Greyhounds stand pat as overage trade deadline passes

The deadline for trading overage players in the Ontario Hockey League came and went at noon on Thursday and while some teams were busy in general ahead of it, the Soo Greyhounds were quiet.

The team is set to go with Bailey Brkin and Jaden Peca as their two overage players for the remainder of the season, opting not to fill their third spot.

For the Greyhounds, “a group of factors” led to the team deciding to stand pat and finish the season with Peca and Brkin and not bring a third player in.

“There was a little bit of conversation in terms of adding but for us it was that balance of how much ice time are we taking away from a younger player and is it that big of an upgrade,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Thursday afternoon. “That was the internal discussion and at the end of the day, nothing really came together on top of it.”

Raftis went on to say, “if there’s going to be players battling for ice time, I’d rather it be with the group that’s here right now.”

“It’s not just leading into the second half but leading into next year too,” Raftis said. “With the way the year has played out, it’s not necessarily something that’s just short-term thinking. It got to moreso fit into a long-term plan. Sometimes you have to see what you have in younger players. For us, even early in the year, outside of Brkin, any of the moves we’ve made are usually to get younger players and players who can get comfortable with us.”

While the Greyhounds were quiet on the overage player front, a handful of teams made moves ahead of Thursday’s noon deadline.

The Guelph Storm dealt defenceman Markus Phillips to the London Knights on Wednesday after the veteran blueliner was returned to junior hockey by the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

Phillips was returned to the Storm after splitting the first half of the season between the Kings American League farm team, the Ontario Reign, and their ECHL-affiliate, the Fort Wayne Komets.

The Knights sent a second round draft pick in 2023 (originally Hamilton’s), a third round pick in 2021 (originally Barrie’s), and a fourth round pick in 2021 to Guelph for Phillips.

Phillips split last season with the Storm and the Owen Sound Attack and was a key part of Guelph’s run to an OHL title.

Just prior to the overage deadline, the Sudbury Wolves and North bay Battalion swapped overage forwards.

The Wolves sent veteran forward Shane Bulitka to the Battalion along with a third round pick in 2023 and a conditional eighth round pick in 2022 in exchange for winger Brad Chenier.

The London Knights and Barrie Colts also swapped overage forwards as the Colts sent Jason Willms to the Knights for Josh Nelson, a second round pick in 2021 (originally Niagara’s) and a fourth round pick in 2024 (originally Barrie’s).

The OHL’s deadline for trading other players is noon on Friday.