Now that the dust has settled on the trade deadline I thought that it would be fun to try to project next year's lineup.
Working on a few assumptions:
1) Chmelevski, Dipietro, Kody Clark and Hoefenmayer all go pro;
2) The imports remain the same.
FORWARDS
Keating-Rossi-Clarke
Bitten-Hoelscher-Quinn
Maggio-Tolnai-Yule
Crete-OPEN-OPEN
Dick
From last year's draft, it would be great to see the team sign 4th rounder Colby Ambrosio, who they have mentioned several times as a prospect sign in the offseason. There don't appear to be any other players drafted last year who are immediate fits.
From the 2017 draft, both high end American players Swankler and Afanasyev were dealt as part of packages for OA stars. Trevor Kuntar is having a good year in the USHL but has a Harvard commitment. The rest of the class is likely to stick in Jr. A.
One other possible wild card would be a player with a similar situation as Merrick Rippon a few years back- Josh Barnes playing in Cornwall who was an early second rounder with Owen Sound last year and who has a PSU commitment. With the high end draft prospects on this team for next year, maybe he is persuaded to accept a deal to Ottawa as it would seem that he wants to stay local. He was rated by most services as a first round talent in last year's draft and would easily slot in the team's top 3 lines.
DEFENCE
Bahl-Rippon
Okhotyuk-Rippon
Belanger-Peric
OPEN
Anthony Costantini, a 6th round pick in last year's draft is having a good year but it is playing with younger players in Midget AAA. From the 2017 draft both Gavin Wood and Bruce Coltart are having respectable seasons in the CCHL
GOALIES
Andree
Cranley
We should be set for the next two years with this solid duo.
OBSERVATIONS
The Goalie and Defence situations will be amongst the top teams in the league.
It seems that the Forward group is a little bit light. They could try to add an OA in the offseason like a Greg Meireles. Another option would be to trade Nikita Okhotyuk before the Import draft and trust that Andre Tourigny can work his Import draft magic to draft a high end European player looking for scouting exposure with Rossi/Quinn/Tolnai. A team that has two Import player openings like Sudbury would probably jump at the opportunity to gain a 19 year old in Okthotyuk with two years of OHL experience.
They did a great job in holding onto their five selections in the top three rounds. If things remained status quo, there would be at a minimum three openings for their top two round selections and a shot for one of their third rounders to stick as well.
It will be interesting to see if next year's team can develop as well as this year's team. With the OHL hosting the Mem Cup in 2021, maybe it makes sense to trade the graduating players next year to load up for 2021. If one of Kitchener/London/Windsor get to host, the Eastern Conference winner may automatically qualify if the Western host team wins their conference. The good news is that there are more bright years ahead after a very well managed deadline.