Priority Selection in view
While coaches and players prepare for the start of an Ontario Hockey League second-round playoff series with the Sudbury Wolves, there’s plenty of other work for North Bay Battalion staff this week.
The OHL Priority Selection kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday with three rounds conducted via the Internet, followed by the remaining 12 rounds starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
After trades, North Bay holds 16 picks in the process, in which it will exercise the 16th overall selection in keeping with the reverse order of overall standings. The Windsor Spitfires won a weighted lottery among the four non-playoff clubs and have the No. 1 pick, which they are expected to announce Thursday.
“Our scouting team has done a great job this season looking to add to our talent pool,” Battalion general manager Adam Dennis said Tuesday.
“We feel that we can add two promising young players to join us next year with picks 16 and 29 and feel that there’s depth in the mid rounds where we have quite a few selections to be made that could turn into future Battalion players down the road.”
With a trading period exclusively for Priority Selection picks ending at 3 p.m. Thursday, the Battalion currently has 10 of its own picks, in the first, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th rounds.
It also holds the Kingston Frontenacs’ second-rounder, acquired in a swap of picks with the Saginaw Spirit that also landed that club’s sixth- and 15th-rounders, and Kingston’s fifth-round selection, obtained in a trade for left winger Owen Outwater.
In addition, the Troops have the Erie Otters’ ninth-round choice, acquired for defenceman Ryan Thompson, and the Mississauga Steelheads’ 12th-rounder, the result of a swap of picks.
The Battalion is without five of its own selections, including the second-rounder sent to Saginaw last season in acquiring left winger Josh Bloom.
The third- and fourth-rounders were dealt to the Sarnia Sting on Jan. 6 in acquiring right winger Sandis Vilmanis, left winger Andrew LeBlanc and defenceman Jacob LeBlanc. The fifth-rounder was used in getting defenceman Avery Winslow from the London Knights in the 2019-20 season, and the 15th-round choice went to the Peterborough Petes for right winger Chad Denault during the same campaign.
With Ukraine’s Ihnat Pazii the only European on the roster, the Battalion also will make a selection in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on July 3.
The Priority Selection will be produced by YourTV and streamed for free in its entirety on OHL Live.
