Young blood of the Bulldogs
They have star power on the frozen stage with a sweet seven side of National Hockey League draft picks who are all poised to play prominent roles in ’25-26. And the Brantford Bulldogs also have some fledgling Ontario Hockey League talent that is braced to bloom.
One such baby Bulldog is 2008 birth year forward Aiden O’Donnell, who Brantford took in the first round of the 2024 OHL priority selections draft. The 6 foot 1, 180 pound O’Donnell had some what of a basic rookie campaign for Brantford in ’24-25, scoring seven goals, 10 assists, 17 points in 58 regular season outings. He then added an assist in 11 playoff matches.
O’Donnell will be on the close watch list of National Hockey League scouts in ’25-26 ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft. And Mike Dawson, who is a detailed, thorough scout for the Seattle Kraken of the NHL, took note of the interest level in O’Donnell.
“He finished (the ’24-25 season) well and is of high interest coming into this year,” Dawson relayed to Hockey News Windsor when asked about O’Donnell.
Dawson, like most NHL scouts, would have seen a lot of O’Donnell as a rookie in ’24-25 while evaluating Brantford star centre Jake O’Brien. O’Brien was eventually picked by Dawson and the Kraken with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft.
As far as the ’25-26 OHL season, O’Donnell isn’t the only 2008 birth year forward who is part of the Brantford youth group.
Another is Nik Rossetto, Brantford’s third round pick at the 2024 OHL priority selections draft. The five foot 10, 160 pound Rossetto actually outscored O’Donnell in ’24-25 with nine goals, 10 assists, 19 points in 57 regular season games and then added another goal, three assists, four points in 11 playoff outings.
But Rossetto had shoulder surgery during this summer and could possibly miss up to the first third of the ’25-26 OHL season. Once Rossetto arrives in Brantford later this month ahead of training camp, he will continue his recovery plan and one that the Bulldogs medical people have laid out for him.
Overall and to be sure, there is plenty of excitement in Brantford and high expectations for the Bulldogs come the ’25-26 season led by the previously alluded to, seven NHL draft picks that include forwards Marek Vanacker (first round, Chicago Blackhawks, 2024), Jake O’Brien (first round, Seattle Kraken, 2025), Adam Benak (fourth round, Minnesota Wild, 2025) and Sam McCue (seventh round, Toronto Maple Leafs, 2024), defensemen Owen Protz (fourth round, Montreal Canadiens, 2024) and Edison Engle (sixth round, Winnipeg Jets, 2025) and goalie Ryerson Leenders (seventh round, Buffalo Sabres, 2024.)
Brantford is making no secret that it has intentions of Eastern Conference supremacy in ’25-26 under new ownership led by Stuart Hyman and his sons Zach Hyman (of Edmonton Oilers, NHL fame) and Spencer Hyman — with veteran OHL bench boss Jay McKee returning as head coach.
Spencer Hyman, who will be a first year OHL general manager at age 31 after a decade of apprenticeship in the junior A ranks, not only inherits a good group of Bulldogs from ’24-25 but he himself has had a nice summer on the player acquisition front. Besides aforementioned overage Sam McCue, who was obtained in an off season trade with the Flint Firebirds, Hyman as the GM also traded for sand paper forward Ryder Boulton from the London Knights.