The Ontario Hockey League Trade Deadline expired at noon today and the Owen Sound Attack’s deadline activity was limited to the two transactions yesterday.
Thursday, Owen Sound dispatched a pair of picks to Plymouth for Liam Dunda and then sent 2 more picks to Ottawa for overage Erik Bradford.
What’s interesting is the Attack didn’t connect on what was their stated pre-deadline targets.
Owen Sound wanted to add a 1995 born player, specifically a player who would be a strong bet to play overage next year.
Plus, if they were to dispatch an existing star, in essence Chris Bigras, they had specific players in mind as part of the return.
Notably, Dunda & Bradford, while upgrades, are not of the birth year initially sought, plus the targeted players from a Western Conference rival in a proposed Bigras deal, remain with that team.
Does that make the Attack trade efforts ineffective or futile ?
No, not at all.
In my view, Owen Sound is better than prior to the deadline, but, based on the dealings of others, but not much closer to being a contender for the Western Conference crown.
I’m Fred Wallace