A Jr Hockey Powerhouse - Rebuilding the Peterborough Petes

[jmetrow]

One of my favourite things to do with FHM is taking over my favourite OHL team, the Peterborough Petes, and seeing what kind of dynasty I can build. Rather than gathering an abundance of star players and going 68-0, I'll be tearing down the team and trading for draft picks and prospects to see if I can rebuild the team from scratch. My goals for the organization are as follows:

- Make the playoffs by 2024 ✅
- Win an OHL Championship by 2026 ✅
- Win the Memorial Cup by 2028
- Develop 3 players into 1st round picks by 2028 (2 out of 3 thus far)
- Build a new arena or improve the arena quality by 2030

The Petes have produced some of the NHL's best players over the years, including Eric and Jordan Staal, Chris Pronger, Steve Yzerman, and even Wayne Gretzky for a brief 3 game stretch. Recently, Nick Robertson has become one of the top prospects with the Leafs and Mason McTavish was drafted 3rd overall last year, but the team has struggled this year. My first action will be to trade McTavish for future picks and prospects to create a contending team in the coming years. I hope you'll follow along in my quest to make the Petes great again

[jumpSeat]

Sounds like fun... Very cool to set your own goals in a custom challenge like this.

[jmetrow]

The Petes made an aggressive series of trades to revamp their current roster into a plethora of picks and prospects.

- Sign 16-year-old Camden Pellerine, a well rounded left wing with 4-star potential
- Trade Mason Mctavish and 2 late-round draft picks for Luke Misa, Dylan Gordon, and two 2nd round picks. Misa is already 2.5 stars at 16 years old and should be a star in the coming years
- A trade tree send Emmet Sproule to Guelph for Daniil Gushchin who was then traded to Oshawa for top centre prospect Callum Ritchie. Ritchie was drafted 2nd overall in the 2021 OHL Draft and will be a top prospect in his NHL draft year.
- Sent goalie Tye Austin to Kingston for top goalie Leevi Merilainen, who was then traded to Kitchener for goalie prospect Jackson Parsons and 16-year-old centre Carson Mercer. The Petes view Parsons far better than consensus and believe he could become an NHL calibre goalie.
-Acquired Quintein Musty from Sudbury by flipping Artem Guryev and Brian Zanetti to other teams and trading those pieces to Sudbury.
- Finally, traded JR Avon to Flint for 16-year-old defenseman Tristan Bertucci

After these trades and free-agent signings, the majority of the roster is aged 16 or younger. Veteran Shawn Spearing is expected to be named captain as he has already spent 2 seasons with the Petes and is one of the only returning players from the 2019/20 roster. As a result, the focus this year will be to get playing time for younger players rather than making the playoffs this year. The Petes now have the top-ranked prospect system in the OHL which will set the team up well to enter their contention window by 2023.

Both Misa and Musty made team Canada and the U.S. respectively at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Mutsy was tied for 2nd in tournament points and helped the U.S. to their second-ever gold medal at the tournament. At only 16 years old, Musty will likely be a star at the tournament next year. Misa managed 3 points at the tournament, but still impressed given his age.

[jmetrow]

After a flurry of trades to acquire an arsenal of promising young players, it was hard to decipher how the Petes would perform. After the 7 game preseason, the team went 3-4 and exceeded their own expectations. Three of the four leading scorers in the league were members of the Petes, with 16-year-old Quentin Musty leading the way. Additionally, backup goalie Liam Sztuska managed to win all three games he started and had a 1.31 GAA and will be promoted to starting goalie for opening night.

[jmetrow]

The Petes got off to a strong start this season with a 5-2-2 record, good enough for second in the division and third in the conference. The highlight of the month was undoubtedly a 4-1 win against the team's arch-rival, the Oshawa Generals. Quentin Musty managed two points against his former team in front of a packed home crowd at the Peterborough Memorial Centre and earned first star honours. The team also dominated their season opener against the North Bay Battalion in a 6-1 win. Musty currently sits 4th in the league points leaderboard despite him and Luke Misa being away at the World U17 Hockey Challenge. With two-thirds of the top line being away at the U17 tournament, the team dropped their last two games against Hamilton and Niagara respectively. The team will be anxiously awaiting the return of their rookie stars as they hope to return to winning form next month.

