James Boyd aims to set 67’s up long-term at OHL Priority Selection
Friday night will be a significant night for the Ottawa 67’s, both for the club’s championship aspirations, and the franchise’s future.
On the ice, the Barber Poles kick off their second-round playoff matchup with the Oshawa Generals away from home, but inside the Telus Media Centre located underneath the south-side football stands, General Manager James Boyd and company turn their attention to the future with the 2024 OHL Priority Selection.
For months, the 67’s scouts have been in arenas all over the province to get eyes on 2008-born players eligible for the draft, building on their foundation of knowledge that began years before.
“Like any year, we have a process in place,” Boyd said. “We start with initial evaluation, and then we follow players through the course of the Silver Stick, the Toronto Marlies’ tournament, the Peterborough tournament, and eventually, OHL Cup. We’re looking for players improving throughout the year.”
In the second half of the year, Boyd met routinely with Associate General Manager Jan Egert – who he credits with organizing a jumbled mess of different opinions – and the scouting staff to focus on creating a master list, putting the players in order with the best at the top.
“We want to make sure we have the players ranked properly,” Boyd said. “In an ideal world, when we go into the draft, we’re just taking the next player on the list. There’s always going to be curveballs, but we want to have it as close as possible. All of the table-banging has happened beforehand, and everything is thought out.”
Locally, there was a seismic shift in minor hockey. In recent years, draft-eligible players have been playing with CCHL U18 programs, but this season, players returned to their respective HEO ‘AAA’ clubs, allowing them to participate in the major scouting events.
“It created a different evaluation,” Boyd said. “We got to see them play against kids their own age, but we also got to see them travel to tournaments – most recently the OHL Cup – which we haven’t seen for a couple of seasons.”
The Barber Poles hold three selections on day one, including a pair of first-round picks, one of which is compensatory. Since arriving in Ottawa, Boyd has found gems including Luca Pinelli, Henry Mews, and Brad Gardiner in the opening three rounds, and has learned that hitting on those picks can propel you forward at break-neck speed.
“It’s where the marquee players in the league emerge from,” Boyd said. “That’s not to say there aren’t players like Samuel Mayer who develop over time, but the best way to improve your team is hitting on those early selections, that’s for sure.”
Despite adding at the trade deadline, the 67’s head into the draft with 15 selections.
“We always have an eye to the future, and a big part of that is our draft pick inventory,” Boyd said. “We want to have key picks, because our scouts do such a good job.”
Projecting forward, Boyd anticipates adding quality players through the draft, and evaluates the team’s core of players going forward as healthy. Subsequently, he expects training camp will be competitive, as a handful of players battle for limited roster spots.
“We’re very comfortable with the position we’re in,” Boyd said. “We always want to maintain flexibility so we can react, but we’re excited about the group that’s coming back. We’ve also got some prospects that have been developing who are really going to push to fill some spots on our team.”
Boyd says draft night is a celebration of the work the players put in, but is equally as important to the scouts. This is what they have worked for all year long, thousands of hours for this moment.
“It’s a lot of work,” Boyd said. “It’s a lot of bad coffee and long drives, but the scouts love it. We really appreciate what they do.”
