After boosting the Bulldogs with a slew of major additions that put Brantford within a single win of the OHL finals in ’25-26, Hyman (in photo at left) went for the fences with less than six weeks to go before the start of the ’26-27 OHL season.Hyman was able to heist the OHL’s first overall pick from the 2025 priority selections draft when he pulled in 2009 birth year forward Kaden McGregor from Peterborough in exchange for 2007 birth year forward Cooper Dennis.
Dennis is coming off of a an impressive ’25-26 campaign in which he netted 34 goals, 40 assists, 74 points in 68 regular season games for Brantford before tacking on five goals, two assists, seven points in 15 playoff outings.
As for McGregor — who is two years younger than Dennis — he had seven goals, 13 assists 20 points in 39 games during his rookie term with Peterborough before an injury cut his season short. McGregor also represented Team Canada White at the 2025 Under 17 World Challenge, helping it win the silver medal while scoring five points in five games.
Hyman, while acknowledging that it was not easy to part with Dennis,noted that McGregor “is an incredible addition to our organization. He is an elite talent in every sense of the word. Elite skill, elite hockey IQ, elite competitiveness and, most importantly, elite character and leadership. Kaden is the kind of player you build around.”
