The Barrie Colts headed into the 2025 CHL Import Draft on Wednesday aiming to add skill and scoring up front.
Mission accomplished.
The Colts used two of their two picks to grab Russian forwards, selecting left-winger Andrei Gudin with the 47th overall pick in the first round and then grabbing his Ohio AAA Blue Jackets 16U teammate Adam Israilov with the 108th selection in the second round.
Gudin, who turns 17 years old on Friday, racked up an eye-popping 77 goals and 65 assists for 142 points in 66 games last season with Ohio, while minor hockey teammate Israilov finished with 48 goals and 51 assists for 99 points in 51 games.
“We’re pretty excited about both kids,” said Colts’ vice president and general manager Marty Williamson. “Andrei had 142 points and Adam had 99 points. They definitely have lots of skill and we’re just going to have to bring them along the right way.”
While Israilov stands at six-foot-two and 187 pounds, Gudin is a diminutive forward listed at five-foot-nine and 160 pounds. While he may be on the smaller side, Williamson says the Russian sniper certainly doesn’t lack strength.
“He squats 250 pounds on one leg. He’s actually a little bodybuilder,” said Williamson, who reminds Colts fans of the success a smaller player like Vladi Nikiforov had in the OHL. “He’s a low-centre gravity, hard-to-knock-off-the-puck player. He actually plays the game very hard. He’s not a perimeter player and he’s able to put up those points.”
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Barrie has focussed on beefing up its offence this offseason, previously adding Alexander Sementsov and Eamon Edgar with its first two picks in the OHL Priority Selection.
Williamson believes the addition of the skill helps round out the forward group, with young power forwards like Jonah McCormick in the fold.
“We thought if we can do that (add skill), then we can add around it and we got some pieces that we like that can already go around them like a McCormick,” he said. “With Sementsov and Edgar, we think we’re going to get a pretty talented group of guys and then build out from that.”
Along with NHL prospects Emil Hemming (Dallas) and Gabriel Eliasson (Ottawa), the two new additions give the Colts four imports heading into training camp in late August.
The OHL increased the number of imports allowed on each team to three for the upcoming season. The Colts will wait to see if Hemming returns from NHL camp with Dallas in September before deciding who stays.
“They’re both going to be at training camp,” said Williamson. “We’ll see if we get Hemming back. We know that Gabriel is going to be there, but if we get Hemmer back then we’ll let them (Gudin and Israilov) battle it out to see which guy we keep or maybe we’ll keep both if we find out they’re ready to play through exhibition games.”
Williamson says the club was considering selecting German centre Elias Schneider, who turns 18 next week, with its first pick, but the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes took the older forward before them with the 45th pick.
“He went just before us, so we pivoted to two younger players,” he said. “We’ll let it play out, but we think on paper right now we’re one of the strongest teams. We’ll let it all play out to see who is back, and, if we have to, pivot from there.”
While the Colts elected to draft younger players, Williamson believes they will be a contender this season.
“I think we got a really nice core,” he said. “With 19-year-olds like Carter Lowe, Bode Stewart, Cole Beaudoin, Riley Patterson, Hemming, Kashawn Aitcheson, and Evan Passmore we have a really nice core there. We’re going to be surrounded with talent.
“We have talent or some draft picks we can trade, and we’ll work it from there. We’re just going to take the best players available.”
Both Gudin and Israilov have chemistry, having played with one another last season in Ohio.
“They speak English OK, but Sementsov speaks English outstanding, so he can communicate with them,” said Williamson. “We just thought our bases are covered with these guys. We were going to take a flyer on a kid that was almost 90 per cent certain not to come, and we instead decided to go with the talent here.
“Let’s see if we can have these kids for three years and how they progress.”
ICE CHIPS
The Colts passed on their third pick in the draft . . . Hemming’s younger brother Oscar was selected 56th overall by the Kitchener Rangers. The 16-year-old, six-foot-three, 185-pound winger split time last season between the Finnish U20 and U18 leagues with Kiekko-Espoo. . . Czech winger Tomas Poletin, a fourth-round pick of the New York Islanders last week, was taken first overall by the Kelowna Rockets. . . 142 players were selected in the draft, including a record-high from Czechia (35) and Russia (28).
