Greyhounds GM: 'There's not a really obvious move for us'

With the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline set for Friday at noon, Soo Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Thursday afternoon that there have been discussions but that’s as far as he would go.

“There’s been a lot of discussion but there’s no correlation between discussion and things getting done,” Raftis said. “It seems like a lot of teams that are usually in the spot of adding are a little standoffish and as cliché as it is, that could all change with one call.”

“For us, if there’s still something to do, we’ll look at it,” Raftis added. “There’s not a really obvious move for us.”

For the Greyhounds, with just two overage players in the lineup in Jaden Peca and Bailey Brkin and three 2000 birth year players in Jacob LeGuerrier, Holden Wale, and Zack Trott, the team could return 21 players next season.

Raftis said the number of 19-year-olds on the current roster could affect how teams approach the deadline as teams look to get a better return than they might if trying to move them in the summer ahead of their overage season.

“For us, with the three guys, they’ve all been drafted by us and they’ve been part of the team for the last couple of years so it’s something that if something changes, you would look at it for sure but it doesn’t force you to say ‘You know what, let’s get a younger player in,’” Raftis said. “The coaches have done a great job of keeping all of the younger players involved.”

The number of potential returnees also allows the team to be patient as well.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to add a ton of draft picks, but at the same time if it’s not high draft picks or something that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, you might as well be patient with it,” Raftis said. “With a lot of these players returning, you do have that time.”

With how close the Western Conference standings have been for much of the season, Raftis agreed it could be playing a role in how busy teams in the west have been ahead of Friday’s deadline.

“It had to (affect how busy the deadline has been),” Raftis said. “There are teams that are sitting (in higher seeds) that aren’t going to add a player. Any of the teams in the top four, usually, you would see them add a lot at the deadline. There hasn’t been a lot of that yet.”

For the coaching staff, it’s business as usual as the deadline approaches.

“Unless something really needs to be addressed, I really like to go about things business as usual,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “People find comfort in routine and habits and how we prepare properly. I find often when you point out the obvious sometimes, it brings more attention to it than it needs. I don’t want these kids overthinking it.”

On Thursday morning the Niagara IceDogs announced a major deal with the Oshawa Generals as the team sent Philip Tomasino to Oshawa in exchange for the rights to David Gucciardi and nine draft picks.

Among the picks were six second round picks – Oshawa’s own second rounders in 2020, 2023, and 2024, a second round pick in 2021 that originally belonged to Kitchener, a second round pick in 2023 that originally belonged to Kitchener as well, and a second round pick in 2023 that originally belonged to Guelph.

The IceDogs also receive a third round pick in 2024 (originally Windsor’s) and fourth round picks in 2022 and 2024.

On Wednesday, the Generals dealt Serron Noel to the Kitchener Rangers for Ryan Stepien, second round picks in 2021 and 2022, a third round pick in 2022 (originally Ottawa’s) and a third round pick in 2024 (originally Niagara’s).