Greyhounds acquire Ritchie, Boland from Petes (10:03 p.m. update)

The Soo Greyhounds have made another big splash leading into Friday’s Ontario Hockey League trade deadline.

After acquiring Justin Bailey from the Kitchener Rangers on Tuesday night, the Greyhounds acquired 19-year-old forward Nick Ritchie and overage defenceman Conor Boland from the Peterborough Petes on Wednesday.

The deal was announced shortly after puck drop for the Greyhounds road game in Sudbury against the Wolves.

In return for Ritchie and Boland, the Petes receive defenceman Kyle Jenkins and four draft picks.

The picks include second round draft picks in 2015, 2019 and 2020 and a third round pick in 2017.

“We’re very excited,” Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Raftis said of the deal. “We’re looking at players that we’re bringing in to this team to help us make a run at this. You look at guys that can easily fit into your system for one and that bring in an element that you’re not giving up skill or giving up a number of (assets) just to get bigger. We obviously do get some size with both players but it’s something that we needed when you get into crunch time after Christmas when the games get a little bit tougher and going into the playoffs as well.”

In Boland, the Greyhounds receive a 20-year-old defenceman who had three goals and eight assists in 36 games this season. Both are career highs. The five-year veteran has played in 220 games in his OHL career.

A left-had shot, Boland is 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds.

“In Connor Boland, you’re getting a player that competes every night,” Raftis said. “He’s hard to play against. He’s tough in his own zone. He’s in his fifth year in the league and he’s really excited about an opportunity to win (in Sault Ste. Marie).”

Ritchie is the centrepiece of the deal for the Greyhounds.

A 6-foot-3, 229-pound left winger, Ritchie is a first round pick of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.

In 25 games with the Petes this season, Ritchie had 14 goals and 32 points. He is coming off a 39-goal, 74-point season in 2013-14.

In 190 career games, Ritchie has 87 goals and 180 points.

“He’s a player that can obviously score goals,” Raftis said of Ritchie. “He has the size and the way he moves around the rink, he can be a real force.”

Jenkins was a healthy scratch for the Greyhounds on Wednesday night in Sudbury as the deal was announced around 7:30 p.m., roughly a half-hour after puck drop.

The Greyhounds now have three first-round NHL draft picks on the roster in Ritchie, Darnell Nurse (Edmonton, 2013) and Jared McCann (Vancouver, 2014).

Raftis said the possibility of more moves by the Greyhounds before Friday’s deadline is there.

“There’s potential that we’re looking at a few other things,” Raftis said.

Another rumoured deal involving the Greyhounds on Wednesday night had the team acquiring defenceman Anthony DeAngelo of the Sarnia Sting. At the time of writing, nothing had been confirmed though Greyhounds 2014 first round pick Anthony Salinitri has a healthy scratch in Sudbury despite the team already playing shorthanded.

The trade with the Greyhounds wasn’t the only deal of the day for the Petes as they dealt Sault Ste. Marie native Anthony Stefano to the Windsor Spitfires.

Stefano was traded along with a second round pick in 2015 to the Windsor Spitfires. The Petes received second and fourth round picks in 2016, an eighth round pick in 2018 and a second round pick in 2020.

Stefano was at home in Sault Ste. Marie awaiting a trade and met the team in Belleville for the Spitfires game on Wednesday night.

(Photo: New Soo Greyhounds forward Nick Ritchie. Aaron Bell/OHL Images)