OHL rights of NOJHL goalie dealt
Garrett Forrest, a 1997 birth-year goalie who starred for the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in 2015-2016, has had his Ontario Hockey League rights transferred from the North Bay Battalion to the Flint Firebirds.
In exchange for Forrest and a fourth-round draft pick in 2017, North Bay gets the rights to overage goalie Brent Moran from Flint.
“We have a number of overage-eligible players to manage,” said Firebirds general manager George Burnett, in explaining the trade from Flint’s end. “An opportunity presented itself in North Bay. In return we get a draft pick as well as add depth to the goal-tending position.”
The American-born Forrest was a first-team NOJHL all-star last season with 24 wins, a 2.37 goals against average and .934 save percentage for Powassan.
Besides Flint, Moran also has extensive OHL experience with the Niagara IceDogs and was a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Stars at the 2014 National Hockey League draft.
Battalion traded away a bright young tender in Cormier, for short term gain previous. Now a similar situation.
I’ll assume Moran is a shoe in and Forrest is not a sure thing, but it would be nice to see a goalie someday make his way up through the system and stick.
Cheers! !
Right on Motley … Can Stan develop a goalie for the Battalion at some point ??? !!! ??? !!!
This was a great Trade… Forrest as a 19 year old is going to the USHL or the NAHL, for American players this is an attractive option, as an American citizen the OHL Firebirds may offer 3 years of CIS but I doubt it, Forrest will get a NCAA D1 out of either the USHL or the NAHL, and thats 4 more years of hockey and many graduated players out of the NCAA go on to play pro in many different leagues.
The Cormier trade was a mistake, but you cant live in the past, this trade brings in a experienced goalie to help mentor there 17 year old Future… North Bay now has a solid goalie and a very experienced D core.
Forrest has already said he will be at Flint’s OHL camp next week and has a good chance to stick.
Didn’t Jake Smith play the last 4 seasons for the Batts? Who developed him?
Chris… If he does that’s fantastic… But if he takes less then a 3 year CIS offer he is crazy… But too each his own. The NCAA would be a better long term option for him.
Also Randy have you heard any information on a tampering charge against he powasson voodoos and one of there staff members?
NB Battalion DS16,
Story that you mention is posted on the Kitchener-Waterloo Record site.
Forrest’s numbers seem a bit better on paper than Moran but then playing for Flint last season might have skewed Moran’s stats in a negative way. One thing for sure, Stan likes them big and this guy fills a lot of the net.