The saying “there’s no substitute for experience” is obviously a saying Rob Papineau took center stage this week.
After signing two veteran players, defenseman Donovan McCoy and forward Zacharie Giroux, ahead of Wednesday’s OHL deadline, the Sudbury Wolves general manager added skater with a long playoff career, 19-year-old defenseman Noah Van. Vliet, to his resume as a component. of an industry with the Brantford Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Bolstering their present-day title hopes meant the Wolves had to give away a bit of their future in the deal, which saw the local club send 17-year-old rookie defenceman Owen Protz to Brantford, along with with Flint’s second-round pick in 2026 and third-round choice in 2027, as well as Kingston’s second-round selection in 2027.
Papineau did not take any additional action in the final hours before Wednesday morning’s deadline.
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“We’re really happy with our deadline,” said Papineau, reached a short time later. “Going into it, we had a pretty specific plan for the things we wanted to accomplish and we were able to check every box. At the top of the list was bringing in Zacharie Giroux, who is a guy who’s from Sudbury and a guy we really valued, not just as a hockey player, but as a leader. In order to do that, we had to make some decisions on our overages, because with the rules, you’re only allowed three.”
Having to send one of their OA defenders, Djibril Touré, to the Windsor Spitfires to make room for Giroux, Papineau and company attempted to shore up their blue line and did so by trading McCoy and then adding Van Vliet the next day.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Toronto native Van Vliet is a veteran of 108 OHL regular-season games and a member of the Bulldogs’ 2022 OHL championship-winning team.
“We wanted a big, strong left-shot D who could come in here and really help us out,” Sudbury’s GM said. “When we looked around the league, Noah Van Vliet was at the top of that list.”
After watching the former fourth-round pick use his strong, tough flavor of play, forged stick and ability to box effectively on a Bulldogs scale last week, Papineau was even more motivated to take the plunge.
He was sorry to see Protz go after seeing the young rearguard take the first steps in what would be a wonderful OHL career, but felt Van Vliet was the right fit for a team in win-now mode.
“You can see that what we’ve brought back are some smart players and draft capital, but overall, with the guys we’ve signed, we’re pleased with the deadline,” Papineau said. “We’re satisfied with what we’ve been able to do. ” We have to get it done and we think it fits very well with the organization we have here. “
That organization included some previous additions who also contributed in key ways, such as defender Nick DeAngelis, acquired from the Windsor Spitfires earlier in the season, and imported forward Dalibor Dvorsky, who traveled to Nickel City in October after starting the season on the road.
Papineau also bolstered its goalkeeping organization in December by trading Marcus Vandenberg for Marcus Vandenberg and opted to stick with 3 goalies after the deadline, adding importer Jakub Vondras and OHL sophomore Nate Krawchuk.
“They gave us seven D’s, thirteen strikers and three goalkeepers,” he said, noting that his team has yet to have its full squad in any of the 36 games this season.
“For what we want to achieve this year, we need intensity. It’s a long stage and the playoffs are long, so we try to make sure we have intensity at each and every position.
Sudbury acquired 19-year-old defenceman McCoy from the Peterborough Petes on Monday, then added 20-year-old forward and local product Giroux on Tuesday. Papineau also sent 20-year-old defenceman Toure to Windsor in order to trim down to three overagers.
McCoy, Giroux and Val Vliet were to join the newly returned Dvorsky and the rest of the Wolves in action against the Mississauga Steelheads on Wednesday night.
bleeson@postmedia. com
twitter.com/ben_leeson
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