Greyhounds add depth up front in deal with Storm (update)

With hours to go until Wednesday’s Ontario Hockey League trade deadline, the Soo Greyhounds completed another trade late Tuesday afternoon.

The team acquired forward Justin DoZoete, a 20-year-old, from the Guelph Storm in exchange for a 10th round pick in the 2025 OHL draft Tuesday, adding some depth at forward in the process.

Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said DeZoete’s maturity is something that stands out in the latest addition to the Sault roster.

“When you’re trying to plug guys in halfway through the year, you want good people,” Raftis said. “Justin’s an extremely hard-working person. You don’t find anybody in the game at any of his stops, that could say a bad word about him off the ice. For us, we want to continue to bring in good people in our organization that are going to work hard and can provide us some different options as we go through the stretch.”

DeZoete started the 2023-24 season in Mississauga before getting traded to Guelph in late-October. The third-year winger, who started his OHL career with the Peterborough Petes, has a goal and three points in 30 games this season.

After posting 11 goals and 23 points in 64 games as a rookie with Peterborough during the 2021-22 season, DeZoete had 10 goals and 22 points last season in 68 games split between Peterborough and Mississauga.

“Looking at his time earlier in the league, he was putting up some numbers,” Raftis said. “This year, it’s kind of been about opportunities and (being) shuffled around a little bit.”

Raftis added that adding some depth at forward also played into the deal.

“He’s got a lot of tools, and we want to work with him and see if we can bring it all together,” Raftis said. “That’s kind of the idea of bringing him in, but at the same time, we need that depth in the lineup. Being an older, more mature guy and a heavy body that can come into this lineup and give us that depth was what jumped out at us. It’s also a situation where we’re hoping that we can help Jusitn find his game. He takes a lot of pride in the work he puts in.”

Tuesday’s deal comes after the Greyhounds acquired forwards Gavin Hayes and Jacob Frasca on Sunday in separate deals.

The team traded forwards Alex Kostov and Connor Clattenburg along with four drafts picks to Flint for Hayes before sending overage forward Brenden Sirizzotti and three picks for Frasca and a draft pick.

Asked about the potential of the Greyhounds being involved in any additional trades ahead of the deadline, Raftis said options would be considered if the right possibility came up.

“We’re going to have to see if there’s a fit,” Raftis said. “If there’s something that we can do to improve the team, we’re definitely going to do it.”

The OHL trade deadline is noon Wednesday.