Motor City to Hound Town
Keep an eye on this guy. Free agent pick up Erik Muxlow has the makings of being a noteworthy addition to the present and future of the Soo Greyhounds.
A 5 foot 11, 183 pound forward with a 2007 birth date who hails from the Windsor area, Muxlow more than earned an Ontario Hockey League roster spot with the Greyhounds for the ’24-25 season following an eye opening spring development camp and subsequent fall training camp and exhibition games performance.
Muxlow was actually on the radar of the Greyhounds in advance of the 2023 OHL priority selections draft as a member of the Detroit Compuware Under 15 AAA program. But after netting 12 goals, 13 assists, 25 points in 18 games in the first half of the ’22-23 campaign, Muxlow suffered an injury that sidelined him for most of the rest of the season.
The injury caused OHL general managers, including Kyle Raftis of the Greyhounds, to pass on Muxlow through the 15 rounds of the 2023 priority selections draft. Raftis explained the Greyhounds rationale in passing on Muxlow a year ago.
“Erik was a standout in his age group as he entered his OHL draft year, coincidentally playing alongside current Hound forward Travis Hayes (who the Greyhounds would take in the second round of the ’23 OHL priority selections draft),” Raftis relayed to Hockey News North. “We initially placed him on our draft list, but an injury that sidelined him for most of the second half of the season led us to decide to track his progress into the following year.”
“He made significant progress in recovering from his injury (during the ’23-24 season) which earned him an invitation to our development camp this year. There, he continued to excel all the way to our main camp,” Raftis further pointed out about Muxlow, who skated in 62 games for Compuware in ’23-24 and produced 27 goals, 31 assists, 58 points.
Raftis took special note of the skill and smarts of Muxlow.
“Erik possesses exceptional skill and creativity. As he adapts to the OHL’s pace, he should be able to harness those talents and improve in all areas of his game, like any young player. We are optimistic about his integration with our core group of young forwards,” said Raftis, in summation.
Muxlow is now part of the Greyhounds 2007 birth year group of talented forwards that includes the aforementioned Travis Hayes and fellow second year skater Brady Martin. Martin was the Greyhounds’ first round pick at the ’23 OHL priority selections draft while Martin, as noted earlier, went in the second round. Both players had good rookie seasons for the Hounds in ’23-24.
Besides Muxlow, also joining the Hounds’ 2007 birth age group as a rookie forward this season is Brady Smith, who the Soo took in the fifth round of the ’23 OHL priority selections draft.