Spitfires overage prospects
The trade route is a possibility. As is the Spitfires staying in house to utilize their three overage players (2005 birth dates) for the ’25-26 Ontario Hockey League season.
Windsor went with two holdovers and brought in another via trade to form its overage class of ’24-25. Forwards Noah Morneau (32 goals, 41 assists, 73 points in 68 regular season games and 11 goals, five assists, 16 points in 12 playoff outings) and Ryan Abraham (29-37-66 in 66 regular season matches and 4-6-10 in 12 playoff contests) both started and ended their OHL careers with the Spitfires in fine fashion. Windsor’s other OA in ’24-25 was defenseman Tnias Mathurin, who was acquired in a summer time trade with the North Bay Battalion and became a key player for the Spitfires only to suffer a season ending injury in early March.
As for the ’25-26 OHL season, the cast of potential 2005 birth year overages from the ’24-25 edition of the Spitfires features goalie Joey Costanzo and defenseman Wyatt Kennedy. The overage list also includes retread forwards Owen Outwater — who suffered a season ending shoulder injury in mid December of the ’24-25 season — and Luke McNamara, import defender Josef Eichler and forward-defensemen Tanner Winegard.
Costanzo and Kennedy might well be viewed as the plums of the potential overage tree.
The 6 foot 1 Costanzo is coming off of a ’24-25 season in which he was one of the best goalies in the entire OHL. As a Windsor workhorse, Costanzo had a regular season record of 34-10-4 with a 2.94 goals against average and .892 save percentage. He then followed that up with a playoff record of 7-3-2 and a sparkling 2.29 goals against average and .911 save percentage.
As for the 6 foot 5 Kennedy, he added size and strength to the Spitfire back end after being obtained from North Bay at the OHL trade deadline. Kennedy was a plus 5 for Windsor in 29 regular season games and was also a plus 5 in 12 playoff outings as an absolute top defender for the Spitfires.
Windsor, which finished third overall among the 20 teams of the OHL in ’24-25 with a record of 45-17-6 — its 96 points were 52 more than what it managed when it missed the playoffs in ’23-24 — is expected to again be a force to be reckoned with come the ’25-26 season with as many as 20 returning players.
The returnees include the high end likes of forwards Liam Greentree, Ilya Protas, Jack Nesbitt, Cole Davis, A.J. Spellacy, Ethan Belchetz and J.C. Lemieux and defensemen Anthony Cristoforo, Carson Woodall, Conor Walton and Carter Hicks, not to mention any of the aforementioned overage candidates.