Why trading Henry Mews is a big coup for the Ottawa 67's - and why Luca Pinelli wasn't moved

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To properly evaluate the Ottawa 67’s blockbuster deal with the Sudbury Wolves at Friday’s OHL trade deadline, consider this:

With only a snowball’s chance in a fireplace of them winning a championship this season, they have acquired a top prospect and eight draft picks for 20 more games — and probably a short playoff run — from defenceman Henry Mews, their leading scorer, who a source close to the team says is NCAA-bound in September.

That makes the trade a tremendous coup for 67’s GM James Boyd.

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While attempting to further restock the team’s cupboard, Boyd was also trying to move 19-year-old captain Luca Pinelli, who likely will play pro in the Columbus Blue Jackets system next season.

“A couple of different deals were struck, but Pinelli ultimately decided he wanted to finish with the 67’s,” a source said.

That’s right, contracts have ‘no-trade clauses’ in junior hockey, too.

And so the day after getting a couple of draft picks from the Peterborough Peters for overage winger Brady Stonehouse, Boyd completed his deadline haul by moving Mews for defenceman Nolan Jackson, two second-round picks in 2027, third-round picks in 2025 and 2027, a fifth-round pick in 2025 and three conditional picks that include a seventh-rounder in 2028, an eighth-rounder in 2027 and a ninth-rounder in 2027.

Jackson turned 18 on Tuesday and has one more season of junior eligibility than Mews.

In 35 games this season, the product of Innisfil, Ont., has just six assists and 15 penalty minutes, but his value is not properly portrayed in his numbers.

Jackson is among the blueliners that will represent the OHL’s Eastern Conference in the Inaugural Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game on Jan. 15 at the Brantford Civic Centre.

Mews, a Calgary Flames prospect who will celebrate his 19th birthday in March, took over from Pinelli as the 67’s top scorer while the latter was playing for Canada in the world junior hockey championship.

With 50 points, he is the fourth highest-scoring OHL defenceman, while his 39 assists are the third-most among all players.

An Ottawa native, Mews was the 67’s first pick (seventh overall) in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection and a third-round pick (74th overall) of the Flames in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

In 158 games over his three seasons with the 67’s, he had 38 goals and 142 points.

Meanwhile, the 67’s currently sit in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 14-16-8 record that gives them 36 points, five ahead of the North Bay Battalion and 12 up on the Peterborough Petes.

The 67’s have a home and away series this weekend with the East Division-leading Generals, starting Friday night (7 p.m.) at TD Place and concluding Sunday (6:05 p.m.) in Oshawa.

WHITE NOISE: The 67’s have added an Ottawa Senators connection in defenceman Ryan White, their ninth-round selection in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection. White is the son of Kanata-born Todd White, a 13-season NHLer who played with the Senators from 2000-2004.

Ryan White will join the 67’s upon arriving back in the capital from Vancouver, where he spent 12 games (and registered two goals and one assist) this season with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. The 17-year-old has committed to Providence College for the 2025-26 season.

“Ryan is a swift-skating defenceman with vision and play-making ability,” Boyd said of the 5-foot-9, 154-pounder. “He will be a welcome addition to our lineup.”