It is a unique time of year for Battalion General Manager Adam Dennis.
While he is keeping a close eye on the Battalion as they battle the Barrie Colts, his real focus is now on the 2023 OHL Priority Selection which begins Friday night online.
With a bounty of quality players able to return in the fall of 2023, Dennis admits this draft is all about building for the future.
“We are not looking for a lot of immediate help,” general manager Adam Dennis said this week.
“We are looking more to really solidify the roster for a couple of years down the road."
Dennis would not indicate any positional priorities for the 2023 draft.
“I think you’ve always got to take the best player available," Dennis said bluntly.
"I think from there we want competition in training camp no different than previous years. For me, it’s sometimes not exactly addressing needs that we may have next year. It may be needs in two years.”
The North Bay Battalion has the 21st pick when the Ontario Hockey League’s 2023 Priority Selection gets under way at 7 p.m. Friday.
North Bay has 17 picks in the 15-round process, with 20 club selection centres connected to the OHL office in Toronto.
The first three rounds will be held Friday night and the other 12 starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. Players born in 2007 in the OHL draw area consisting of Ontario and a number of U.S. states are eligible for selection.
Each of the Niagara IceDogs and Kitchener Rangers has an extra selection because of first-rounders not reporting last year, dropping the Troops to 21st from 19th and expanding the first round to 22 choices.
The Battalion has single picks in every round except the second and 15th, in which it has no picks, and the fifth with three selections, the sixth with two and the 12th with two.
Dennis noted there are particular attributes that the Battalion seeks in players.
“We’ve coveted character, competitiveness and coachability, because we feel that our coaches can do a lot,” said Dennis.
The Troops sent their second-rounder to Saginaw last Nov. 16 in acquiring Josh Bloom and Brayden Hislop. The 15th-rounder went to London with two third-rounders on June 1, 2020, for Matvey Guskov. The two higher picks were negated when the pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020-21 season, with Guskov never reporting, but league rules required one to stand.
North Bay’s own third-rounder was dealt to London on Jan. 10, 2020, in the Avery Winslow trade, but the club will exercise the Owen Sound Attack’s selection, obtained when Matthew Struthers was returned to the Scenic City on Dec. 2, 2019.
The extra picks in the fifth round come from two swaps of selections with Saginaw. The first, in 2020, landed the Barrie Colts’ choice, while the other, in 2021, had the Troops receiving the Windsor Spitfires’ pick.
North Bay, which acquired the Sarnia Sting’s sixth-rounder from the Kingston Frontenacs last Sept. 9 as part of a package for Owen Outwater, got the Oshawa Generals’ 12th-rounder from Saginaw for Pacey Schlueting on June 1, 2020.
The four non-playoff teams exercise the first four selections, after which picks proceed in the inverse order of the overall standings. The Erie Otters won the lottery to determine the No. 1 selection and will be followed by Niagara, the Soo Greyhounds and Kingston in that order in all rounds.
Erie is expected to announce its first-round pick Thursday.
2022 Dennis Draft Success
Dennis is hoping his 2023 draft class develops the way many of his 2022 players did this season.
Two fourth-rounders, defenceman Tyson Rismond and goaltender Mike McIvor signed early and played locally for the Powassan Voodoos and the North Bay U18 Trappers respectively. McIvor led the U18 Trappers to only the club's second Great North U18 title in 20 years.
Dylan Richter, a fifth-round selection, had a solid season upfront netting 53 points in the Greater Ontario Jr B Hockey League with the Strathroy Rockets this past season. He has been signed by Dennis.
Lirim Amidovski, a ninth-round selection, was recently signed by the Battalion and the speedy forward scored his first OHL goal for the Troops near the end of the season as a call-up. Amidovski played this season with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens who are representing the Central Region at the Telus Cup National U18 Championship taking place in Gaulois de Saint-Hyacinthe starting on April 24.
Beckett Ewart, a 10th-round selection, the crafty forward was the top scorer at the OHF U18 Central Regional Championships in Windsor recently as a member of the Oshawa U18 Generals.
Jesse Lefebvre, a 13-round pick, was a teammate of the Great North U18 champion Trappers squad locally. The small, hard-working forward finished third in Great North U18 scoring with the U18 Trappers netting 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points in only 28 regular season games.
The development of many of the 2006 birth year players will create some tough decisions for management and the coaching staff come the beginning of Training Camp.
