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There hasn’t been a back-to-back champion within the OHL because the London Knights achieved the feat in 2012 and ’13.
This season, the Knights ought to have an opportunity to repeat that feat.
Ranked third within the CHL’s pre-season rankings, Mark and Dale Hunter’s perennial powerhouse appears to be like poised to make one other run at an OHL title.
Here are some storylines to observe within the OHL this season after of Wednesday’s season opener between the reigning Memorial Cup champion Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires.
Leafs or Knights?
Easton Cowan would like to play the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Knights actually could be pleased with their ahead if he reached that objective, however they’re not about to complain if that doesn’t occur, both.
What the Leafs do with the reigning OHL MVP will loom massive for the Knights and the stability of energy within the league.
The 19-year-old will not be eligible to play full-time for the AHL Marlies till subsequent season, so it’s both the NHL or London.
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It’s additionally fully doable the Twenty eighth-overall decide from 2023 begins the season with the Leafs earlier than discovering his method again to London together with Team Canada on the world junior championship.
Regardless of what occurs with Cowan, the Knights will likely be harmful. They have the potential to have 10 NHL draft picks of their lineup and seem like the clear favorite within the Western Conference.
New man in cost
Former Canadian Open event director and Toronto Argonauts operating again Bryan Crawford has taken over as commissioner from David Branch, who had run the OHL since 1979.
It will likely be fascinating to see how the league operates with a brand new voice.
While Branch was a really vital determine within the improvement of junior hockey, Crawford certainly has totally different concepts to carry to the desk after a long time of a well-recognized look.
Crawford was a visitor on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast this week.
GTA shuffle
One factor Branch didn’t have success with was reaching off-ice success within the Greater Toronto Area, excluding the long-standing custom of Oshawa Generals hockey.
A late-Nineteen Nineties transfer to place groups in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton did not fill rinks.
Just one metropolis stays, and it’s not Mississauga. The Steelheads determined to maneuver 6.6 kilometres down the street to Brampton this low season to return the OHL to the market after the Battalion marched to North Bay in 2013.
It’s uncertain followers will all of the sudden begin packing the CAA Centre after years of staying away from Battalion video games, however the Steelheads determine to have the ability to appeal to some curiosity with a powerful product.
The staff is ranked second within the CHL rankings. Brampton swung a serious cope with the Kitchener Rangers for 52-goal man Carson Rehkohf and may need the league’s prime 2025 NHL Draft prospect in winger Porter Martone.
Leenders vs. Ivankovic
The Steelheads had the luxurious of two prime goaltenders final season. This summer season, they determined to commerce their older goalie, Buffalo Sabres prospect Ryerson Leenders, to the Brantford Bulldogs, pushing sophomore Jack Ivankovic into the No. 1 position.
The Mississauga-born Ivankovic, a first-round OHL decide, was superb as a rookie final 12 months (2.72 GAA, .915 save proportion in 25 video games) and must be higher with extra expertise below his belt.
But the Steelheads did take a danger dealing Leenders to a convention rival for eight draft picks.
The Bulldogs are thought-about one of many contenders for the East title in a stacked convention, together with the Steelheads, Barrie Colts and reigning East champion Generals.
The Generals should wait on key ahead Beckett Sennecke to get wholesome because the third-overall decide on this 12 months’s NHL Draft (Anaheim) recovers from a foot harm. There have been rumours that the Generals are poised to accumulate prime ahead Colby Barlow from the Owen Sound Attack if and when he returns from Winnipeg Jets camp.
Capital acquire?
It’s going to be a busy 12 months in Ottawa for Dave Cameron.
The 67’s coach will keep within the metropolis over the vacations to teach Canada’s entry on the world junior championship.
It’s the second crack on the world junior gig for the Prince Edward Island native, who gained silver with Canada in 2011 in Buffalo, N.Y.
A former coach of the Ottawa Senators, Cameron is getting into his fourth season with the 67’s.
Erie’s dynamic duo
Two of the top-10 2025 NHL Draft prospects on Jason Bukala’s record for Sportsnet will play for veteran coach Stan Butler’s Erie Otters.
Former OHL No. 1 decide Matthew Schaefer, a defenceman is No. 4, whereas ahead Malcolm Spence is No. 9.
Butler, in his first full season as coach of Erie final season, acquired the Otters again to the playoffs.
The solely coach in Brampton Battalion historical past, Butler did job growing gamers for the subsequent stage throughout his time in that group and he’ll search for comparable success with Schaefer and Spence.
Spirit nonetheless robust
After profitable the Memorial Cup on residence ice final season, Saginaw nonetheless figures to ice a powerful staff this season.
Exceptional participant Michael Misa enters his NHL Draft 12 months and is ranked No. 6 by Bukala.
The Spirit additionally ought to have reigning CHL defenceman of the 12 months Zayne Parekh (picked ninth total by the Calgary Flames this 12 months).
Coaching modifications
One quarter of the league’s groups have new coaches this season.
Cory Stillman (Guelph Storm), Steve O’Rourke (Oshawa ), Scott Wray (Owen Sound ), Scott Barney (Sudbury Wolves) and Greg Walters (Windsor) are the brand new bench bosses.
Walters, specifically, is an attention-grabbing story to observe. The Spitfires named him coach after he was reinstated by the league this low season.
Walters, previously Owen Sound’s head coach, was suspended for the 2023-24 season in December after a verbal altercation he had with one other Attack worker. The suspension got here after he was fired by Owen Sound.
Stillman, who performed 1,025 NHL video games, returns as an OHL head coach after guiding the Sudbury Wolves from 2017-20 earlier than heading to Arizona for an assistant’s position with the Coyotes.
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