Hounds add, subtract
Here they go. Soo Greyhounds have set their roster for the stretch section of the 2019-2020 Ontario Hockey League season.
As expected, the Greyhounds were able to get a commitment from 2002 birth year goalie Nick Malik. Malik joins overage (1999 birth year) starter Bailey Brkin as the Greyhounds top two goalies with Ethan Taylor still in the system.
Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis referred to Malik as a “world class goal-tender” in confirming the decision by the Czech Republic goalie to head to the OHL and the Greyhounds from his home land, where he spent the first part of the 2019-2020 season.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound goalie was taken by the Greyhounds in the first round of the 2019 Canadian Hockey League import draft. He had been playing with HC Frydek-Mistek in the Czech Republic this season had a record of 11-7-1- to go with a 2.46 goals against average and .927 save percentage.
Internationally, Malik represented the Czech Republic over Christmas at the 2020 World Junior Hockey Championship as its third goalie. He was a Czech Republic teammate of Greyhound forward Jaromir Pytlik at the World Juniors.
Meanwhile, as Malik became a Greyhound, veteran 2000 birth year defenseman Holden Wale moved on to the Kitchener Rangers for three draft picks — a third, a fifth and an eighth.
Wale, originally a fourth-round pick of the Greyhounds in 2016, was in his third season with the Greyhounds.
The Greyhounds active roster still includes seven defenceman — Ryan O’Rourke, Jacob LeGuerrier, Billy Constantinou, Robert Calisti, Drew Wawrow, Jacob Holmes and Matthew Halushak.
