Okay, so here we go in the ‘O’

For those who have any sort of play or say or way or pay or hey relative to the 20 teams of the Ontario Hockey League, the OHL is seemingly set up for a ’25-26 season of hope and nope.

Aside from the Brantford Bulldogs — who may be the best team in the entire OHL — the Eastern Conference overall does not match up with the Western Conference, which features the Windsor Spitfires, London Knights and Kitchener Rangers. (It says here that the four worst teams in the entire OHL just may be in the Eastern Conference.)

At any rate, following is a Hockey News North/Hockey News Windsor look at how we think some of it may play out in the OHL over the course of this season, including our standings projections.

WESTERN CONFERENCE: 1. Windsor Spitfires 2. London Knights 3. Kitchener Rangers 4. Soo Greyhounds 5. Flint Firebirds 6. Guelph Storm 7. Saginaw Spirit 8. Sarnia Sting 9. Owen Sound Attack 10. Erie Otters.

… General manager Billy Bowler has the Spitfires in position for a second successive run at a conference and league championship. Windsor is loaded up front led by first round National Hockey League draft picks Liam Greentree (Los Angeles Kings) and Jack Nesbitt (Philadelphia Flyers) and presumptive 2026 NHL first rounder Ethan Belchetz. Well coached by Greg Walters, Windsor also has seasoned defensemen Wyatt Kennedy, Anthony Cristoforo, Conor Walton and local lad Carson Woodall in front of overage goalie Joey Costanzo.

… Most folks have Kitchener behind Windsor for the second seed but somehow we think the London hockey factory will be the number two team, based on better goal tending and the world class, Memorial Cup championship Hunter factor of head coach Dale Hunter and general manager Mark Hunter.

… The Greyhounds loom as the sleeper of the Western world. The Soo has had losing seasons in two of the last three years but it has a much better than average team that should clearly rebound in ’25-26 from a seventh place finish in ’24-25. The Hounds are flush with NHL draft picks including forwards Brady Martin (first round, Nashville Predators), Travis Hayes (fourth round, Pittsburgh Penguins), Jordan Charron (fifth round, Pittsburgh) and Marco Mignosa (seventh round, Tampa Bay Lightning) and goalie Landon Miller (fourth round, Detroit Red Wings.) The onus is on long time head coach John Dean to crank up the Hound power.

… Methinks that Flint will be better than most OHL hockey folks are saying. Firebirds general manager Dave McParlan and head scout Mike Oliverio have done well in signing a number of free agents who have future Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association commits. Meanwhile, Flint will need a dependable season from overage goalie Mason Vaccari, who was acquired in an off season trade with the Kingston Frontenacs. Waiting in the wings as Flint’s goalie of the future is highly touted 2009 birth date backstop Mason Courville. Courville is the son of former OHL and NHL winger Larry Courville, who hails from the northeastern Ontario mining town of Timmins.

… Guelph is a team of intrigue, Saginaw has too many question marks to be higher ranked and Sarnia should eke out Owen Sound and Erie for the eighth and final playoff spot.

… Owen Sound is still in a rebuild and long time general manager Dale DeGray could set up the Attack for next season and beyond by dealing the OHL’s best goalie in Team Canada standout Carter George for a haul of younger players and draft picks.

EASTERN CONFERENCE: 1. Brantford Bulldogs 2. Kingston Frontenacs 3. Niagara Ice Dogs 4. North Bay Battalion 5. Barrie Colts 6. Oshawa Generals 7. Peterborough Petes 8. Ottawa 67’s 9. Sudbury Wolves 10. Brampton Steelheads.

… There is plenty of anticipation in Brantford and high expectations for the Bulldogs for the ’25-26 season led by seven NHL draft picks that include forwards Marek Vanacker (first round, Chicago Blackhawks, 2024), Jake O’Brien (first round, Seattle Kraken, 2025), Adam Benak (fourth round, Minnesota Wild, 2025) and Sam McCue (seventh round, Toronto Maple Leafs, 2024), defensemen Owen Protz (fourth round, Montreal Canadiens, 2024) and Edison Engle (sixth round, Winnipeg Jets, 2025) and goalie Ryerson Leenders (seventh round, Buffalo Sabres, 2024.)

… While many have Kingston behind Niagara and Barrie in the Eastern market there is balance up front and on the back end that has me liking the Frontenacs as the second seed behind Brantford. Which may be a bit of a stretch. But I very much like the work that has been done by fifth year general manager Kory Cooper, who has the Frontenacs set up for a fourth contending season during that span. Notably — and being a former standout OHL goalie himself — Cooper has the Frontenacs positioned rather well between the pipes for the foreseeable future with a net troika of Matthew Minchak (2007 birth date), Gavin Betts (2008 birth date) and Royden Smith (2009 birth date.)

… Niagara is now under the day to day operation of the league (which is probably a good thing) and the IceDogs have a new GM in place in the reputable Frank Evola, who did good work as an assistant in Windsor for a number of years. There is a nice, balanced roster now in place.

… My sleeper team is North Bay, which will not only move up in ’25-26 from an eighth place finish in ’24-25 but be right there battling with Kingston, Niagara and Barrie behind Brantford.

… There is not a whole of promise to write about Oshawa, Peterborough or Ottawa though all three teams should have enough to sneak into the playoffs of the weakened Eastern block.

… At the bottom of the heap are Sudbury and Brampton, who have both come up short as underachievers year after year. One has to wonder how long Wolves owner Dario Zurich will tolerate general manager Rob Papineau, who has been on the job since 2016 and is on his sixth head coach. Meanwhile, if Steelheads coach and general manager James Richmond isn’t on the hot seat he should be.