Sarnia Sting General Manager Nick SinclairSarnia Sting General Manager Nick Sinclair
Sarnia

Sting GM Thrilled With Deadline Deals

The Sarnia Sting brass is happy with the team's future make-up following Wednesday's OHL trade deadline.

The Sting dealt Brady Hinz, Braden Henderson, and draft picks, including five second rounders, a third and two fourths.

Some of those second-round picks were previously acquired in other trades.

In return, Sarnia acquired a trio of National Hockey League drafted players in Jonathan Ang, Michael Pezzetta, and Cam Dineen.

GM Nick Sinclair is thrilled they didn't have to part with any of their top young talent.

"We're excited about guys like Jamieson Rees, Colton Kammerer, Alex Hogue and Brayden Guy," says Sinclair. "We think they've all taken some big steps this season and those guys are going to be the nucleus of our team as we move forward for the next three or four years. Not having to part ways with any of those guys and still being able to add to the team in the past week, we feel very happy with the way we were able to go about things."

Sinclair expects the moves to help with some mid-season fatigue.

"I think some guys were playing more than it was fair to ask them to play," says Sinclair. "When you look at the young guys, they've contributed well and they'll still play their parts and be important as we go forward. I expect the guys that have been playing forward for us all year to be up there, and there won't be much juggling."

In 233 Ontario Hockey League games played with the Petes, Ang registered 171 points (73 goals, 98 assists).

The Markham native was selected ninth overall by the Petes in the 2014 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. Ang represented Canada on Team White at the 2014 Under-17 World Championships and was a recent invitee to Team Canada's World Junior Selection Camp.

Pezzetta has 90 points in 214 games during his OHL career with Sudbury, including 31 points in 35 games this season.

The Toronto native was a sixth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2016.

Dineen is a native of Toms River, New Jersey. The 19-year-old stands 5' 11'' and weighs 185 pounds. He has played 136 games with North Bay, scoring 30 goals for 109 points. He was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

He's known for his ability to protect the blue line as well as score. He finished second in voting for the OHL Rookie of the Year after the 2015-16 season.

Sinclair is confident the Sting will be able to make a deep run in the postseason.

"Coming into the deadline, we were second in the league in goals scored and we feel we've added even more depth to our offence. They'll add to what we're able to do offensively but, in the process, we feel we've also improved our back end significantly. At the end of the day, you've got to play the games but we feel we're right there with the other two or three top teams in the league."

The Sting have most of their draft picks remaining but won't have a second-round selection until 2022.

They're also without third and fourth-round selections in 2019 and 2020.

All three newcomers are expected to make their Sting debuts Thursday night in Windsor.

You can hear all of the action LIVE on CHOK.

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