Hounds in a rebuild house
Real time in the Ontario Hockey League — as in the ’24-25 regular season — is set for this week. In Sault Ste. Marie, first action for the Greyhounds is on Friday night when the Red and White plays host to the reigning Memorial Cup champion Saginaw Spirit at GFL Memorial Gardens.
The Greyhounds made a spring playoff run in 2024 only to lose in the seventh and deciding game of a second round series to their nagging nemesis from Saginaw. The Greyhounds are now in a modest rebuild of sorts after several established veterans graduated to the professional and Canadian university ranks.
Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis has since done some off season patch work by bringing in several skaters in search of new opportunities.
The newcomers include free agent forwards Sam Bowness and Erik Muxlow along with another forward in waiver acquisition Camerin Cardona from the Tri City Americans of the Western Hockey League, and former Peterborough Petes blue liner Brayden Velliaris. Judging by his play in the pre season, Muxlow looks as though he could be a steal of an addition as an un-drafted player who is still really young with a 2007 birth date.
The Greyhounds do have a good group of 2005 birth year returnees such as prize Nashville Predators defense prospect Andrew Gibson, along with productive forwards Justin Cloutier and Marco Mignosa. To be sure, Gibson, Cloutier and Mignosa will need to be high achievers game in and game as will former first round pick Christopher Brown, who returns for his third season as a 2006 birth year forward who has underachieved thus far through two OHL seasons.
Gibson looms as the quarterback of the Greyhound power play and projections for a full season are in the range of 60-65 points. Meanwhile, Cloutier and Mignosa could and should be good for 30 goals apiece while it would be a bonus if Brown could reach the 20 goal mark
Then there is overage (2004 birth year) defenseman Caeden Carlisle, who it says here is one of the more under rated players at his position in the entire OHL. Along with the standout Gibson, Carlisle stands to play big minutes on the Soo blue line this season.
Meanwhile, a pair of 2007 birth year forwards could be ready for major breakthrough seasons in ’24-25, namely Brady Martin and Travis Hayes. Watch for these two to become impact players for the Hounds in ’24-25 as key draft picks from a year ago. It is not unreasonable to expect 20-25 goals from both Martin and Hayes.
Now to a big question. Can the Greyhounds at least be one of the eight teams in the Western Conference to make the playoffs this season? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, with the Western Conference not being overall as strong as previous seasons, the Hounds could well be a middle of the pack, fifth or sixth place team.