Canadiens prospect Michael McCarron joins OHL-leading Oshawa Generals, as London Knights look to future

The beasts of the East are more beastly at the beginning of the New Year.

Whether adding Michael McCarron puts the Oshawa Generals over the top as they vie to become the first Eastern Conference team to win the Ontario Hockey League title in nine seasons has to play out, of course. On paper, the Gens' separation from the pack on that side of the OHL just got wider after anteing up for the 6-foot-6 Montreal Canadiens project/prospect who's refined his game in his second season with London, posting 40 points across 25 games (including an out-with-a-bang hat trick, plus three assists, on Wednesday). The move is intended to give the Generals — who now have two drafted top-9 forwards who tower above 6-6 — a center who can complement playmaking left wing Michael Dal Colle, who was one of the final Team Canada cuts. Meantime, Knights GM Basil McRae, in his first big deal since succeeding Mark Hunter, showed a willingness to a take a step back in hope of future Memorial Cup riches.

The price is steep for Oshawa, although not as steep in comparison to what the Knights would get for Max Domi (who said publicly before leaving for international duty that he will play out his OHL string in London). 

From AM 980 London:

Having a cadre of top-end forwards that includes Dal Colle, McCarron, fellow behemoth Hunter Smith and two other versatile drafted forwards in Cole Cassels and Tobias Lindberg makes Oshawa formidable up front. It's notable that both of GM Roger Hunt's big swaps, including adding 19-year-old wing Brent Pederson a few days ago, have involved bringing physical types across conference lines. That's as good an acknowledgement as any about understanding why no team east of Toronto has raised the J. Ross Robertson Cup since 2006.

From a Habs perspective, McCarron is joining a team that has some understanding of how to bring along a big man, given the way the Generals have helped Smith blossom. The latter was a fourth-liner as a 17-year-old, but came so far after improving his coordination and quickness that the Calgary Flames scooped him up late in the second round as a re-entry candidate in June.

Oshawa's two best seasoned defencemen, Josh Brown and Will Petschenig, play a simple, stable, stay-at-home game. Mermis offers experience and some offence to complement 17-year-old star Mitchell Vande Sompel.

Regarding London, the big takeaway is McRae bit the bullet, getting a second prized player from the 1998-birthdate group by adding Cliff Pu. (The Knights also made a trade in August for offensive defenceman Victor Mete.) Under Mark Hunter, who left in October to join the Toronto Maple Leafs front office, there were sometimes questions about whether the Knights,  with their pressure to fill the 9.046-seat Budweiser Gardens, were willing to punt a season for future gain. As a corollary, their 2011-12 through '13-14 teams were only good enough to compete in the Memorial Cup, but not ultimately win it. Getting the promising Pu along with Mete since August and adding picks is a nice investment.

Meantime, the other domino still standing involves what the Central Division contenders, Barrie and North Bay, do to counter the Generals' move. The gap seemed large enough already.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.