Draft season will wrap up for the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday.
The Ontario Hockey League team is slated to pick seventh overall in the Canadian Hockey League’s annual import draft, which begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.
“We have some good options in that pick,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Tuesday evening.
The last time the Greyhounds picked in the top 10 was in 2021 when the team selected Russian defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev.
“I’m excited about it because sometimes when you’re picking in the fifties, which we’ve done a fair amount of times, it’s a little bit more of you’re going through that process of do you take a swing at a high-end player? Do you take someone that’s just going to report or do you take a guy that’s fifty-fifty?,” Raftis said. “Where we’re picking here, we have that ability of you want to make sure it’s an impact player. The age is going to be a factor and things like that just because we return so many guys.”
“You want somebody that will come over here and you don’t have to carve them out a spot,” Raftis added.
Coming off a season that saw the team go with a younger roster than in past years, Raftis said the focus will be on adding depth with a player expected to join the team and have an impact.
“It’s not like you need somebody to come over and wear a uniform,” Raftis said. “You want someone that’s going to add to the group, whether they’re pushing a guy out or however it shakes out. You want to make sure that you add that depth in whatever spot it’s going to come in to.”
As far as position playing a role in their selection, Raftis said the only position the Greyhounds won’t use their pick on is a goaltender.
The Greyhounds general manager added that, considering players at both forward and on the blueline, “it’s a good opportunity to really improve the group.”
“It’s just going to be a matter of what falls in front of us,” Raftis also said.
When it comes to their import spots this summer, Raftis confirmed that Kudryavtsev is set to return to the Sault next season.
With the blueliner confirmed to be in the mix, Raftis added that the team will use one of their two picks in Wednesday’s draft.
Between Kudryavtsev, previous import picks Julian Lutz and Noel Nordh, and the player the team selects on Wednesday, Raftis said he’s confident one of the latter three will be with the team when the 2023-24 Ontario Hockey League kicks off in September.