Spitfires add to depth on ‘D’
Highly regarded free agent defenseman Jack O’Dell has signed to play in the Ontario Hockey League for the Windsor Spitfires — but it will not be a full time gig until the ’27-28 season, Hockey News Windsor has confirmed.
The 6 foot 2, 195 pound O’Dell (in photo at left), who has a 2009 birth date and who hails from the Chicago area, chose to sign with the Spitfires over offers from other teams in the OHL, not to mention the United States Hockey League.
“Talented players like this have choices, especially when it comes to free agents,” relayed Spitfires general manager Billy Bowler. “O’Dell is an elite player who had choices. We feel fortunate we were able to lock Jack in and look forward to seeing him at training camp.”
O’Dell, who is a product of the Chicago Mission and Windy City Storm programs, spent much of the ’25-26 season playing at Phillips Academy of Andover, a college prep school which is located near Boston. The plan is for him to play at Phillips Academy again in ’26-27 and get into some OHL regular season games with the Spitfires as well.
“O’Dell has a physical presence, he has all the tools and he is committed to getting better. This is a kid with a ton of potential. The ceiling is high,” added Bowler.
Spitfires Are Deep On D. To be sure, there is no need to rush the aforementioned Jack O’Dell into the Windsor lineup. The Spitfires already have a cargo of signed defenseman available for the ’26-27 season including holdovers Conor Walton, Andrew Robinson and Jonathan Brown and incoming blue liners Grady Spicer, Jesse Debruyn, Sam Wathier, Drake Gram and Jake LaMontagne. Then there is high end overage Anthony Cristoforo, who can play both forward and defense.
