5 OHL Players Who Could Be Moved Before The Trade Deadline The OHL break marks the midway point of the regular season. As such, it is the perfect time to take a look at the standings and ask the question: What can we take away from the standings mid-way through the OHL season? Some teams have set themselves up for success while others have work to do in the second half if they hope to make the playoffs. In part one, we looked at the top-five teams in the Eastern Conference with the general consensus being that there were many teams that have risen higher than their finish last year. In looking at the sixth through tenth place teams the opposite will undoubtedly be true. Several of these teams have slumped this season and find themselves will a mountain to climb in the second half. 6. Brantford Bulldogs - 33 GP (17-13-3) 37 pts The Bulldogs' season stands out for its ebbs and flows. They've beaten Oshawa in all four meetings so far this season and taken down Kingston in three out of four meetings. They've excelled against their Eastern Conference opponents yet have only won one of the seven games played against Western Conference teams. Brantford finished the 2023-24 season third in the Eastern Conference. In doing so, they maintained a .625 winning percentage which is slightly higher than this year's .561. Their biggest addition is undoubtedly St. Louis Blues [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/] prospect Adam Jiricek, though Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] fourth-round pick Owen Protz has taken a big step forward this year. They find themselves in a decent spot and could climb in the second half if they pick up more wins against Western Conference teams. 7. Ottawa 67's - 32 GP (13-12-2-5) 33 pts At the halfway mark, Ottawa finds themselves one spot back of their sixth-place finish in 2023-24. They achieved this largely due to a stretch of games between Dec 6 and Dec 20 when they won five of seven games. This is a team of contradictions in many ways. They have both the best powerplay in the league (30.4 percent) and the worst penalty kill (66.4 percent). The team struggles to score and is largely driven by Henry Mews and Luca Pinelli who are the top two point-getters on the team. It seems likely Ottawa will be a seller at the trade deadline as a quick rebuild seems to be in order. They need to develop a new core of young players that can take them into the future. 8. Brampton Steelheads - 32 GP (14-14-4-0) 32 pts The Steelheads started the season hot and have since slid down the standings to eighth. They are easily one of the biggest surprises this year given their elite talent. Despite being the youngest team in the league, they finished fourth in the Eastern Conference last year and all signs seemed to point towards an improvement after they acquired Carson Rehkopf and Spencer Sova during the offseason. The scoring in Brampton is incredibly top-heavy. Porter Martone, Luke Misa and Rehkopf account for 62 of the team's 138 goals. They have attempted to address their depth by acquiring Vilmer Alriksson and Chase Lefebvre in trades before the break. Brampton can't be counted out of the playoffs by any means. All it would take is a strong second half to shoot them up the standings. 9. North Bay Battalion - 31 GP (13-15-3-0) 29 pts The Battalion finds itself far from its second-place finish at the end of last year. Their .640 winning percentage last year was matched by scoring the second most goals in the Eastern Conference. With .468 winning percentage and only 92 goals in 31 games North Bay is rebuilding. While there are positive signs, including the recent signing of Ryder Cali, this seems like a lost season for North Bay. While it is possible they could make the playoffs with a strong push in the second half the stats don't support the likelihood of that outcome. They traded their major pieces earlier in the year, acquiring Shamar Moses, another of the bright spots for the future. 10. Peterborough Petes - 33 GP (7-20-2-4) 20 pts Peterborough will almost certainly miss the playoffs this year, as they did last year. They are in roughly the same situation as last year, with a .303 winning percentage compared to .353 last year. The two-year hangover from winning the 2022-23 OHL Championship has been tough for Peterborough, though they are trending in the right direction. Forwards Aiden Young, Caden Taylor and 2024 first-round pick Colin Fitzgerald are all developing nicely. They also have a bevy of 2007 and 2008-born players they are working on developing. They also won five of their eight games in December showing their improvement from the beginning of the year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
