Somewhere in Ontario, or perhaps Michigan or New York, an eight-year-old boy was sitting in his elementary school's Grade 4 classroom today, probably bored with doing long division and wondering who was going to win capture the flag at recess.
Little did that young lad know that he recently became the future property of the Mississauga Steelheads.
Or whatever team they trade that future second round pick in the 2023 OHL draft to.
That second rounder was one of 10 draft picks the Steelheads received for no-show Russian first rounder Kirill Nizhnikov (who, by the way, the Guelph Storm was very, very interested in).
Barrie acquired a very good player for a package that included pick that is over six years down the road.
It was not an isolated incident. Mississauga also gave up a 2023 pick last season for Flint defenceman Vili Saarijarvi.
It has become an increasingly distasteful practice that the OHL has to stop: the trading of draft picks so far in the future it bears no weight in the decision to even make the trade.
No, draft picks have become the Monopoly money of the OHL. They contain no real value and allow teams to abuse the process.
It basically creates a false economy. If you can trade any future draft pick, you never really run out of assets.
I can't buy dinner with a cheque post-dated to 2023, which is basically what teams are doing. Lobster and steak for all please! I don't have to pay for it for seven years.
I get the concept. Theoretically, a trade of draft picks for a player should create a deficit in the near future in return for an immediate benefit.
But those picks are increasingly so far in the future, they bear no weight on the decision making process of the deal. A team will have recouped those picks and traded them again by the time that future draft comes around.
Shouldn't teams getting a good player have to feel the consequences of that trade at least in the near future? Should teams be able to make deals willy nilly without fear of what it means to the franchise? Should teams have basically unlimited assets to deal?
There should be a cap on how far in the future those draft picks can be. Teams should not have an endless resource with which to deal. It should be a limited resource. Spend wisely. Choose wisely.
When you can trade draft picks so far down the line it really doesn't have any effect on your decision making process, it basically means there are no consequences for the decision.
And like and future Steelhead in Grade 4 can probably tell you, there has to be consequences.