[jmetrow]

The Petes went on a hot streak in November with a 7-3 record, including 2 critical wins over the Hamilton Bulldogs who sit atop the East Divison. Despite playing low-end players throughout the lineup, the Petes are 5th in the OHL with games in hand. The team has hit a major issue, however, as star winger Quentin Musty suffered an upper-body injury early in a game against the Barrie Colts on November 13th. Musty will now be out for at least another month, forcing the Petes to shake up the lineup. Defenseman Stevie Leskovar was unable to get playing time on a strong blue line, but his skill set has allowed him to successfully begin playing left wing in Musty's place. Leskovar now has 5 points in 6 games since making the switch and will now be getting powerplay time in addition to his penalty-killing role. The team will open the next month with a key matchup against the Kingston Frontenacs and will rely on rookie centre Luke Misa to step up in Musty's absence, a role he has successfully filled thus far.

[jmetrow]

A wild month for the Petes as they won all six of their home games and lost all four of their road games. The team has a strong opportunity coming up as the World Juniors are ongoing, depleting many opposing teams of top talent, and the relative youth of the Petes means none of our players were selected for the tournament. Luke Misa suffered an unfortunate injury on New Year's Eve against the Niagara Ice Dogs and will be out for roughly two weeks. Musty is still expected to be out for another month, and Stevie Leskovar has been out for the past two weeks and will be out for a further month still. January will be a very tough schedule, with two weekends in a row with three games in three nights. The team sits at 2nd in the East Division behind the Hamilton Bulldogs and 3rd in the league.

[jmetrow]

It was a very rough month in Peterborough as the Petes went 2-6-4, with only one win at home. This is largely due to the loss of young star winger Quentin Musty being out for the entire month due to injury, but is now only day-to-day and will be back shortly. Top defenseman Donovan McCoy was also injured for the second half of the month. Thus far this season, the Petes are 20-15-6, putting them third in the East Division, fifth in the Eastern Conference, and ninth in the league. The top performers thus far have been Luke Misa who is one of the leading scorers in the league as a 16-year-old, Latvian import Kasper Ziemens who has had an excellent underlying profile as a playmaker, and defenseman Dylan Gordon who has dominated with his two-way performance.

[jmetrow]

Better than last month but still not good, the Petes went 4-7-1 as the team continues to free fall and play more like they were initially expected to. The team was damaged by another injury to Quentin Musty that will see him out for over a month again after only playing three more games with the Petes. The team is now 6th in the Eastern Conference and close to falling to 7th as the Niagara Ice Dogs are two points behind with a game in hand. The good news is that the team has identified 13 five-star prospects in the upcoming OHL draft, so by falling in the standings they are well-positioned to select one of them, with Petes star Luke Misa's brother Michael Misa being the team's top target on draft day.

[jmetrow]

As the regular season comes to an end with the team going 8-6 down the final stretch, management can count their first goal as being completed as they made the playoffs in the 6th seed in the conference. Despite selling off many key pieces of the roster, the Petes were powered by an extremely young and dynamic roster. The playoffs will be no easy feat though, as they face the Barrie Colts in the first round who finished the year with a 42-25-1 record compared to Peterborough's 33-28-7. Barrie's strength is driven by a strong top six featuring some of the league's top players including Oskar Olausson and Hunter Haight to form one of the best forward corp in the league. Looking back on the season, the team greatly exceeded expectations, with Luke Misa ending with the 2nd most goals and points in the league only behind Shane Wright. Additionally, Quentin Musty is returning from injury just in time for the first playoff game which will make it an interesting series.

