Blockbuster in Brantford
Brantford Bulldogs general manager Spencer Hyman has popped the cork on the splashiest trade of the ’25-26 Ontario Hockey League season to date. The fresh faced GM showed he has the balls of a Bulldog by dealing three players and nine draft picks — including three seconds and three thirds — to the Oshawa Generals for ace defensemen Ben Danford and Zackary Sandhu.
Besides the future draft picks, Brantford — which has the best winning percentage in the OHL as of this writing — is sending prize 2008 birth year forward Aiden O’Donnell and defensemen Lucas Moore and Luca Diplacido to Oshawa. Moore is an overage (2005 birth date) skater while Diplacido, who has a 2008 birth date, has been playing with St. Andrew’s College.
Hyman did his homework on Danford and Sandu.
“We have seen both players a ton over the past two seasons – through countless battles and a full playoff series – and we know first hand the impact they can have. Both Ben and Zach have been to back to back OHL finals (with Oshawa) and they bring with them a championship mindset and an understanding of what it takes to win,” Hyman said of Danford, who has a 2006 birth date, and the overage Sandu.
“Ben is a leader and one of the premier defencemen in the entire Canadian Hockey League,” added Hyman. “Zach is a hard nosed, intelligent defender who plays with poise and intensity. These are two players who give our blue line the ability to play bigger, heavier and adapt to any style required to win hockey games.”
Danford was Oshawa’s captain and a 2024 first round National Hockey League draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Danford, who has signed with the Maple Leafs, is a first rate defenceman who has 11 goals and 72 assists in 196 OHL games to date.
Sandhu is in his fifth year in the OHL and is known for taking care of business in his own end.
