Spits set up for rebound
Missing the playoffs is in the rear view mirror. Focused on what looms ahead for the 2024-2025 season and beyond, the Windsor Spitfires have the engine in restart mode after it backfired in 2023-2024. Between a bad start and a bad finish the Spitfires were not a bad team in the middle of the ’23-24 season.
After finishing atop the Western Conference standings in both ’21-22 and ’22-23, the Spitfires went into a nosedive and finished in last place among the 20 teams of the Ontario Hockey League in ’23-24. Under first year head coach Jerrod Smith, the Spitfires sputtered to a 4-16-1 start to begin the ’23-24 season. Thus, after just 21 games, Smith was fired and Casey Torres was elevated from assistant coach to interim head coach.
With Torres at the helm, the Spitfires actually played .500 hockey over the next 34 games — the equivalent of half a season — with a record of 14-14-6. So, it seemed that the Spitfires actually were the .500 team that many thought they were capable of being.
However, with Torres still in command as interim bench boss, the Spitfires proceeded to go into a sharp descent and over the final 13 games of the season, they went win-less with a record of 0-12-1. Add it all up and the final tally for the ’23-24 season was the Spitfires finishing in last place in the Western Conference with a record of 18-42-8 — they were 14-26-7 under Torres. It was the first time the Spitfires missed the playoffs since the 2014-2015 season.
So what is in store for the ’24-25 season for the good ship Spitfire? Can the Spitfires rebound from a one season disaster and return to the winning records of the previous several years? To be sure — and as an example — as the Soo Greyhounds returned to OHL stature in ’23-24 after missing the playoffs in ’22-23, it is widely anticipated and envisioned that the Spitfires will rev their engine back up the ranks in the Western Conference in ’24-25.
At the helm of the planned turnaround is Windsor general manager Billy Bowler. In Bowler’s first three seasons as GM, the Spitfires produced regular season records of 34-20-8, 44-17-7 and 44-18-6 before the 18-42-8 fall off of the past term. Through multiple transactions designed to redo the Windsor flight plan for the ’24-25 season and beyond, Bowler appears to have the Spitfires back on track.
Not only do the Spitfires have a better than average group of returning players in the 2004 (overage), 2005, 2006 and 2007 age brackets to choose from for ’24-25, there is also the possibility of trades. As a an adept GM, the free wheeling Bowler has never been shy to pull the trigger on trades of crucial consequence.
FLIGHT PLAN
There is a bracket of potential overage players who could return to help pilot the Spitfires’ ascent for ’24-25 that includes the likes of forwards Ryan Abraham, Noah Morneau and Colton Smith. Especially, though, it is the younger generation that hold the keys to the airborne Spitfire cylinder.
Windsor already has its franchise player in 2006 birth year forward Liam Greentree. One of the youngest captains in Spitfires history, the 6 foot 2, 200 pound Greentree led the team in scoring by a wide margin in ’23-24 with 36 goals, 54 assists, 90 points. Only 10 OHL players had more points than Greentree, who is poised to become a first round pick at this year’s National Hockey League draft.
The 2006 age group of Spitfires also features a promising class of forwards Cole Davis and A.J. Spellacy and defensemen Anthony Cristoforo, Carson Woodall and Conor Walton. Davis became a 20 goal scorer as an OHL rookie and Spellacy also hit that mark as a second year skater.
Then there is 2007 birth year forward Jack Nesbitt, who was Windsor’s first round pick at the 2023 OHL priority selections draft. Nesbitt has size at 6 foot 4 to go with skill and is projected to become a future Spitfire standout after a rookie season that included nine goals, nine assists, 18 points in 58 games.
There are also players with 2005 birth dates who could be somewhere in the mix as 19-year olds in ’24-25 — defensemen Josef Eichler and Tanner Winegard and goalie Joey Costanzo.
Right now, based on his OHL experience of close to 100 games — and barring a trade — Costanzo is the presumptive starter to at least begin the ’24-25 season for Windsor.
W3 ON THE D
While former first rounder Anthony Cristoforo is the most heralded and most experienced of the young group of Windsor defenders, three others are being projected to take the next step in ’24-25 after showing promise as rookies in ’23-24.
They are Tanner Winegard, Conor Walton and Carson Woodall. While Winegard at 6 foot 6 and Walton at 6 foot 4 have size and play a heavy game, Woodall has shown more of an offensive upside.
And notably, Winegard led all Spitfire defensemen who played in at least 50 games in ’23-24 on the plus-minus chart while Walton and Woodall were tied for second in that department.
YOUNG BLOOD
The Spitfires have already signed four players from the 2024 OHL priority selections draft including their top three picks.
They are first rounder Ethan Belchetz, second rounders J.C. Lemieux and Carter Hicks and seventh rounder Jake Windbiel. Belchetz and Lemieux are both forwards, Hicks is a defenseman and Windbiel is a goalie.
The 6 foot 5 Belchetz, who was the first overall pick of the draft, is expected to make an impact as a rookie in ’24-25.
