Five points in five games is a good way to start your tenure with a new hockey club. That’s the pace Avery Winslow has set for himself with the North Bay Battalion after being acquired from the London Knights at the January 10th Ontario Hockey League Trade Deadline. The 17-year-old from Clearwater, Florida had his best night in a Battalion uniform on Sunday afternoon recording a goal (his first with North Bay, second of his OHL career) and two assists for his first-three-point game in a 6-4 loss to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
But watching the game, Winslow was almost unlucky to ONLY end up with three points. He didn’t look like a 17-year-old that was playing in just his 33rd career game. Winslow was getting tons of ice time, including power play minutes and utilized them effectively by aiding the Troops attack, and being responsible with the puck in the defensive zone, which is what he says is the type of game he expects out of himself, night in and night out.
“I think I’m strong on my breakouts, and I have a good first pass,” Winslow says in assessing his own skillset.
“I can use my feet well in the D-Zone and I’m good in that zone, but I like to chip in on the offense when I can.”
Battalion Head Coach Ryan Oulahen says, Winslow has been a welcomed addition to the team, ““We’ve liked him,” he said after Sunday’s game.
“What I really like is his compete factor, he never seems to give up on plays. The game is all about mistakes and how are you going to react to mistakes and he’s really competitive, he makes smart decisions. And sometimes we forget that he’s only 17 years old, and that’s the exciting part because I think he’s going to be a really good player for us.”
Getting Winslow was not directly related to the Martin Has situation, but because of the timing of the deals, you can make a connection between the two. Has was North Bay’s import pick (23rd overall) in the first round of the 2019 CHL Import Draft.
He made one appearance with the Battalion before being shipped to the Guelph Storm (who will be in town on Thursday) in exchange for two conditional 3rd round picks; one in the 2022 (SAG) OHL Priority Selection and the other in 2023 (MISS). On the same day, the Battalion swung the deal with London for Winslow for a 3rd Round Selection in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection and a 5th rounder in 2024.
“It was an unfortunate situation based on a league rule where he had to take part in an OHL game before he was allowed to be moved,” said General Manager Adam Dennis about Has back in January.
“What’s important is not just the picks that were acquired but now we get to take an additional player in the import draft next season."
It’s not out of the question to think had North Bay held on to Has, then they wouldn’t have necessarily been in the market for Winslow. But that move to bring him in shows that Dennis is doing his research and inquiring on all types of talent around the OHL and saw an opportunity to get a guy that can be a high impact player down the road as London made a move to get Overage player Markus Phillips from the Guelph Storm for their stretch run into the post-season.
You can see the domino effect happening with Phillips going from Guelph to London, Has from North Bay to Guelph, Winslow from London to North Bay. But even if those blocks didn’t fall into place, Winslow may have wound up in the Gateway City down the road.
“He’s a guy that we covet for sure, he’s a modern defenceman," said Dennis
"It’s no different than a lot of good talented players on the London Knights who feel they have a team that is of a championship calibre, so they have decided to load up and by Markus Phillips coming in, it left Winslow in a spot where he wanted to find more ice.”
“I was really excited when I heard it was North Bay,” Winslow said upon learning of the trade.
“I knew I was going to come here and play a big part in their rebuild and just be an important, key guy here.”
He says, being in the London organization meant that it was going to be a battle every game to earn ice time, “everyone knows what it’s like, you knew what you were getting into. It’s tough on the players, but it’s a great organization, I loved playing for them and I’ll never have anything to say against them.”
The last time the London Knights needed to “relieve” themselves of a defenseman and looked to the Battalion as a trading partner was in 2013 when London desperately wanted to add Zach Bell, who was a steady blue liner for Brampton, but did not report to the team once they moved north. So, the teams swapped d-men with Bell going south and Miles Liberati coming north.
That trade worked out pretty well for North Bay as Liberati appeared in 134 games, scoring 27 goals and 63 points. Not to mention he added a solid presence on the back end on a team that appeared in back to back Eastern Conference finals and one OHL championship series. The Troops would be thrilled if Winslow could bring that type of return to the team.
And just like Liberati who was a native of Cheswick, Pennsylvania, Winslow was born south of the border to, hailing from the Sunshine State. He says a winning culture in the early 2000s is what got him to pay attention to the sport of hockey in the first place.
“Back in ’04 when the (Tampa Bay) Lightning won the Stanley Cup, my oldest brother Arthur started going to the games and fell in love with the sport and started playing and me and my other brother (Zachary) just followed in his footsteps.”
There were ripple effects throughout the state due to the success of the NHL club. Winslow says they started building more rinks and providing more opportunities to young players that might never have tried on skates otherwise.
“Just seeing them be successful and watching them have so much fun playing the sports helps little kids fall in love with it.”
Despite having not lived in Florida full time in several years, Winslow says he still follows the team and says former Windsor Spitfire and current Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is his favourite player to watch, although he says he doesn’t play like the 6’3” 215lb Russian.
“(Travis) Dermott on Toronto is who I model my game on.”
Since the age of 14, Winslow has been living and playing hockey in Canada,
“I left home and went and played in Saskatchewan," said Winslow.
"I went to a boarding school there called Notre Dame. Played the first year on the Bantam AAA team and then the second year played on their Midget AAA team and won a Telus Cup. After that I went to Wenatchee in the BCHL.”
From the sunny beaches in Clearwater to the flat, frigid prairies of Saskatchewan, Winslow says it was a bit of a culture shock when he arrived, “it was a huge change, climate wise, people wise and town wise, it was small town.”
Speaking before last Friday’s game in Sudbury, Winslow says the goal was always to be drafted and play in the OHL.
“I was on the bus with Notre Dame when I got the call and found out I had been drafted by London, so it was a pretty exciting time.”
Taken in the 5th round, 94th overall he would spend just 28 games with London, before he was dealt to North Bay and in the first five games with the Troops he has been paired with third year veteran Simon Rose.
“He’s a great defence partner. He’s made it easy for me to come in. He has supported me right from the start.”
In those five games the D-Pair have combined for 9 points and an even +/- rating while logging plenty of minutes for the Troops.
If the first five games are any indication, Winslow has given every reason for both the front office and the fans to feel enthusiastic about adding him to the team.
“I really am excited for this player,” says Dennis. “He takes pride in his own end, he can defend very well because of his mobility, he loves to get up the ice. He’s going to be a guy that does a lot of good things for us and a lot of different things for us as well.”
