Flint Firebirds are 3 for 3
One. Two. Three. Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have now signed their top three picks from the 2025 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft — a forward, a defenseman, and a goalie.
Charlie Murata. A smart, skilled forward with separation speed, Murata was taken by Flint with the eighth pick in the first round of the 2025 OHL priority selections draft from the Don Mills Flyers of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
In 32 regular season games for Don Mills in ’24-25, Murata had 21 goals, 19 assists, 40 points. The 6 foot, right hand shooting forward then scored once and added seven assists at the 2025 OHL Cup in which Don Mills made it to the championship game.
Mike Oliverio, who is the head scout for the OHL Firebirds, took note of Murata’s attributes.
“Elite level skating and a high hockey IQ allows Charlie to play every shift with pace. He plays with a team first attitude which helps him make the players around him better. This is evident by the way he uses his vision to distribute pucks to his teammates. He has the ability to change the momentum of a game every time he hits the ice,” relayed Oliverio.
Lucas Nutting. Flint drafted Nutting — a point per game defenseman — in the second round of the 2025 OHL priority selections process from the Elgin Middlesex Canucks of the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario.
As team captain, the 5 foot 10, 175 pound Nutting netted 12 goals, 26 assists, 38 assists over 27 regular season games and added two goals, one assist, three points in four games at the OHL Cup.
“Lucas is a smooth skater with great mobility who can cover a lot of real estate during a game,” aforementioned Firebirds head scout Mike Oliverio said of Nutting. “He has the ability to lead the rush at one end and be the first to defend at the other. The high hockey IQ that Lucas has helps him to be a quarterback on the power play. He also plays with a bit of an edge which helps make him hard to play against.”
Mason Courville. Flint has signed the young goalie as a potential heir apparent to workhorse veteran Nathan Day.
At 6 foot, 165 pounds with a late 2009 birth date, Courville was Flint’s third round pick at the 2025 OHL priority selections draft from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights AAA program that is based out of Pennsylvania.
Courville looms as a future successor to the aforementioned Nathan Day in the Flint net. Day, who has a 2005 birth date and who recently signed a National Hockey League entry level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, could return to Flint as an overage for the ’25-26.
Notably, the Firebirds have struggled to find a suitable backup to Day over the past few seasons.
As for Courville, he has OHL bloodlines through his dad, Larry Courville, who was a world class winger in the league from 1991 to 1995 while suiting up for the Cornwall Royals, Sarnia Sting and Oshawa Generals.
