The night before a new season is upon us and there is quite a stir happening around the ODBHL. After a very busy GM meeting and off season there were a flurry of housekeeping deals helping some teams prepare for the season while it allowed other teams to become salary cap compliant. Cap compliance was what was on the table for GM John Kenny and the Saint John Kings. After observing a handful of post GM meeting deals transpire it seems like the Kings noticed they had to make a move as well. The day began with the champion South Esk Scotsmen and the Miramichi Moose making an exchange, then the Moose moved on to trade with Albert County. The Renegades kept things rolling, making a trade with Dorchester attempting to fill the defensive roles for the team.. We then saw Riverview reach an agreement with Cains River on a deal picking up solid youngster Ozzy Wisblatt. We also saw the Royals and Angry Ducks agree to terms swapping draft picks working towards future draft capital.
After all the business for the day seemed to have settled and came to rest for a peaceful night prior to the new season, one of the back office capologists for the Saint John Kings frantically called GM John Kenny to let him know there was an issue. It seems there was an error in the spreadsheets the team was using to track the teams cap usage and they were in fact going to be over the cap by over 1.5 million to start the season. As per the ODBHL rules this would subject the Kings to having top-rated players suspended until the team is under the salary cap. To avoid this issue, the Kings first reached out to John Nason, the Albert County GM. The Kings sent top line winger Oliver Wahlstrom, defenceman Antti Tuomisto and a Bathurst second rounder in exchange for a season 17 first rounder, 29 year old winger Filip Zadina and minor league forward Rasmus Kupari. This move was to help secure the Kings future and to help them ice a full team this season. Next Kenny reached out to old trading partner Jonathan McLenaghan, the GM on Moncton where he flipped Zadina in exchange for fellow right winger Vitali Kravtsov in what appears to be a purely cap move in which they also received a future third rounder to offset the long term contract remaining. With all this housekeeping now in order, it seems the Loyalist City team is ready to get back in the hunt for another ODBHL Cup!
Irwin P Freeley
Telegraph Journal
10/28/2025 - 433 words
