Hamilton Bulldogs are making moves ahead of defending their OHL championship

We are just over a month away from the OHL season beginning and the Hamilton Bulldogs are making moves in preparation of defending their OHL Championship.

The Hamilton Bulldogs were in need of a new head coach after John Gruden left the team to become an assistant coach with the New York Islanders. After a month of waiting, they promoted Dave Matsos to be their head coach while also promoting Vince Laise to Matsos’ old job.

Matsos, from nearby Burlington, Ontario, joined the Bulldogs last season after spending the previous four years with the Sudbury Wolves. He was their head coach for the last two and a half seasons. He was with the Windsor Spitfires for three years previous to that.

Here is what the new head coach had to say:

"“The Bulldogs have a vision in place from ownership all the way down… With this being my 9th year in the league, I am confident I know our players, the league and have what it takes to have success.”"

President and General Manager Steve Staios added:

"“Dave came in last year and was a massive part of our championship season. He’s been a head coach in our league and has the respect of our players and has an understanding of our team identity. He’s been a winner at all levels as a coach as well as a Memorial Cup winner as a player.”"

Matsos may know his players, but the Bulldogs are going to be a different team than the one he helped coach last season.

Three days after Matsos’ promotion, Staios made his first trade of the offseason as he sent overage defenseman Jack Hanley to the Guelph Storm in exchange for 2019 second-round pick, a 2021 third-rounder and a fourth-rounder in 2020.

Hanley was one of only two Bulldogs remaining who had been with the team before moving to Hamilton. He and Ben Gleason were a regular defense pairing and stayed together through the acquisitions of new defenseman.

This is likely the first of at least a few trades the Bulldogs make to get down to three overagers, the maximum allowed on a team’s roster. With Hanley now gone, the Bulldogs are down to nine. As you can see, they still have to make some moves to take six of those players off their roster. Sure, some of them could make the jump to the AHL or NHL, but the trades will more than likely have to come before that.

In other news, the Bulldogs’ second-rounder in the 2018 OHL Import Draft, Tim Fleischer, has committed to the Bulldogs and will join the team next season. Their first-rounder, Philip Broberg, still hasn’t committed and it remains to be seen if he will. He was rather busy at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament. With all the talk of him being a potential first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, it would be a good get for them.

What do you think of the moves the Bulldogs are making? Who will be the next player to be moved? Sound off in the comments.