Colella a bargain for Flint
Among the many impact trades made by general manager George Burnett that have elevated the Flint Firebirds into a solid Ontario Hockey League team this season, the low-key acquisition of left winger Maurizio Colella has paid nice dividends.
It was just before the January 10 trade deadline that Burnett sent a fifth-round pick in 2019 to the North Bay Battalion for the 19-year old Colella, a hard-working veteran who had totaled 17 goals, 27 assists, 44 points in 181 previous regular-season games dating back to the 2013-2014 campaign when he was an OHL rookie with the erstwhile Belleville Bulls.
But since joining Flint from North Bay in January of this year, Colella has become close to a point-per-game player with the Firebirds. In 21 games with Flint, Colella has 9 goals, 9 assists, 18 points.
What is interesting about Burnett trading for Colella is their prior history dating back to 2013.
It was at the 2013 OHL draft when Burnett was coach and general manager in Belleville that he used the Bulls fifth-round pick to select Colella.
Colella played in 80 regular-season games for Burnett over parts of two terms in Belleville and accompanied his coach to Hamilton to begin the 2015-2016 season after the Bulls relocated to the steel town and became the Bulldogs.
But midway through last season, Burnett traded Colella from Hamilton to North Bay.
Burnett then parted ways with the Bulldogs as their coach and GM following the ’15-16 season but wasn’t out of work long. Starting fresh with a new hockey department in their second season in Flint, the Firebirds hired Burnett to be their GM and brought in former North Bay assistant Ryan Oulahen as head coach.
Thus, when Burnett traded for Colella in January, it not only reunited the two from their Belleville-Hamilton days but reunited Colella with Oulahen after they had spent time together in North Bay.
Suffice to say that Burnett and Oulahen knew what type of player and person they were getting in Colella.
At any rate, after winning only 20 games and missing the OHL playoffs in 2015-2016, Flint has already won 30 games in 2016-2017 and is on the verge of clinching a playoff spot in the hotly-contested Western Conference.
And what does Burnett think of Colella, who he drafted, then coached, then traded, only to trade for?
“The simple answer is we knew exactly what were getting when we traded for Mo,” Burnett told HockeyNewsNorth.com. “He is reliable and versatile and he is the kind of player who can play on our top line or our checking line. He’s also good on the power play and the penalty kill.”
Colella has played a lot on Flint’s no. 1 line with scoring leaders Ryan Moore and Kole Sherwood and Burnett calls the unit “a good fit. Mo has added stability to the line and the three of them compliment one another at both ends of the rink.”
Sherwood, by the way, is also a Firebird by way of a Burnett trade, having been obtained from the London Knights for multiple draft picks.
What about having traded Colella and then trading for him almost a year to the day later?
“We had 14 forwards in Hamilton at the time and North Bay was looking to add some experience so we made the trade,” Burnett recalled. “It was about North Bay wanting Mo.
“This time, when we were looking to add in Flint and North Bay was looking to get younger, we jumped at the chance to get Mo,” Burnett continued. “Not only he is a player who can do a lot for your team he is a really good guy and Ryan and I were happy to be able to bring him to Flint.”
PHOTO: Maurizio Colella celebrates after scoring a goal for the Flint Firebirds against his former team, the North Bay Battalion. (Photo by Amanda Ray.)
Great Article!