Offence will be front and centre for the Barrie Colts heading into the 2026 OHL Priority Selection.
With the departure of high-scoring forwards Cole Beaudoin, Emil Hemming and Brad Gardiner, along with Kashawn Aitcheson, the OHL scoring leader among defencemen, the Colts will be focused on adding the next generation of offensive leaders when the annual draft kicks off with the first round on Friday at Slush Puppie Place in Kingston.
“Especially with that first pick,” said Colts general manager Marty Williamson, whose club will select 17th overall on Friday night before completing the remainder of the draft on Saturday with rounds two through 15. “We need a guy that can generate offence, whether it’s a scoring forward or a defenceman that can generate offence, but we need something like that.
“I’m not going to turn down a Brandt Clarke or somebody like that. To me, it’s just as good as a scoring forward. It makes everybody better, but there are a couple of scoring forwards we like.”
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While Williamson would prefer to add an offensive forward with the top pick, he says it will be the best player they feel is still available at that point.
“We have a lot of forwards leaving us,” he said. “If the right forward is sitting there, I think that’s the ideal situation for us, but we’re going to take who we think is the best player available. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a forward or a defenceman – it won’t be a goalie in the first – we’re going to take the best player.
“I think the best fit for us, all things being equal, we’d like to get a forward.”
The Oshawa Generals won the draft lottery and have the No. 1 overall pick, followed by the Erie Otters, Brampton Steelheads, Sarnia Sting and Sudbury Wolves to round out the top five selections.
According to the top 500 prospect ranking provided to Barrie 360 by Neutral Zone, an in-depth amateur scouting website based in the United States, the top prospect for this year’s draft is right defenceman Drew Daley (Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep). Centre Tanner Adams (Hill Academy U16), left defenceman Adrian Sgro (Vaughan Kings U16), centre Logan Prud’homme (Upper Canada College Blues U16), and centre Kane Cloutier (Vaughan Kings U16) round out the top five.
While the Colts would love to grab a future first-line centre, that task will be made more difficult by having a selection later in the first round.
“For the future, going down the road, it’s important to get that kind of player,” said Williamson. “I don’t know if we’ll get that in this draft. I think we’ll get a good forward, but I don’t think we’ll get a Cole Beaudoin at No. 17. That’s where he can play in his first year and play as well as he did.
“I don’t think it’s that kind of a draft, but I think we’re going to get ourselves a good hockey player that can impact our team for the next three, four years.”
After making long runs to the OHL Championship Series this year and Eastern Conference Finals the last two seasons, the Colts’ draft cupboard is rather bare, especially in the early rounds. Barrie has 16 picks in the 2026 draft, but none in the second or third round.
They have one selection in the fourth round, and two in the fifth, with more double picks in Rounds 11 and 14.
“We’re going to see some good players go by us,” said Williamson.
Still, the Barrie GM believes his scouting staff, led by head scout Shane Sullivan, has put in the work to come out of this year’s draft with some key additions from north and south of the border.
“We’ve got our eye on a few,” he said of top U.S. prospects. “We did our work in the U.S. We might be able to pull out another gem out of there in a mid-round pick, so I’m pretty optimistic going into the draft.
“Drafts are drafts, and you never know until it all unfolds. We know we’re going to get a good player at No. 1, and then I think our guys have done hard work that we’re going to be able to get ourselves some good players in the mid-rounds.”
With the change to NCAA eligibility, more top U.S. prospects are heading north at a younger age.
“Every kid that was thinking of going to the USHL thinks about going to the CHL,” said Williamson. “It’s all because of the NCAA. We’re seeing the benefits with the younger kids, that we’re getting them, and we’re seeing the negatives that we’re having trouble keeping them at 19 and 20 as they jump to the NCAA. But this is the new landscape, and you need to adjust to it.”
Williamson doesn’t see the club looking to add veteran scoring through trades. He believes the club will focus more on making moves that recoup assets such as draft picks.
“You look at three of the last four years, we spent pretty heavily,” he said of the big deals that brought in top players such as Ben Wilmott, Parker von Richter, Mason Zebeski, Dalyn Wakely, Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel. “We’ll pay a bit of a price for that this year, but with the group coming back and the goaltending, and the free agents that we’ve signed, I think we’re still in a good spot to be a mid-pack team.
“If we coach them up a little bit, and we get some nice surprises, we can be an upper mid-pack team.”
Williamson has already bolstered the talent pool with several signings over the past few months. Blueliner Luke Howard, who helped the Toronto Patriots reach the semifinals of the Centennial Cup (Canada’s National Jr. A Championship), can run a power play. Defenceman Aiden Mowery is a big body coming off a great year with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite U16 team.
