[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.