Marty Williamson felt his players and coaching staff should be rewarded for their good showing in the first half of this OHL season.
The Barrie Colts vice president and general manager did exactly that on Tuesday, pulling off a pair of separate trade deadline deals with the Brampton Steelheads for veteran defenceman Parker von Richter and overage forward Mason Zebeski.
In return for von Richter, Barrie gave up three 2027 draft choices, including a 2nd-round pick (BAR), a 3rd-round pick (BAR), and a 3rd-round pick (Windsor).
In return for Zebeski, Barrie moved forward Sam Black and four picks, including a 2nd-round pick (BAR) in 2029, a 4th-round pick in 2027 (Brantford), a 5th-round pick in 2029, and a 6th-round pick in 2026.
Barrie's News Delivered To Your Inbox
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Central Ontario Broadcasting, 431 Huronia Rd, Barrie, Ontario, CA, https://www.cobroadcasting.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
The trades signify that the Colts, who sit at the top of the Central Division standings with a 22-10-2-4 record, are looking to take a deep run in this year’s OHL playoffs.
“If you had talked to me at the start of the year, I would not have guessed us being in first place in our division,” Williamson said to Barrie 360 a short while after the deals were confirmed. “So, this is a credit to players and the coaching staff. I think, as far as management goes, you need to reward this. To bring in a couple of solid, high-profile players is what this group has earned.
“I give all the credit to the players and the coaches that they have got us in the position that we believe we can go for a deep run, and we want to make the team as strong as we can. If we weren’t in this position and were mid-pack, then we likely would have gone the other way and moved our top guys and think more about the future.”
Williamson adds that he’s not done quite yet on the trade front.
“I’ll be looking to add right until 12 noon on Friday,” he said of the OHL trade deadline. “We’re in this position, and we still have a few draft picks. We don’t want to make a dumb move, but anything we think can help the team, we’ll look at.
“There’s not a lot out there, but there’s a little bit, so we’ll keep talking on the phone and see if there’s another way we can improve our team.”
Von Richter, 19, was in his fourth season with the Steelheads after the team originally drafted him in the third round of the 2022 OHL Priority Selection.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound blueliner had four goals and 25 points in 38 games this season.
“He’s one of those guys that logs 30 minutes a game for Brampton,” said Williamson. “He doesn’t make mistakes. He reminds me a lot of when we got (Tristan) Bertucci last year. He’s one of those guys who can play in all situations.
“He’s just a really good hockey player, and we’re excited to get him.”
Williamson felt his club needed one more established defender on the back end.
“When you have guys like Kashawn (Aitcheson) and von Richter, one of them can be on the ice for 30 minutes each,” he said. “It’s pretty special to have that, and we think it really fills in our back end. You can put it up against anybody in the league.”
The Colts were looking for scoring depth up front and believe they helped address that with the addition of Zebeski. The six-foot-two, 197-pound Steelheads captain is well on his way to surpassing his career high in point totals of 35 with 13 goals and 15 assists in 38 games this season.
“He has good size and he moves well,” said Williamson. “As I said to Mason, who was in here a few hours ago, one of the most impressive things about him is that he just keeps getting better, and that’s a credit to him.
“He’s got an inner desire. He wants to be a hockey player, and he wants to try and get a pro contract. In coming to us, and having a good run, he thinks it’s the best move. You can just tell he’s a smart guy.”
The addition of Zebeski gives the Colts four overage players, one over the maximum of three allowed. Barrie must move one of Alex Assadourian, Calvin Crombie, Brad Gardiner, or Zebeski ahead of Thursday’s noon trade deadline for overagers.
Williamson admits he’s had an eye on acquiring the two Brampton veterans for a while now.
“These are the two guys that I wanted about a month ago,” he said. “It’s been a long process to get them, but they just really meet the eye of how we identify our team, and how we play.
“It was one of those things that I crossed my fingers we could get them and was happy when we got the deal done yesterday.”
Even with the deals, the Colts, says Williamson, are still in a good position to remain competitive next season.
They have been among the contenders in the Eastern Conference three out of the last four years, and the Colts’ GM would love to keep that going.
“It’s a lot of credit to (owner Howie Campbell) and the group here, but we plan to be competitive every year,” said Williamson. “Even the team that lost in the first round (in 2023-24), they had a hard-fought series with Oshawa. They thought it was maybe one of their toughest series. We were a couple of breaks away from doing something that year too.
“We’re going to work hard. If we got to bring in some free agents next year and do some things like that. My goal is to make this team competitive every year, and then if we find out we got some good things going, then try to improve it, and that’s what we’ve done this year.”
