Austin Watson

BY PATRICK KING
sportsnet.ca

Austin Watson was worth the wait for the Peterborough Petes.

The Petes' prized pickup at this year's trade deadline is making up for lost time in his new uniform. Peterborough acquired Watson, along with two second-round draft picks, from Windsor in exchange for Zack Kassian.

However, the American forward was unable to provide his new team with instant dividends. Watson broke his left ankle while blocking a shot in the Canadian Hockey League's Top Prospects Game and missed the next four weeks of the regular season.

"It was really frustrating," Petes head coach Ken McRae acknowledged. "We didn't get a real good look at him because he was just getting his feet wet with this hockey club. He had only played three games."

Watson was thrust into the fire upon his return in late February. With the Petes in a fight for the playoffs, McRae had little choice but to use his newest weapon in every situation.

Watson centered the top line with overager Pat Daley and rookie phenom Matt Puempel. McRae was hopeful his newly-formed trio would click, since time was running out of time to qualify for the playoffs.

The trio delivered while finding instant chemistry and going on a tear in the final weeks before the post-season.

"It wasn't like I eased him back into it," McRae explained. "We were in desperation mode at that time when he was coming back. He started to click right away with those guys."

Watson scored six times and added 11 assists in his final five games of the regular season, including a six-point game against Oshawa. The trio brought a little bit of everything, Watson said, and complemented each other well as linemates.

"Matt's probably the best young player in our league right now," Watson said. "He's a pure finisher. I get the kid the puck and he puts anything in."

With the move to Peterborough came new opportunities and loads more ice time. Watson was partially lost in the mix on the defending Memorial Cup champion Spitfires, but it was hard to mistake his talent.

With trade talks well underway and the Ontario Hockey League's trade deadline two days away, McRae and Peterborough general manager Jeff Twohey traveled to Sarnia on Jan. 9 to scout Watson's abilities against the Sting.

It turned out being Watson's final game in a Spitfires uniform as McRae had little trouble envisioning Watson's future role in Peterborough.

"You could see the potential he had," McRae noted. "We liked his size, we liked his skill-set, his compete-level was very good and that's what we were looking for."

Watson, who had a no-trade clause in his contract, met with Windsor brass the next morning to discuss the trade. Although surprised by the trade and sad to leave Windsor, he too recognized potential in the team acquiring his rights.

Most notably, Watson saw potential to evolve into a top junior player immediately.

"I struggled with consistency in Windsor," he said. "I was getting opportunity and ice time, but I struggled to put up consistent numbers."

Although only in his second season, Watson assumes a leadership role on the young Petes. His teammates are able to look up to him as a Memorial Cup champion and although his role was small in Windsor during the run, the learning lessons are easy to relate.

"Playoffs are a different ball game, it's a different brand of hockey," he said. "You just have to play a well-rounded hockey game and not focus on highs and lows too much."

"He can definitely be a leader at 17," McRae added. "We're a different hockey club than the Windsor Spitfires at this stage right now so it's going to take a lot of hard work and effort and I think he can atone to that -- maybe from how they came out of the doldrums of the Memorial Cup where they were down and almost out, and they rose back up."

The Petes are underdogs in their opening round series with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. Peterborough will remain without Ryan Spooner, who suffered a broken collarbone in January.

McRae is able to take positives from his team's four-game winning-streak to end the regular season, but is wary of taking his opposition lightly.

"Mississauga's a really good hockey club," he said. "Let's not kid anybody just because they stumbled down the stretch a little bit there, they still had 42 wins.

"They didn't finish second in points in our whole conference without reasoning, so they're going to be a tough opponent."

Although Peterborough collected its dividends from the trade later than they had hoped, it's better late than never and Watson was well worth the wait.