No summer rest in OHL West
A look ahead to the looming ’26-27 Ontario Hockey League regular season — it starts on September 17 — suggests that parity might be an operative word when zooming in on the five teams of the West Division.
With so much off season movement — players who still have OHL eligibility leaving for the National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks and a host of incoming newcomers from here and there signed up ahead of the ’26-27 campaign — there does not seem to be a presumptive pet among the five West side outfits.
To be sure, there is no snap answer if one were to be asked for a projected order of finish in ’26-27 from among the (alphabetically) Flint Firebirds, Saginaw Spirit, Sarnia Sting, Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires of the wild West.
Meanwhile, the five member faction of the West has collectively had little time for an extended summer vacation with player signings and staff shuffle, not to mention the priority selections, under 18 supplemental, and import drafts.
In particular, the Soo, Windsor and Sarnia have been the subject of major headlines.
Hounds Hire Winning Coach. Sault Ste. Marie general manager Kyle Raftis scored big when he lured Grade A coach Drew Bannister back to the OHL to replace the ousted John Dean. Bannister never had a losing record in three earlier OHL seasons with the Greyhounds. And come playoff time, Bannister’s Greyhounds won no less than five series in three successive trips to the post season. Without question, the Hounds have a winner as their new on ice leader in the 52-year old Bannister. His coaching record with the Hounds and beyond speaks sufficiently of his successes. Bannister previously coached the Greyhounds — who he won a Memorial Cup with as a defenseman in 1993 — from 2015 to 2018 and complied a standout record of 136-50-18. The Hounds won a round of the playoffs in each of Bannister’s first two seasons and made it all the way to the OHL finals in his third before losing to the Hamilton (now Brantford) Bulldogs. After leaving the Hounds, Bannister had several successful seasons as a head coach in the American Hockey League before making it to the National Hockey League with St. Louis and coaching the Blues for parts of two seasons. Bannister more than he showed that he was capable of coaching in the NHL as he compiled a record of 39-31-6 with the Blues … Meanwhile, Bannister and the Hounds are in the process of hiring a new crew of assistant coaches ahead of the ’26-27 season.
Spitfires Signing Spree. Russian forward Bogdan Yakushevsky (first round pick from the 2026 import draft) is the latest newcomer to sign with the new look Windsor Spitfires this off season. Other summer signings by Windsor general manager Billy Bowler include forward Lauchlan Whelan (first round pick from the 2026 OHL priority selections draft), defenseman Jake LaMontagne (fourth round pick from the 2026 priority selections draft), forwards Ty Bergeron (third round pick from 2025 priority selections draft), Michal Svrcek (first round pick from 2025 import draft), Hamza Havusic (first round pick from 2025 supplemental draft) and defensemen Jesse Debruyn (fourth round pick from 2025 priority selections draft), Sam Wathier (fifth round pick from 2024 priority selections draft) and Drake Gram (eighth round pick from 2024 priority selections draft.) Notably, LaMontagne, Bergeron, Wathier and Gram are all American born skaters.
Sting Operation. Sarnia general manager Dylan Seca orchestrated three major summer time moves, trading for young gun defenseman Cole Emerton, making since-signed, prize defender Adrian Sgro (the first at his position to be picked at the OHL priority selections draft, and then using a first round pick to take 6 foot 3 goalie Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko at the Canadian Hockey League import draft. Emerton, who has a 2008 birth date, was second in scoring among all rookie defensemen in the OHL in ’25-26 while playing for the Barrie Colts. Meanwhile, the 6 foot 2 Sgro was taken by Sarnia with the fourth pick in the first round from the vaunted Vaughan Kings program. And Tkach-Tkachenko is a National Hockey League draft pick of the Utah Mammoth who has already played two seasons of pro hockey in Russia and is primed to be the starting goalie for the Sting in ’26-27. Sarnia has missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons and the Sting most certainly needs to make a major rebound in ’26-27.
