Greyhounds looking ahead as OHL draft looms

With the annual Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection set for April 4 and the Soo Greyhounds slated to pick fourth overall, there is a bit of uncertainty, but the team is confident heading in.

“I would definitely say there’s a top end group at the top of the first round,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Friday. “I’m more than confident we’ll get a good player at four.”

“There’s probably five players that you could probably change out at this point but at the same time, there are still some question marks,” Raftis said. “With some players, you never know. You see a lot of rumours, but you don’t know what the case is and who’s going where. Probably earlier next week, it will become a little more clear but it’s hard to say.”

With the North Bay Battalion holding the top pick, 15-year-old forward Adam Fantilli has been widely considered the top player available for the 15-round draft.

The Toronto product, who finished the season with Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, recently signed with the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel.

With the Steel, he will play with his brother Luca, who also played at Kimball Union this season.

The commitment to Chicago changes things at the top of the OHL draft, especially for North Bay.

Fantilli has gone on record that he hasn’t closed the door on playing in the OHL in the future, but the chances of him being in an OHL uniform next season look slim.

For the Greyhounds, regardless of how the Fantilli situation plays out, the team is confident with the player they’ll get at fourth overall.

That feeling doesn’t change as the draft moves on. After their first round pick, the Greyhounds don’t pick again until the third round and Raftis spoke of the opportunity to get players that fit the system as the draft moves on.

“For the most part, it’s a good draft,” Raftis said. “I don’t think there’s as much separation after a group of players, which is intriguing for us as well when you’re going into the next group of picks. There’s definitely guys that fit what we like to do in terms of who we would like to add later in the draft. It’s going to be good on that side of it.”

“In terms of a drop off spot, there are tiers of players,” Raftis added. “There’s a tier in that first round and then after that, it levels a little bit more from about 25 to 40 range. It’s good on that side of it. There are some clear cut guys at the top and after that, it’s a little bit more open. At the same time, it’s a strong group.”

The crop of American players for the draft also boast some quality as well.

“It’s a strong group of Americans this year,” Raftis said.

“I’d say there will be a couple of Americans that will be in the first round and then see if there are going to be fits after that,” Raftis also said. “With the (U.S. Development Team Program) players, sometimes you have to take more of a calculated risk just because they’re potentially not coming for a year or two years.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has relied on video conferences to hold their pre-draft meetings and Raftis said the process “has worked out pretty smoothly.”

“We’ll probably be running our draft day very similar to it,” Raftis added. “Obviously with us not being an essential business, we can’t be operating out of our offices on draft day so we’re going to have a lot of the staff remotely. Our American scouts can’t even cross the border so it’s a unique year on that side of things.”

The April 4 draft is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.