Better late than never. The Peterborough Petes have finally put pen to paper with the 2025 first overall pick.
With just a week away before the Petes open up their training camp for the 2025-26 season, the organization announced the signing of the Jack Ferguson Award winner, Kaden McGregor, to an OHL Standard Player Agreement.
Back in late July, we wrote about the five first-round picks from the 2025 OHL Priority Selection who remained unsigned. McGregor was amongst those names, which was odd, considering the previous two first overall picks — Matthew Schaefer and Ethan Belchetz — had signed with their respective teams shortly after being drafted.
So what was the holdup?
Mike Davies from The Peterborough Examiner reported a month ago that McGregor's signing delay was caused by dissatisfaction from his representatives at Newport Sports Management regarding the changes the league has implemented to its standard player contract.
Peterborough Petes Sign Leon Kolarik; Import Roster Complete
The <a href="https://chl.ca/ohl-petes/">Peterborough Petes</a> have finalized their import roster for the upcoming 2025-26 season. The club will have three brand new imports who will get their first taste of CHL action in just a few weeks. And interestingly enough, all three are eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft.
The OHL had made modifications to the SPA (Standard Player Agreement), such as the removal of residential costs from OHL education packages, after the NCAA changed its rules to allow those playing in the CHL to maintain their NCAA commitments.
“Teams used to be able to guarantee players four years of education money, but now they can only provide that guarantee for first-round selections. All other players will receive one year of funding for each OHL season played,” Davies wrote in his article.
Peterborough Petes GM and Vice President of Operations Michael Oke told Davies that he was confident they would get McGregor signed. The wait is over. Now, the organization and McGregor can focus on training camp, and where he will play in their lineup for the upcoming season.
“I’ve heard so many great things about the talent Peterborough has,” McGregor said. “It means a lot to me knowing I’m going to a great organization, which has a great reputation and has a lot of great players who have gone through this place. I’m ready to get going.”
Three players from the first round remain unsigned now. Ironically, Sarnia Sting fourth-overall pick Brenner Lammens remains unsigned and is also represented by Newport.
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