Colts grab Penguins goalie prospect with top pick in CHL Import Draft

The Barrie Colts came into the 2026 CHL Import Draft believing they were strong in the net, but they weren’t about to take a pass on the best player available when their pick came up late in the first round.

With the two players they had targeted with their 49^th overall pick already off the draft board, Colts General Manager Marty Williamson went ahead and added to an already deep crease when he selected Belarus goalie Matvei Nikonovich.

“We just went with the best player available,” said Williamson of the 18-year-old native of Minsk, who last weekend was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round (160^th overall) of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. “He looks like an electrifying goalie.”

The Penguins, who were looking to find Nikonovich a junior team in North America where the young netminder could develop his game, talked with the Colts about possibly drafting the young netminder in Tuesday’s import draft.

With head coach Dylan Smoskowitz helping out at the Penguins’ development camp this weekend, the move made sense to the OHL club, despite already having a pair of young goalies they are excited about in Arvin Jaswall and Hagan Bach.  

“It obviously jams up our (goaltending) situation a little bit, but it’s a huge asset,” said Williamson of adding the just turned 18-year-old to the crease mix. “Whether he is moved or a goalie is moved, it’s a huge asset to the team. This is an elite goaltender. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone with faster legs with how this kid moves in the net.

“I know Pittsburgh is very excited about him, and they wanted to put him in a good place for development and spoke highly of our goalie coach (Dave Belitski), highly of our organization. So, when I couldn’t quite get the player I wanted – he got picked in front of me – this was the best move for my organization.”

The six-foot-two, 187-pound Nikonovich posted an impressive 1.98 goals against average and .939 save percentage in 38 games for Ladia Togliatti of the MHL. Pittsburgh traded its fifth-round pick in the 2028 NHL draft to the Nashville Predators for their fifth-round pick in this year’s draft to be able to grab Nikonovich, who will be at the Colts’ training camp when it starts in late August.

“It’ll allow us to pick up another asset or more picks, and that’s why I made the decision to pull the trigger on the goalie,” said Willliamson. “It wasn’t quite the need of position, but when you can get a kid as high-end, picking as late as we were, it’s pretty special for us.”

Barrie used its 110^th pick overall in the second round to grab Czech U17 winger Elias Matousek. The six-foot-two, 196-pound winger played with Karlovy Vary Jr. B last season, racking up 38 goals and 29 assists for 67 points in 31 games. The 17-year-old also had three goals and four assists for seven points in 16 games with Karlovy in the Czech Jr. league.

“He’s a guy we had targeted for a while,” said Williamson. “We’ve been watching him. He’s an elite goal scorer, but he’s got to work on parts of his game.”

The Barrie GM said Matousek, who will be at training camp in August, reminds him a lot of former Hamilton Bulldogs winger and current Ottawa Senators prospect Arthur Kaliyev, where every shot goes in the net.

“He’s got to work on his pace a little bit and away from the puck, but he plays on the U17 team there in the top group in the Czech in his age group, and he’s considered the best scorer on his team, and we just felt it was a nice piece to have,” explained Williamson.

“We envision him as an elite power-play guy down the road, and we’re going to work on his five-on-five game to get better.”

The Barrie Colts completed the 2026 CHL Import Draft by taking Russian left winger Maxim Shirochenkov with their 171^st pick overall in the third round.

The 16-year-old native of Moscow had 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points in 33 games with the Dynamo Moscow U17s.

Williamson said the six-foot, 165-pound forward was brought to his attention by his friend and New York Islanders Director of European Scouting Jim Paliafito.

“We think there’s a lot of potential for him,” said the Barrie GM. “He wants to come over right away.”

Dynamo Moscow has been looking to lock up Shirochenkov, but he has made it clear he wants to play in Barrie this season.

“We’re excited about him,” said Williamson,” who had a call over Zoom with the Russian winger. “Again, he’s a bit of a project, and he’s highly skilled and has great vision, but we’ve got some work with him.

“Having a late birthday, a lot of us believe this kid can be elite.”

With the Colts in a full rebuild after a run to the OHL finals, Williamson said his focus in the draft was to add young talent that could grow and develop with the team and peak at the same time when the club is looking to get back into contention.

“I had a lot of 2007s that were being thrown at me for the second and third picks, and I just told them it’s not a fit for us, we’re going with young kids,” he said. “We want to get a group of 2009s and 2010s, and sprinkle in some 2008s and have a great age group.

“That’s what can make you elite and augment it with a trade or two, and that’s kind of where the rebuild is, so these kids were perfect fits.”

What’s Up On The Trade Front?

While he will listen to any trade offer, Marty Williamson doesn’t expect there will be any deals in the near future.

“I don’t think so,” said the Barrie GM. “I’ll listen for a couple of our older guys, but I don’t really anticipate doing too much until training camp, and until we see this group and how it all fits and where the needs are or whether we got too many guys at one position.”

Williamson Had to Pivot in the CHL Import Draft

The Barrie GM had two players in mind with his 49^th overall pick in Tuesday’s draft, but as it often happens, they were gone before he could make the pick.

Williamson said it all worked out in the end.

“That’s when we pivoted and decided the goaltender was the best next player for us,” he said. “To give us a wealth of goaltending, that’s never a problem.”