The lack of an OHL season did not stop NHL scouts from taking notice of some of the current and up-and-coming talent within the North Bay Battalion organization these days.
An indication of that is the large amount of Battalion players who are at or who will be travelling to NHL Development Camps this summer.
If you are keeping score at home, there will be eight Battalion players on the ice with NHL teams which may be a record number of Troops attending NHL camps since the team moved to North Bay in 2013.
"The letdown of not having a season obviously affected a lot of guys drafts but certainly we have a number of guys going to development camps and hopefully can turn into training camps for some of our guys and really to take that experience that they can get and really pay huge dividends coming into our camp and bringing back what they learned," noted Battalion GM Adam Dennis.
Here's your list of Troops:
- Mason Primeau - Vegas Golden Knights
- Brandon Coe - San Jose
- Joe Vrbetic - Montreal
- Matvey Petrov - Edmonton
- Avery Winslow - Tampa Bay
- Kyle Jackson - Nashville
- Paul Christopoulos - Carolina
- Ty Hollett - Ottawa
The Battalion GM knows that will create some challenges at training camp which opens in North Bay on August 31.
He believes it is a good problem for the organization to have.
"This is pretty exciting, it will cause us to have a little bit of a shorter roster for a week or two while guys are there and hopefully longer," noted Dennis.
"We want these guys to earn spots in training camps and really show what they can and I think it is a great opportunity for all of our guys but I certainly am very proud of this accomplishment for our organization."
Dennis says 2020 First Overall Import pick Matvei Petrov will come to North Bay and meet his billet family prior to departing for Edmonton for the Oilers camp. He was selected in the 6th round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft by the Oilers.
Meantime, Avery Winslow, who went unselected in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, got some great news when the Florida native was invited to attend the Tampa Bay Lightning development and main camp.
"He will be on the ice with the Stanley Cup champs and you talk about experience, what better one than to see those guys fresh off of a Stanley Cup win and hopefully take back some of their habits into our season," said Dennis.
Dennis just hopes this is not just a 2021 anomaly.
"Hopefully this is a regular occurrence so we can get as many guys as we can in NHL camps for years to come," said Dennis.
