Season preview: Young Hounds team has high expectations

Although they’re entering the season with a younger roster focus, that doesn’t mean there aren’t expectations.

The Soo Greyhounds open the 2024-25 Ontario Hockey League regular season tonight at home against the Saginaw Spirit and, while the team got younger over the summer, they still expect a lot from themselves.

For Greyhounds coach John Dean, the expectation is a Greyhounds team that is “extremely competitive in every single game” — and one that expects to make the playoffs.

“We’re younger, there’s no doubt about it,” Dean said. “Our returning core really emulates what we want to be as a Soo Greyhound. We have great leaders coming back that can show these young players how we want to play.”

In reference to the playoffs, Dean added that “where we sit in the conference standings is ultimately going to be up to how quickly our youth can get up to speed.”

General manager Kyle Raftis said training camp and exhibition play with a shorter roster allowed some new players to get their feet wet.

“The excitement from the start of training camp was seeing the growth in some of the returning guys and the growth in the 2007 (birth years), guys that can just step in and be producers right away,” Raftis said.

Raftis added that some roster setups through the exhibition schedule allowed the organization to get “a good identity on individuals.”

The potential return of overage forward Owen Allard remains up in the air for the Greyhounds.

Raftis said the team is in a wait-and-see mode on whether the veteran forward gets to return to the Sault.

On the overage front, Allard returning would leave the team with four overage players on the roster and the ability to dress three in game action.

Should Allard return, Raftis said the potential decisions that would then need to be made would likely come after the first few weeks of the season.

“A lot of that sorts itself out,” Raftis said. “For the OA spot, it’s going to be just seeing how the first couple weeks of the season go (such as) are guys returned and where the needs in the lineup are. We’ll take it from there. A lot of teams are carrying (extra) guys right now. A lot of that shuffling sometimes goes on the week before the season, but it seems like right now there’s a lot of guys away that in years past it was (just) the first round picks or guys that thought were going to be pushing for NHL jobs. It seems like a lot more guys are hanging on than usual.”

With his first season under his belt, sophomore forward Brady Martin — now an alternate captain, as of today — said he’s looking forward to some added expectations.

“I’m excited,” Martin said. “Deaner’s got a lot of weight on my shoulders this year. It’s my draft year, so I have to perform every night and come ready to play.”

Martin also said a leadership role is something he’s embracing as well.

“Last year, we were in the same shoes as all of the new guys in there and all of the older guys helped us last year,” Martin said, when asked about the role he and fellow second-year forward Travis Hayes will take leadership-wise. “We’re just trying to get these guys going.”