They’ll be joining a returning group that includes Evan Passmore, Justin Handsor, Teague Vader and Ethan Armstrong. The Colts will also have to wait and see what the Ottawa Senators do with Gabriel Eliasson.
“There are a lot of options on the back end,” said Williamson. “We just got to see how we recoup assets, and how we maintain a competitive hockey team.”
Williamson is also hoping American forwards William Schneid and Joe Salandra don’t make the jump to NCAA Division I hockey. Ben Wilmott is expected to hear his name in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, and he could return if his new NHL team wants him to play a full 68-game schedule in the OHL.
Barrie will also look for Alexander Sementsov, last year’s first-round pick, to step into a regular role with the club up front.
“It’s another puzzle that we’ve got to put together,” said Williamson. “We did a good job last year, and this could be a much different hockey team. We want to be a playoff team and a competitive team, and balance that with recouping assets so that we can make our next run at a certain point.”
One big addition up front would be convincing 2025 sixth-round pick Cannon Thibodeau to join the team. The talented Kitchener native is the type of offensive-minded player the team needs.
“We have a shot at maybe getting him this year,” said Williamson of Thibodeau.
The goaltending appears set for the next few seasons with Arvin Jaswal ready to step into the starter’s role and Hagan Bach backing him up.
“We’re juggling a lot of balls,” said Williamson. “It’s the time of year now that we’re thinking about the future, but we also want to make sure we don’t totally fall off the map this year. We want to be a very competitive, hard to play against, team.
“When you look at a good blue line and rock-solid goaltending, I think it gives us lots of optimism.”
This year marks the first time the draft will be held live in more than 26 years. The last time was way back in 2000 at the then-named Hershey Centre in Mississauga when the host IceDogs selected Patrick Jarrett first overall.
The draft was switched to online after Don Cherry and others expressed concern for players who were told to attend the draft but were passed over.
“I worry about that a little bit, but I’m excited about the event,” said Williamson. “The event is going to be spectacular. They put a lot of time and effort into this, and to make it go right, so I think it’s going to be a fun couple of days in Kingston. You can shake their hand and meet their family, and that kind of stuff, is going to be a lot of fun.”
Saturday’s draft action begins at 9 a.m. League meetings will also be held in Kingston before the draft begins on Friday.
DRAFT IS A DEEP ONE
There’s no shortage of talent available in the 2026 OHL Priority Selection.
Ask those who have put together extensive lists of all the prospects available, and the belief is that teams will be grabbing players who will play key roles for their franchises over the next few seasons.
“With the changes to the NCAA rules and more U.S. players on our list, we found the draft to be quite deep,” said Mark Bilotta, head scout with Neutral Zone. “The top end of the draft isn't as impressive as the 2002 or the 2007 groups, but there were a number of 4.5, 4.25 and 4.0 star-rated players on our list.
“We feel that 4.0 plus star-rated players will play in the league in the next one or two years.”
As for what position this year’s draft is heavy on, Bilotta believes teams will have plenty of prospects to choose from on the blueline.
“This draft has a strong cohort of defenders,” said Bilotta. “When we looked at the draft overall, there were a number of quality defenders in the group. Many have the size needed to play at the next level.”
Williamson has changed his mind a bit in that regard.
“Early we all said defence heavy, but I don’t think we all say that anymore,” said the Colts GM. “I think it’s a pretty balanced draft. I think you’re going to see a lot of forwards go in the first round, and you’re going to see a lot of defencemen go in the second round.
“That’s the way I think the draft is going to shake out a little bit.”
LOCAL PLAYERS EXPECTED TO HEAR THEIR NAMES CALLED
Barrie has provided plenty of talent for the OHL draft, and this year is no different.
Here is a list of the Barrie Jr. Colts U16 players listed in Neutral Zone's rankings. The number on the left is their ranking, while the number in the bracket is the point score they have been awarded.
Players given a score of 4 or more are expected to play in the OHL next season or in two years.
- 30 – Lucas Matheson – LD – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (4.25)
- 125 – Jack Lee – C – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.75)
- 142 – John Kanyo – RD – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.75)
- 274 – Joey Seguin – C – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 288 - Corey Coe – RW – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 293 – Gavin O’Connell – C – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 308 – Dylan Biga-Wadstein – RW – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 346 – Massimo Vavala – RD – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 353 – Matteo Rinaldi – G – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 381 – Cameron Hogg – LW – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 403 – Luka Dragojevic – C – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
- 406 – Logan Senay – G – Barrie Jr. Colts U16 (3.5)