[jmetrow]

Despite a well-fought, 7 game series, the Peterborough Petes fell to the Barrie Colts in Round One of the OHL Playoffs. Game Seven was tied going into the third period and the team let the game get away from them with a 5-3 loss. Quentin Musty suffered yet another injury in the series as the team is becoming very concerned that he may be injury-prone since he has fully recovered from each injury before returning to play. Ultimately, the Colts offence proved to be too much to handle for the Petes with goalie Liam Sztuska allowing 4.49 goals per game and having only a 59 game rating for the series. While the team is very disappointed with the way the season ended, it isn't a surprise given how much of a free fall the team was in over the last few months without Quentin Musty. The Petes must now prepare for a year where they will contend and have numerous top NHL draft prospects on the roster including Musty, Luke Misa, and Callum Ritchie.

[jmetrow]

After a disappointing end to the 2021/22 season, the Petes had a very productive offseason. The first major moves were to sign prospect Kallaway Mercer and free agents Aidan Campbell and Jack Beck. Beck is 19 while Campbell and Mercer are 20, but these players will allow the team to fill their overage spots and help the team on the wing while Campbell will create a good competition in the net as a 2.5-star goalie. Up next was the OHL draft in which the Petes picked 11th, but made moves right away by trading for Michael Misa, the 1st overall pick by the Soo Greyhounds, for 18-year-old two-way defenseman Dylan Gordon, depth winger Cory Jewitt, and three second-round picks. Brothers Michael and Luke Misa will now be able to play together and both have the potential to be top picks when the NHL draft comes for them. After the Misa trade, the Petes managed to get their second choice player with the 11th overall pick by selecting Henry Mews, a defenseman/centre who can competently play any position but goalie in the middle of the lineup despite being a 16 year old.

[jmetrow]

A concerning start to the year as the Petes went 1-3-2 over six preseason games. The team is attributing this to a poor schedule that made many of the top players exhausted early on, but it doesn't change the fact that this is a very concerning result. Quentin Musty was by far the best player on the team with 76 game rating, but the other young stars will need to be better if they are to succeed this season. The team was very pleased to see some huge development reports for both Misa brothers, Callum Ritchie, and Musty. The opening night lineup is set below:

[jmetrow]

After a shaky pre-season, the Petes came out of the gate hot with a 7-1-2 record. Luke Misa hasn't been quite as dominant to start the year as he adjusts to playing left-wing on a line with his brother Michael and Quentin Musty, but he still managed 8 goals in the month to be near the top of the OHL leaderboards. The Petes currently sit tied for 1st in the East Division with the Hamilton Bulldogs as well as tied for the lead in the conference. The first matchups against Hamilton are coming up this month and will be key to the team's continued success.

[jmetrow]

The Petes decided to heat up this month and go 7-1-1 to rocket up to first in the league. The team has yet to lose a home game in regulation and won two key matchups against the Bulldogs this month. Most of the strong performance came at the end of the month with a 5 game winning streak still active. Luke Misa slowed down his scoring a bit this month with only 5 goals and 6 assists. Fortunatley, Quentin Musty, who's health issues seem to be resolved, scored 8 goals this month including a hat trick against the Bulldogs and 16 year old Michael Misa got 10 points to make him one of the leaders in rookie scoring. One of the other strong points has been the otherworldly performance of 18 year old Jackson Parsons who leads the league in wins, is second in save percentage, and second in goals saved above average.

