The Barrie Colts had hoped to have their overage picture all clear for the beginning of this season, but it appears that will take some time yet.
The club dealt overage forward Tyler Savard to Kingston on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 27) after having previously moved Braden Hache in a trade with Saginaw, but the club got a bit of bad news on the weekend when overage goalie Anson Thornton broke a finger in Arizona.
“From the talk that we got, they’re keeping him through the injuries,” said Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson. “So, he’s probably going to be there another couple of weeks.”
That means that overage goalie and Barrie native Ben West will get an opportunity to start tonight (Sept.28) against North Bay.
“Arizona has made no commitment to us that he’s coming back,” said Williamson of Thornton. “It’s a situation there, but we feel real good with West.”
Overage forward Jacob Frasca also remains in camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While the Colts wait on those two veterans, along with West they still have newly named captain Connor Punnett and Josh Kavanagh. The Colts can only ice three in a game.
“Having the abundance of OA’s could really pay off for us,” said the Colts bench boss. “We’re not sure who slots in where yet, and if not, we hope they can get moved in the league.”
The Colts will have import pick Eduard Sale in the lineup tonight after he returned from camp with the Seattle Kraken.
Williamson believes it won’t take long for the 20th overall pick in this year’s NHL draft to become a fan favourite.
“He’s got special talent and the thing that I didn’t know about him was he’s a beast in the gym and just how strong he is,” he said. “His core strength, he can handle anything. We’re excited to be able to work with him and get him back. He came over a little late because of the Czech team, and then he goes to camp, so we really haven’t seen a ton of him, but he fit in so well.
“He’s different from some of the past guys like Oscar Olausson that we had. This kid is really going to be special for us, I think, and remind people of the Andrei Svechnikov’s and the (top) guys that we’ve had in the past.”
Defenceman Beau Akey has also returned after a strong camp with the Edmonton Oilers. With Brandt Clarke likely to open the season with the Los Angeles Kings and Braden Hache and Artur Cholach also gone, the Colts will be looking to a pair of young defenders to take a big step forward this season.
Kashawn Aitcheson went through a big learning curve last season as a rookie, but after a solid finish and a strong camp the physical defender appears ready to break out.
“He’s a lot more confident,” said Williamson. “I don’t think it’s a surprise. I really felt all summer that this kid is going to step in and be impacting for us and he’s going to be. We’ve really had a good succession with Brandt Clarke’s teaching Akey and Punnett working with Aitcheson. Punnett’s just a real good guy and it helps stabilize these guys.”
Williamson is also excited about seeing what a healthy Grayson Tiller can do on the backend. The blueliner spent most of his season battling a shoulder injury before shutting it down late in the year to have shoulder surgery.
Tiller returned in time to play a pair of preseason games and looks ready to play his type of game heading into tonight’s season opener.
“Last year was a tough year for him,” said Williamson. “Everybody handles injuries differently, but when your shoulder is flopping out and you’re going through a lot of pain it’s hard to play this game. I think shutting him down was the right thing, to kind of get him ready as early as we can for this year. Otherwise, we could have been into November or December to get him ready.
“His feet look quicker. He looks confident out there and I think we got ourselves a really solid defenceman, and that’s kind of what we need from him.”
banner image: CHL
