Hounds, Spits, Spirit et al
Let us go here and there and around the Ontario Hockey League with stops in Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor and Saginaw.
… If there is a better OHL goalie tandem than the Soo Greyhounds duo of overage Charlie Schenkel and 18 year National Hockey League draft pick (Detroit Red Wings) Landon Miller then they are in hiding. Barring a trade, if the Greyhounds hold on to both Schenkel and Miller it should rather obviously continue to bode well for them as the ’24-25 OHL season progresses. Then again, trading Schenkel would likely fetch a good return of draft picks for the Greyhounds. It all depends whether Greyhound management opts to stand pat, be sellers, or maybe, in a stretch, be buyers.
…. With the reinstall of overage forward Owen Allard from the pro ranks, the return of veteran forward Marco Mignosa from the injured list and the addition of import forward Noel Nordh, also from the minor pro system, the Greyhounds have three skaters who should be impact players as the ’24-25 OHL season progresses. And as Greyhounds’ general manager Kyle Raftis relayed on a recent edition of the Hockey North Show podcast that I co-host with Brad Coccimiglio: “it is like we added a whole new line without even having to make a trade.”
… I said it during the off season and I will say it again: Windsor Spitfires will go from 19th place in the OHL in ’23-24 to top four or five in the league in ’24-25. And as of now, that forecast of mine is looking pretty good.
… It says here that the aforementioned Kyle Raftis of the Greyhounds and Billy Bowler of the Spitfires are two of the top five general managers in the entire OHL.
… Spitfires 2006 forward Liam Greentree just may be the best player in the OHL right now. The 2024 first round NHL draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings is a complete player from scoring goals to setting them up and knowing what to do and where to be on the ice in any situation. Greentree was an absolute steal by Windsor in the second round of the 2022 OHL priority selections draft.
… And Greentree has an exceptional support cast of skill around him in Windsor that includes fellow forwards Ryan Abraham, Noah Morneau, Owen Outwater, A.J. Spellacy, Cole Davis, Jack Nesbitt and rookies Ilya Protas and Ethan Belchetz as well as defensemen Anthony Cristoforo and Tnias Mathurin and goalie Joey Costanzo.
… Teams that seriously need to address their backup goalie situations are Flint and Saginaw where Nathan Day of the Firebirds and Andrew Oke of the Spirit have been workhorses.
… Is there a head coach in the OHL who wears more of a dour and sour look on his face than Chris Lazary of Saginaw? Lazary has a way of making London Knights head coach Dale Hunter look like Mr. Happy. Seriously, though, Hunter is probably the best development coach in the OHL and Lazary seemingly has a job in Saginaw for as long as he wants it. There is no question that Lazary and Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill work very well together.