IceDogs looking for impact players at draft
Niagara IceDogs general manager Joey Burke is preparing for one of the most important days in franchise history Saturday.
The IceDogs will select second in the 2020 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection and Burke is well aware the choice will have long-reaching effects on the team for years to come.
“It’s massive. You cannot understate how important it is. It really could be the most important draft we’ve ever had,” Burke said.
The IceDogs select second overall based on finishing 19th out of 20 teams in the truncated regular season which was cancelled early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The North Bay Battalion hold the No. 1 selection.
“We made a bold decision last year to trade the older stars and stockpile the picks,” Burke said. “We knew we would be toward the bottom of the league so the long-term plan has been to use this draft to really kick-start the rebuild and be back on our way up again.
“To be picking second overall for the first time ever is massive. We’ll get a calibre of player we haven’t been able to draft before. We’re going to have four picks by the time we’d only made one last year, which is fantastic.”
The IceDogs will select second in the first round, then again in the second round at 27th overall (from Mississauga) and 33rd overall (from Oshawa). In the third round they will select 45th overall (from Kingston). The IceDogs do not have their own second or third round selections, or picks in the fourth or 10th rounds.
Burke is confident the IceDogs will come away with impact players who will be able to step into the lineup next season.
“The way we’ve drafted and how dialled in our scouting staff is, I’m confident we’re going to nail these picks and bring in a nice group of high-end players,” he said. “I would like a minimum of three and we’ve targeted four guys, and if things work out the way we hope, we can bring in all four here next year.”
The IceDogs clearly have a need up front to upgrade.
“I would think at least two or three of those first four picks would be forwards, but with that being said, there is a defenceman who is head and shoulders above everybody else,” Burke said. “There is a situation where that first pick may be a defenceman because that one guy is so much better than a lot of the younger forwards depending on what North Bay does. We plan to take a D in the first four and depending on what type of goalie is available, we’d like to add a high-end goalie when we can. We’re open to all options.”
According to Prospectpipeline.ca, forward Adam Fantilli of Kimball Union Academy in New England is rated No. 1, but Fantilli has indicated he will play with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League next year. North Bay could still select Fantilli — he did indicate he would play for the Battalion if he decided to play in the OHL down the road — and receive a compensatory pick next season if he stays in the USHL.
Should Fantilli not be selected by the Battalion, the IceDogs would need to be 100 per cent sure he would commit to the OHL since they do not have a first-round pick next season and would not be eligible for a compensatory selection as part of their punishment from the OHL for their part in recruitment violations based on an investigation from 2018. The IceDogs selected Fantilli’s older brother, Luca Fantilli, in the 2019 U18 draft.
“We don’t quite know where they’re going,” Burke said about Fantilli and the Battalion. “I’ve heard rumours that they have two players they are kind of looking at, Fantilli obviously and another guy. We have our plan A and plan B ready to go. We have three players we hold in high regard above everybody else and we know at the very least one of those players will be there.
“We’re excited. We’ve got our sites set on who we want and certainly there are two or three guys we would be thrilled with at two.”
Prospectpipeline.ca has Fantilli at No. 1 followed by centre Rutger McGroarty of the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U second and defenceman Ty Nelson of the Toronto Junior Canadians third. They have Nolan Chartrand of the Cambridge Hawks rated as the No. 1 goaltender.
The draft will be held on line as usual but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams will hook up with their scouts through a video conference call. As well, the players who are drafted will not be brought in to meet their new teams.
“It would be great, especially with the second overall pick, to bring them out and meet everyone but we’re not able to so as soon as we can, we’ll make sure we do it then,” Burke said.
For more on the draft see links below:
Wyatt Gibson profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/better-late-than-never/
Keaton Zavitz profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/captain-zavitz-hopes-for-ohl-shot/
Ethan Whitcomb profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/clutch-player-eyes-ohl-draft/
Connor Thomson-Dick profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/commitment-to-hockey-pays-off/
Derek Smythe profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/smythe-content-to-stay-home/
Trent Swick profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/hard-work-pays-off-for-swick/
Jacob LeBlanc profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/leblanc-brothers-sticking-together/
Andrew LeBlanc profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/the-centre-of-attention/
Tai York profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/york-hoping-to-fulfill-ohl-dream/
Sam Alfano profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/alfano-anxious-for-ohl-draft/
Nathan Duplessis profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/late-bloomer-chases-ohl-dream/
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