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With the Ontario Hockey League draft less than a week away, a number of players already in the system for the Soo Greyhounds will look to carry strong seasons into a summer of training.
The 2019 OHL Priority Selection saw 14 players selected by the Greyhounds, including a pair who would become members of the team for the 2019-20 season.
The draft marked the second consecutive year the team would select a defenceman in the first round, taking Jacob Holmes with the 18th overall pick.
Holmes settled in well on the Greyhounds blueline and earned the praise of coach John Dean following the season.
“He’s very well liked in the dressing room and one of those guys that’s easy to be around,” Dean said of the 2019 first rounder. “For a defenceman coming in, it’s a very difficult position to play in your first year. We’ve been lucky to have two good ones in a row who have done a really good job for us. The cool part about Holmer is that he got a lot of opportunity on special teams this year. As the season went on, we thought Holmer got significantly better. You can’t teach what he has with the puck. He has confidence and poise, the skill set to make great plays and to be an offensive defenceman. His competitive level and his ability to defend improved over the course of the year as well.”
With no selection in the second round, the Greyhounds drafted winger Marc Boudreau in the third round and the 16-year-old would earn an opportunity out of training camp to stay with the team.
Dean said there’s plenty to be excited about when it comes to Boudreau’s game as well.
“Boudie is one of those guys that I’m really looking forward to seeing how he grows as a player,” Dean said. “He’s a high-energy guy. He’s so much fun to be around. He’s always smiling and loves to come to the rink. He’s really well-liked by his teammates.”
“He got off to a great start at the beginning of the season just bringing that energy and physicality and he’s got a real underrated skill set,” Dean said. “As the year went on, you could tell that as the games got a little more competitive, you could see the pace go up a notch and he probably settle in at a certain bar. What’s exciting about his is his underrated skill set and the energy level he brings. As he matures here, we’re going to see a completely different player. It’s not that he had a poor season but as he gets a little more confident and he sees more opportunity, then we’re going to see a really exciting player.”
Jordan D’Intino, the Greyhounds fourth round pick, scored 16 goals and 32 points in 39 games playing with the Strathroy Rockets of the Greater Ontario League.
“He had really strong year in Strathroy,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said. “He put up a lot of points and played big minutes for a younger team in that Jr. B loop, which was good for his development.”
Moving up to major midget with the Waterloo Wolves after being selected by the Greyhounds in the fifth round of the draft, Owen Parsons had 15 goals and 41 points in 35 games.
“He had a big year playing midget, he put up some big numbers,” Raftis said. “For him, it’s going to be a big conversation about strength because he’s definitely got the skillset, he’s got the brain for it, and he can score goals. He’s done it now at the midget level. It’s just going to be about adding strength on top of that.”
Meanwhile, forward Tyler Savard would eventually sign with the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Soo Thunderbirds after training camp with the Greyhounds.
The 16-year-old finished the season with 19 goals and 50 points in 43 games while also seeing time on the power play with the NOJHL club.
“Anytime you can play at that level and he was putting up numbers and he brought a level of physicality,” Raftis said. “It was good to see him playing against older, bigger players with the type of player he’s going to be.”
With 21 players eligible to return next season, Raftis said the big group is a good thing from a signing standpoint with the 2019 draftees.
“It gives you a little more of a situation where you’re not just signing players,” Raftis said. “Not that we’ve ever done that, but there’s definitely not a need that we have to sign so many guys from a certain draft to have good numbers coming into camp. We’re going to have that right out of the gate. The luxury is going to be that anyone we’re signing; we’re hoping can push for a spot.”
Holmes and Boudreau are the only players signed by the team thus far.