I view it as a certainty

I believe most fans of the Sault Greyhounds will be happy that the team has decided to go all-out in an attempt to win an Ontario Hockey League championship by adding forward Taylor Raddysh and defenceman Jordan Sambrook at the trade deadline.

But some discontent has been expressed at the high price the team paid to get the two stars from the Erie Otters, Hayden Fowler, the Hounds’ first-round draft pick in 2017 and nine future draft choices starting in 2019.

Sault Star sports writer Peter Ruicci indicated in a column on Thursday that teams these days pay a heavy price to go all in but recoup the picks they gave up in following seasons.

He suggested the Hounds will do the same thing, possibly moving OHL stars Morgan Frost and Matt Vilalta to contenders before the 2019 trade deadline.

I don’t think there is a possibility the Hounds will move the two; I view it as a certainty.

Think about it.

The Hounds have a great team this year; they are not going to have a great team next year because they will be woefully short of talent in a major age group, 19-year-olds.

They will only have Frost, Vilalta and defenceman Anthony Demeo in that group. Frost and Vilalta, of course, will attract very high prices on the trade market.

As of this writing Frost was leading the OHL with 66 points and Vilalta had the best goals-against record at 2.38. With another year’s experience behind them, they should be even better.

As such, the Greyhounds should be able to more than replenish their cupboard of draft choices.sault greyhounds, ohl,hockey,

So I am fully in favour of the Hounds going after the big prizes, the OHL championship and the Memorial Cup.

It may not happen but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

It wasn’t that long ago, the 2014-15 season, that the Hounds went for the top prizes, adding stars Nick Ritchie, Justin Bailey, Anthony DeAngelo and Connor Boland at the trade deadline.

It turned out to be to no avail as they lost to Connor McDavid and the Otters, a team that Raddysh was on, in the playoffs.

But in three short years the Hounds have risen to such prominence again so I say go for it.

Actually, in regard to the possible sale of Frost and Vilalta next year, there was only one time when I spoke out against the Hounds peddling a top player.

That was when they were having a disastrous year and Richard Jackman, whose 33 goals set a team record for a defenceman, was the only star. Without him there was really nothing worth watching so I wrote that I hoped he wasn’t moved. He wasn’t.

But I won’t be saying that next year.

I THINK IT IS time someone in authority checked out the sound system at the Essar Centre, or whatever the place is going to be called, because it is awful.

Unless it is the voices of some of the people who use it that are not compatible with it.

Whatever, a lot of what we hear just comes out as noise. There are words there but they are unintelligible.

This is especially bad during what passes as entertainment between periods but also during announcements.

I also have a personal complaint about the loud music that is so often played. Having dinner there before a game one night a discussion could be held with no problem until 6:30, then it was drowned out by the loud music that came on.

So that’s my rant for the day. I have said it before with no change so I won’t expect anything to result from this one either.