The next wave of Battalion talent stepped onto the ice for the first time at Memorial Gardens in North Bay over the weekend during the teams annual Orientation Camp, including their 2024 first and second round draft picks Ryder Carey and Kent Greer.
Both Carey, a centre from Oakville, and Greer, a defenseman from Renfrew, were signed to an education and development agreement on Saturday.
There’s going to be an opportunity for both players to potentially play big minutes with the team next season as the Troops will have to make decisions on ten players who will be eligible to play their overage seasons in 2024-2025, and per OHL rules, a team can only carry three of those players on their roster.
Some of that will, hopefully, get sorted out by NHL teams bringing their prospects into the fold, which could include Seattle Kraken 3rd round pick (#68 overall in 2022) Ty Nelson, someone Greer is already drawing comparisons to.
Like Nelson, Greer is a speedy right-hand shot defender who scouts say makes a good first pass and is not afraid to rush with the puck.
“I think I’m an offensive d-man that can run a power play but still contribute to all situations. I take pride in my defensive side of the game too,” says Greer.
Greer was chosen in the second round (#29 overall ) and Assistant General Manager John Winstanley says they looked at Greer as someone who could chip in offensively from the backend.
“With Nelson likely moving on to bigger and better things next season, we needed to draft someone who was coming up the pipeline who could be a puck moving, power play type of defenseman and that was pretty exciting to get him.”
Greer, listed at 5'8" and 154-pounds, is a Renfrew, Ontario product who played with the Barrie Colts U16 AAA program this past year and in 45 regular-season, playoff and OHL Cup games, he scored 19 goals and added 40 assists for 59 points.
“Kent was a pleasant surprise to have still available in the second round of the Priority Selection,” General Manager Adam Dennis said to Battalionhockey.com. “He’s an elite skater with natural offensive instincts while still being able to take care of his own end. He was a key piece on a very successful Barrie team, and we feel he can make an impact in our league at a young age.”
During the scrimmage games at Orientation Camp, he showed off a powerful shot that is going to be a weapon in the OHL. Greer also came up a few days early and got into a practice with the Major Junior Club before they headed off to Oshawa to begin their Eastern Conference Final series.
“I was fortunate enough to skate with the team this week and they are a great group of guys,” says Greer. “They have all been playing together for a few years and you can see the bond they have, and they let me fit in easily. It’s been a great experience so far.”
Up front the Battalion will be losing Captain Liam Arnsby and Dallas Stars prospect Justin Ertel who will be graduating from Major Junior after this season. There will be spots open with Sandis Vilmanis, Dalyn Wakely, Owen Van Steensel, Andrew LeBlanc, and Brice Cook as the other forwards who will be in their overage year's next year. That means the six-foot, 174-pound right-shot centre Carey, will have a good opportunity waiting for him to play a big role on next year's team.
“Ryder is a guy that we feel will fit into our program seamlessly,” said general manager Adam Dennis. “He’s a complete player with a winning pedigree and is someone who’s addicted to the game.”
Carey played on the OHL cup champion Oakville Rangers squad this past season.
“Playing on a great Oakville Rangers team allowed the scouts to see me excel in big games and in big moments,” says Carey.
“Winning the OHL Cup I feel just put it out there that I’m a player they can trust to be part of a winning culture.”
In 42 regular-season and playoff games the 16-year-old Carey scored 30 goals and added 36 assists for 66 points.
Winstanley adds, “Ryder can really score. We have guys like Anthony Romani and other big pieces who can put the puck in the net, but this is a kid who seemed to score all the time. He’s a game-breaker who has a lot of ability.”
Carey agreed with that assessment, “I think it's my work ethic and my ability to be such a versatile player that has gotten me to where I am.”
This could end up being an important draft for the Battalion and their success. It’s the first time the Troops have drafted in the first two rounds in three seasons. With Dennis at the helm, his first draft took place in 2020 and that year they took Ty Nelson in the first round, and Dalyn Wakely in the second.
The following year it was Owen Outwater and Nic Sima in rounds one and two respectively who were dealt for pieces that helped the Battalion in their playoff pushes the last two seasons. Outwater, moved to Kingston for five draft picks and Sima shipped in a package to Saginaw for forward Josh Bloom and defenceman Brayden Hislop.
The 2022 draft featured no second-round selections, but the Battalion picked six players between the first and fifth rounds with notable names which included the likes of Ethan Procyszyn (1st round #20 overall), Jacob Therrien (3rd round #44 overall), Brayden Turley (3rd round #61 overall), Mike McIvor (4th round #83 overall) and Dylan Richter (5th round #101 overall).
And with the depth the Battalion have built with their 2024 roster at the Major Junior level, it allowed a lot of the prospects from the 2023 draft to take a development year in Junior A or Junior B leagues around the province including Zachary Wilson (3rd round #53 overall) who played in Haliburton, Aaron Enright (4th round #8 1 overall) who played in Renfrew and Reyth Smith (5th round #100 overall) who played in Powassan and are expected to make some noise at Training Camp in the fall, while first round pick Carter Kostuch was dealt at the deadline in a package that netted the Troops Sandis Vilmanis, Andrew LeBlanc and Jacob LeBlanc from Sarnia.
Both Carey and Greer come into the program fully aware of what this team has done over the last few years and that an expectation and standard has been set by those who came before them.
“It will be nice to be a part of that legacy of playing deep into the playoffs in North Bay and I’m hoping to play a big role in that,” says Carey. “I know a lot of the guys are already talking about how exciting it is to be a part of a team that is always winning and always has a shot of going to the finals.”
Dennis says both players boast big-moment credentials.
“They played in a lot of big games in the last little while. They were big parts of their teams. They performed in big moments, and they’re hockey players. They’re not one-dimensional guys. They excel in certain areas but they play the game the right way. We feel like they fit the mould that we covet.”
Along with some of their cohorts from the 2024 draft, Carey and Greer got to experience the playoff atmosphere when they were introduced to the North Bay crowd ahead of the Battalion’s playoff game against Sudbury in the second round.
“Having that fanbase behind you and playing in those big moments would be surreal, and I’m looking forward to getting to experience that,” says Greer. “It was awesome to come up and see the full sellout crowd. The support they had for the new draft picks was great to see, you already feel welcomed by the community.”
