Jeff Brown says son Logan Brown, Niagara IceDogs’ top pick, isn’t joining him in Ottawa: ‘He doesn’t want Dad coaching him’

Jeff Brown stresses that he and his puck-chasing progeny are not a package deal.

Word of the former NHL defenceman becoming coach of the Ottawa 67's lent itself to speculation online that his highly touted son, Niagara IceDogs first-round choice Logan Brown, might follow his father to Canada's capital by way of a trade before the season. The IceDogs chose the 6-foot-4½, 210-pound wing No. 6 overall in the OHL priority selection draft in April. No commitment has been announced but several OHL teams have already done the dog-and-pony show of introducing their first and second-round picks.

"My son's not coming here, we're two separate people," Jeff Brown said during his introductory press conference in Ottawa on Thursday. "I'm a good coach. He's a good hockey player. One has nothing to do with the other. I've coached my son his whole life. It's time for someone else to coach him. He needs to stand on his own two feet. That's the way it's going to be.

"And who knows? Down the road, I'm not going to say never [to coaching his son]. Right now I'm interested in this hockey club and obviously I'm going to cheer for my son. When we play against them, I hope we beat them 4-3 and he gets a hat trick."

Asked later where Logan Brown would play, the coach simply said: "Niagara."

Granted, no OHL team would broadcast its plans about trying to deal for the unsigned top pick of another franchise. It seems worth documenting the denials. The speculation about both father and son joining the 67's has been floating around for the past two months.

"If Logan Brown can help the Ottawa 67's win a Memorial Cup someday and we're able to get him in a trade and he's the best player available, we'll go get Logan Brown," said 67's GM Pat Higgins, whose team is probably a season or two away from serious contention.

Under league rules, a team can declare its first-rounder a 'defected' player once he does not report to training camp in late August. It can deal his playing rights before Sept. 15, during another window before the Jan. 10 trade deadline or following the season. Along with whatever return it nets in trade, the team also receives a 'comp pick' in the first round of the next priority selection draft. The comp pick is slotted one pick lower, but no higher than No. 5 overall.

For instance, in 2011 the Kingston Frontenacs used a No. 8 overall choice on Max Domi, then flipped his rights to the London Knights. Kingston used its comp pick in 2012, No. 9 overall, to select centre Sam Bennett, who's currently NHL Central Scouting Service's top-ranked North American skater for the big league's upcoming draft.

Niagara was not expected to select Logan Brown. The IceDogs have also utilized the comp pick twice in the past five years. It traded 2009 first-rounder Lucas Lessio to Oshawa and top 2011 pick Adam Bateman to Windsor.

Jeff Brown told the St. Catharines Standard in early May that "accessibility from St. Louis to Detroit certainly would be a lot easier" if Logan Brown's rights were dealt to a Western Conference club. Now the elder Brown is a head coach in the other conference. Ottawa and Niagara meet four times a season.

The former NHLer emphasized the need for his son make his own way after playing much of his minor hockey in the St. Louis area, where there's an association with his dad's time with the NHL's Blues.

"He — and this is the truth — he does not want to come here," Jeff Brown said. "He wants to come here because of the organization and the tradition and all that stuff, but he doesn't want Dad coaching him. We've talked about it a lot: that if I was to get a job in this league, would you want to do it? And he said, 'Absolutely not.' That's the kind of kid he is. He's passionate about playing in the NHL. That's why he's coming to this league. He's excited. And I'm excited. And those are two separate things."

Ottawa chose left wing Travis Barron No. 3 overall in April and announced his commitment earlier in June.

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