IceDogs continue to beef up blueline with acquisition of Van VlietThe Niagara IceDogs added one of the league’s largest defenders on Friday, acquiring shutdown presence Noah Van Vliet from the Sudbury Wolves.
The 6-foot-3, 220Ib. Van Vliet won an OHL Championship with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2022, and has recorded 32 points (7-25–32) over 140 career regular season games between the Bulldogs and the Wolves. He attended rookie camp with the Edmonton Oilers last fall.
The two clubs swapped 15th round picks in 2026 while Sudbury gained three conditional picks including a third in 2027 (North Bay’s), fourth in 2026 (Saginaw’s) and fifth in 2028. The condition is based on Van Vliet playing one game during the 2024-25 season.
Van Vliet joins an overage group in Niagara that also consists of 2004-born eligibles in goaltender Owen Flores, blueliner Ryan Vannetten and forwards Michael Podolioukh, Evan Klein and captain Gavin Bryant. The trade follows the IceDogs acquiring other blueliners in Blair Scott and Jack Brauti from the Barrie Colts to begin the week on Monday.
Sudbury opens training camp last week with overagers Kocha Delic, Donovan McCoy and Nicholas DeAngelis.