[jmetrow]

The month started with a 4-3 loss to Hamilton in a shootout. The Petes didn't lose a single game for the rest of December. The Petes dominated the OHL this month with a 9-0-1 record. The only negative was that the team only had three home games in that stretch so ticket sales were still minimal but attendance was up over 3,000 again which is encouraging after it had fallen due to a ticket price increase at the start of the year. The team now firmly controls the Eastern Conference, although they are tied for the league lead with the Guelph Storm who are tearing up the West with a 25-5-0 record. The title of best player in the league is largely between Luke Misa of the Petes, Matvei Petrov of the Battalion, and Braeden Bowman of the Storm, as all three players are at the top of the goal and point leaderboards. Coming up this month the Petes have 9 home games that they will look to capitalize on. Additionally, the World Juniors are happening right now and Quentin Musty was the only Pete selected to the team despite Misa's dominant performance this year, which led to anger from fans across the country. Nevertheless, Misa staying with the Petes will be a boost as the team looks to continue their dominant stretch into 2023.

[jmetrow]

The calendar has turned over and the Petes faltered to start the new year with a 7-5-1 record. They remain first in the league and Luke Misa and Kasper Ziemins have taken over the league scoring race. Jackson Parsons was struggling in goal to open the month which led to three straight losses. Despite being a young rookie, Michael Misa has continued to thrive playing alongside his brother and is one of the top scorers on the team. Furthermore, Quentin Musty is back from the World Juniors where he played well but the U.S. was eliminated by Canada in the first playoff round. Presuming he is back in Peterborough next year, he will surely make the world junior team again and have a chance to go further in the tournament.

[jmetrow]

Things were good this month as Peterborough went 9-3-0 to take a 5-point lead over the Guelph Storm and Flint Firebirds for leading the league. Luke Misa continues to have an outstanding season as he sits at 79 points in 54 games with 44 goals in that span, leading the league in both categories. Meanwhile, Luke's 16 year old brother Michael Misa has 12 points in his last 8 games as he begins to settle into the OHL as well. Another big piece of news as the NHL midterm draft rankings came out and Quentin Musty sits as the 3rd best North American skater, Callum Ritchie as the 15th best skater, Luke Misa ranked 22nd, and further back Cameron Mercer was ranked 63rd, Tristan Bertucci ranked 96th, and Stevie Leskovar ranked 279th. Jackson Parsons is also ranked as the 12th best North American goalie. All of these players, with the exception of Leskovar, have a very high chance of being drafted this summer with 3 players possibly selected in the first round, one of the organization's goals set out to be achieved by 2028. Things are looking good for the rebuild in Peterborough as the Petes seek to bring an OHL Championship to town for the first time since 2006 and a Memorial Cup for the first time since 1979.

[jmetrow]

The Petes ultimately managed to finish 1st overall in the Ontario Hockey League this year. The team's record for the year was 49-14-5, setting a new team record for wins in a season. Coming up now is the first round of the playoffs against the Mississauga Steelheads, the team we traded Mason McTavish to in the 2022 offseason. The Steelheads have floundered this year and they just barely qualified for the playoffs this year. McTavish has struggled mightily as he has been unhappy playing at the OHL level and his production dropped significantly. The Steelheads have another star player in Luca Del Bel Belluz who scored nearly 100 points, and both he and McTavish will need to play out of their mind to solve the Petes who have an abundance of depth for a young team and the most dynamic top line in the league with leading scorer Luke Misa leading the way.

[jmetrow]

After a long grind and some close calls, the Peterborough Petes are OHL Champions. Against all odds and in some dire moment, the Petes managed to make their way to win it all. The team almost didn't make it out of the first round as the Petes went down 3-2 in their series against Mississauga before storming back with two dominant wins to take the series. The Petes followed that up with a clean sweep against the North Bay Battalion. The conference finals saw Peterborough up against the Sudbury Wolves, and things looked concerning after losing the first two games, but the Petes went on to win the next four straight games by at least 4 goals to prevent a game 7. The 2023 OHL Finals may go down as one of the greatest comebacks in league history. After going down 3-0 against the Flint Firebirds, Peterborough won four straight games to become OHL Champions at a home game 7 in front of a nearly soldout crowd. Up next, the Petes will travel to Brandon, Manitoba where they will face the WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors, the QMJHL Champion Gatineau Olympiques, and the host Brandon Wheat Kings for the Memorial Cup.