the change of scenery for him is going to be able to bring those talents to light.”

In 36 games this season with the Greyhounds, Hookey scored six goals and added nine assists for 15 points. In 79 career games with the team, the 18-year-old scored seven times and had 13 assists for 20 points.

Both draft picks included in the deal are in the 2026 OHL Priority Selection.

Raftis said whether the Greyhounds will be active ahead of Tuesday’s deadline is tough to predict at this point.

“Everybody was kind of waiting on those big deals to happen with guys that were World Junior guys and once those got through, there’s been a little bit more pickup in terms of teams looking at other options,” Raftis said.

Monday marked the trade deadline for overage players around the league and it was as quiet as it has been in years with no deals getting completed prior to the noon deadline.

For the Greyhounds, that means the team will finish the season with its current complement of overage players in forwards Mark Duarte and Kalvyn Watson and defenceman Ryan Thompson.

“We’re happy with the guys that we have,” Raftis said. “They’re big parts of our team. It’s about setting the culture here for the group. You look at our game against London and they’re big factors to it. I know they’re committed to it.”

Some other deals trickled in Monday afternoon around the league with Tuesday’s deadline looming.

The Oshawa Generals and Guelph Storm swapped goaltenders with the Generals acquiring Jacob Oster from the Storm in exchange for Patrick Leaver and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2026 draft (originally Windsor’s).

The London Knights dealt former first round pick Ben Bujold to the Hamilton Bulldogs for a third round pick in 2023 (originally Flint’s) and a fifth round pick in 2025.

The Sarnia Sting sent defenceman Chandler Romeo and a second round pick in the 2026 draft to Guelph in exchange for a second round pick (originally Barrie’s) and a fourth round pick, both in 2023.

The Knights also completed a deal with Sudbury Wolves as they sent Nicholas Yearwood to the Wolves in exchange for a 10th round pick in 2026.