Bears bolster backend on eve of regular season

Owen Sound Attack general manager Dale Degray looked to bolster the club's blueline on the eve of the regular season in a pair of moves.

First Degray shipped depth defender Cedricson Okitundu to the Guelph Storm for a fifth-round pick in 2023.

The Attack then made a move with the Ottawa 67's to bring in defender Teddy Sawyer for a pair of early-round picks. In the deal, Ottawa receives Owen Sound's second-round pick in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2025, originally from the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Degray said Sawyer adds experience and calmness to the Attack's d-corps, but to add a player on defence they needed to make room.

“Sometimes you have to do what's right for the player and what's right for Okitundu was to move him to a place where he'll have the opportunity to play. Now he has to show Guelph what he can do, he was a very good penalty killer for us,” Degray said.

The move for Sawyer is an expensive one, but Degray said having the draft picks pushed back a few years makes it easier to stomach.

“Sometimes you just have to make things happen. I think moving the picks out farther makes it more palatable to do. For the next couple of years we won't feel a thing,” he said.

With an exciting group of forwards up front on this year's version of the Bears, Degray just wants his defenceman to get the puck up the ice as quickly as possible.

Sawyer has a little more experience than Okitundu, having been drafted a year earlier. He'll turn 19 in December.

“Lots of energy. Physical defenceman. Very good skater. Moves pucks. I'm looking at our group and I'm thinking, you know what, the success of our team will be how we transition from defence to offence,” he said.

Sawyer netted three goals and added eight assists in 56 games with the barber poles last season. He was a third-round pick in 2019 originally.

Unsure of what to expect on defence this year with the departure of Mark Woolley and Igor Chibrikov, Degray said he and Sean Lafortune looked at other team's rosters during the summer and tried to anticipate availabilities. He said he probably called five or six teams to check in on guys, but was also surprised and impressed with the Attack's returning players and 2022 import pick Luc Schweingruber during training camp and in the preseason.

Degray said he's still looking to add an overage forward to help round out the team. He said he thinks a team needs both import slots and all three overage slots filled with good players in order to be successful.

“We're four-for-five with that right now. We check four of the five boxes. If we can go get a top-nine forward I think we're a better team because of it,” he said.

Degray said he thinks the “first to the trough gets the deal” but with some overage players still away at National Hockey League camps rosters around the league remain in flux.

“We'll have to wait to see whether we get one of those kids or not. I don't know. And even when they come back they may force other kids out the lineup,” he said. “Rather than jumping in with both feet all at once we'll just plug our nose here and hold our breath for a bit and see where we're at.”