Neil Barris | Mlive.com Saginaw Spirit's Dylan Sadowy (10) skates towards the puck during a game against the Windsor Spitfires, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014 at the Dow event center.

Saginaw Spirit's Dylan Sadowy leaves the team ranked No. 5 in Spirit history with 91 goals.

(File | MLive.com)

SAGINAW, MI -- At the trade deadline, the Saginaw Spirit sent their star player packing to build for the future.

Again.

At the trade deadline Monday, the Spirit sent star left winger Dylan Sadowy and defenseman Greg DiTomaso to Barrie for defenseman Rocky Kaura and 11 draft picks.

"We're looking to next year, but it's the last time we're going to do that," Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill said. "It happened here last year, happened the year before that and the years before then.

Dave Drinkill

"Fans have to understand that's going to happen sometimes, but this is the last time here. We have a great core group of players. This trade gives us assets to add to that core group of 18-year-olds."

Sadowy, 19, led the Spirit with 20 goals this season. He leaves ranked fifth on the Spirit career record list in goals (91), ninth in points (172) and 14th in assists (81).

"Anytime you trade a player of his caliber - drafted by us in second round, developed here to be the player he is, great career ahead of him - it's tough," Drinkill said. "But you do what's best for the organization."

According to Drinkill, it is unlikely Sadowy will play in the Ontario Hockey League next season. San Jose took Sadowy in the third round of the 2015 draft.

"He hasn't signed with San Jose yet, but indications are that he will sign and go pro next year," Drinkill said. "Dylan scored almost 100 goals in the OHL. I'm not sure he has a lot to prove in this league, and I think San Jose feels the same way.

"But you never know what happens. That's what the conditional picks are there for."

Kaura, 18, has three points in 64 OHL games. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound defenseman was a fourth-round pick by Barrie in 2014.

Saginaw will receive the following draft picks, in order of draft year: 2016 (second round, fourth from Kingston), 2017 (third), 2018 (third, fourth), 2019 (second), 2020 (second, fifth), 2021 (second), 2022 (conditional second) and 2023 (conditional third).

The Spirit will get the conditional picks if Sadowy plays in the OHL next season.

Ditomaso, a defenseman, played for Mississauga before a trade last season to the Spirit. The 19-year-old scored four goals with 24 assists for the Spirit.

The Spirit then took two of the picks obtained from Barrie to help get right winger Hayden Hodgson from Sarnia.

Sarnia which received center Davon Paliani, Barrie's second-round pick in 2019, Niagara's third-round pick in 2017, Kingston's fourth-round pick in 2016 and Mississauga's fourth-round conditional pick in 2018.

Hodgson, 19, is in his fourth season in the OHL and has 45 goals and 37 assists during his career, along with 239 penalty minutes. Paliani had four goals and 10 assists in 35 games.

"Hayden is a guy I wanted for a long time," Drinkill said. "Last season, he had a big year as an 18-year-old. He's a big, strong right-winger who can score and can fight. He's been a little snakebit this year, plus he's serving a suspension right now. But he fills a really big need for us. He has a chance to be one of the best overagers in the league next year.

"Rocky Kaura is a big, strong defenseman. He's tough with a great shot and a penalty killer who will stick up for his teammates. He's even a better person off the ice."

Drinkill believes the trades make the Spirit more physical this season and puts them in a good position in the future.

"I didn't just want to trade Dylan for draft picks," Drinkill said. "If I couldn't get a forward from Barrie, I could use the draft picks to get a forward that I wanted, like Hayden.

"I believe we can make a playoff run this year. We get (Mitchell) Stephens back. That's like adding a free player who happens to be one of the best players in the league now that he's healthy. And now we have the toughness to go against the top Western Conference teams like London and Kitchener."

While stockpiling draft picks was one goal, it wasn't Drinkill's ultimate goal.

"You hear jokes around here, getting draft picks for the 2023 season ... are we drafting 7-year-olds?" Drinkill said. "Chances are that those are draft picks we won't use. We'll use the picks as assets when we make our championship runs.

"That starts next year."