The Barrie Colts are a different team today. One whose focus is on the future.
The Colts made certain to follow through with that plan, making three more deals ahead of Tuesday’s noon OHL overage trade deadline.
With a focus on down the road, Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson capped off a busy day by adding three more players and a combined 10 draft picks and conditional pick in return for overagers Connor Punnett, Anson Thornton and import forward Eduard Sale.
“We had to reorganize a little bit and fill up our draft cupboard a little bit and get a couple of young kids in here,” said Williamson, who a little less than 36 hours earlier acquired forward Brenden Sirizzotti and three picks from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for overager Jacob Frasca and a later draft pick. “If you weren’t going to be a part of this team going forward, what kind of assets are we going to get for you.”
After dealing Punnett and Thornton ahead of the noon cutoff, the club made its biggest move of this deadline when they sent Sale, a 20th overall pick of the Seattle Kraken in the 2023 NHL draft, and defenceman Olivier Savard to the Kitchener Rangers in return for forward Kyle Morey, defenceman Blair Scott, a second-pick in 2026 (Saginaw), two third-round picks in 2027 (Kitchener, Windsor), fourth-round picks in 2025 (Ottawa), 2026, 2027 and fifth-round picks in 2026 (Saginaw) and 2027 (Niagara).
Williamson said the decision to move Sale, who had seven goals and 20 points in 25 games for Barrie, surrounded the uncertainty of his return next season and with the Rangers sitting in top spot in the Western Conference and the Colts looking to the future, dealing the talented Czechia star made sense.
“There was some contradiction as to what was going to happen next year with Eddy,” said Williamson. “They’d (Seattle) told us Kitchener was a place to finish out and then bring him to have a shot at pro. It’s one of those things we have relationships with agents, and you do the right thing.
“If this was a win year for us, and we’re sitting in second place, we don’t do moves like that, you take a hard stance. But when you're kind of reloading and have a team that will give up eight draft picks and a couple of young players, then these deals come together.”
Moving Savard, who was acquired in a deal from Saginaw before the season, wasn’t necessarily in the plans for Barrie.
“We like Olivier an awful lot, but they were looking for an older defenceman and to make the whole package work, that was kind of the fit for them,” said Williamson.
The decision to move their captain was a difficult one. With a lot of moving parts, dealing Punnett and making a move that was acceptable to both the team and the player proved a little more difficult.
After other deals fell through, the Colts ended up moving the gritty leader to the Oshawa Generals for overage defenceman Thomas Stewart, a third-round pick in 2025 (Soo) and a sixth-round pick in 2027 (Peterborough).
“Moving overagers are tough. There has to be fits,” said Williamson. “This one was more they were looking for a left-shot defenceman, and we were looking for the right-shot defenceman. Both of them play a lot of minutes. Kind of different players, but they’re both good for their team and we also landed a couple of picks with that one.
“We just thought it was kind of a win/win for both hockey teams and for the overagers it kind of put them in a better spot as far as position-wise being a right defenceman and left defenceman.”
A favourite in the dressing room and among fans, Punnett developed into one of the league’s top defencemen after coming over from Saginaw in a trade four years ago.
His countless work in the community was among the many reasons why the Colts wanted to do right by the player and give him a chance to finish his junior career with a team that could make some noise in the playoffs.
“This one was personal with me. I think an awful lot of Connor,” Williamson said of the defenceman, who is looking to land a pro contract. “I think he’s a wonderful young man. I think this is one of these deals where we really had his best interests in mind. Oshawa is a team that has underachieved a little bit, but they’re very talented and they can make a push in the playoffs, and I think Connor is a huge pickup for them.
“This is one of those I think we did the right thing. Connor was very willing to stay with our young guys, but he also expressed he would like a team that maybe could have a deep run in the playoffs, and this was kind of that fit for him.”
The Colts tried to move the injured Thornton, who spent the first half in the AHL with Tucson and was just returned by the Arizona Coyotes last week but trying to move an overage goalie last minute proved difficult with most contenders having settled on the crease area.
The club would move him along with a conditional 12th Rd. pick in 2024 in a last-minute deal to the Niagara IceDogs for a conditional 15th Rd. pick in 2024.
It us allowed the club to keep Barrie native and overage goalie Ben West, who had been with team all season and had played well, along with rookie Sam Hillebrandt.
“We had to take the safe approach,” said Williamson. “Anson is probably four to six weeks away and even then, there was no guarantees that he was going to be 100 per cent. We had a good talk with him. He’s going to go back to the NHL team and rehab probably finish in the East Coast Hockey League.
“It was more of a paper move. This will allow us to keep Westie.”
In Kitchener’s Morey, the Colts get someone they believe has more offensive potential than the six goals and 17 points he’s put up in 85 games over two seasons with Kitchener.
“We talked to a lot of people, and he wasn’t getting a ton of opportunity there, but they always fit him in and moved him around,” said Williamson. “He was a jack of all trades. He’s looking forward to having a bigger role with us, both boys are.”
Scott, who had a goal in 29 games over two seasons, is a hard-nosed defenceman.
“We’re going to give both of these guys an opportunity,” added the Colts general manager. “I think the draft picks were very important to this deal, to kind of restock the cupboards with another second and thirds, fourth and fifths. They turn into players. Beau Jelsma was a third-round pick, and these are the kind of players were looking to restock going forward or be able to make trades and have assets that way.”
While the OHL trade deadline for non-overagers is Wednesday at noon, negotiating time is over for Barrie.
“No, we’re done,” said Williamson. “This will be our group going forward.”
The Colts open a brief road swing Wednesday night when they travel to Erie to take on the Otters and then return north of the border for a Thursday night date with the Niagara IceDogs.
Stewart joined the club Tuesday night at the hotel in St. Catharines, while both Morey and Scott will join the club this morning.
Despite the moves, Williamson made it clear the Colts are still focused on locking up a playoff spot. Barrie remains three points behind Peterborough, which heavily unloaded at the deadline, for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and still holds two games in hand.
“You saw the game against the Soo,” said Williamson. “You play the right way, and you play with energy, everybody’s competitive.”
Game time tonight at Erie Insurance Arena is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Injured Colts blueliner and Waterloo native Beau Akey played minor hockey with both Morey and Scott and has known the Kitchener natives for over 10 years. . . Williamson kidded about having to face Punnett three more times this season. “We have three more games against Oshawa, and we asked him that they’d be non-contact games and he take it easy on us,” he said, laughing out loud.
banner image: Thomas Stewart - OHL Images
