Western world of the OHL
A year ago, the top four teams — leading to home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs — among the 10 members of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League were the London Knights, Kitchener Rangers, Windsor Spitfires and Saginaw Spirit. London, Kitchener and Windsor are all expected to retain their upper floor status in ’25-26 — and it says here that the Soo Greyhounds will move up to edge out Saginaw et al as the fourth seed.
NOT LONDON AGAIN?: Okay, so the reigning OHL and Memorial Cup champion Knights have graduated a slew of high performance players to the pro ranks. But the always restocking Knight armour has an assembly that will again keep London at or near the top of the Midwest Division and at or near the top of the Western Conference. Do the Knights ever have a bad season? It is a question that I asked a rival OHL general manager during a recent casual chat. His reply was: “London doesn’t know how to be bad.” At any rate, I don’t see London repeating as OHL champions in ’25-26. But I do see the Knights as a definite contender within the Western world of the OHL. And I am not the only one who thinks so.
SPITTING MORE FIRE: I have been known to favour Windsor over the years. What can I say? But hey, I picked the Spitfires to rebound in a big way in ’24-25 from what was an unmitigated disaster in ’23-24 — and I was right. The Spitfires, who finished third overall among the 20 teams of the OHL in ’24-25 with a record of 45-17-6 — their 96 points were 52 more than what they managed when they missed the playoffs in ’23-24 — are expected to again be a force to be reckoned with come the ’25-26 season with as many as 18 to 20 returning players. The returnees include the high end likes of forwards Liam Greentree, Jack Nesbitt, Cole Davis, A.J. Spellacy, Ethan Belchetz and J.C. Lemieux and defensemen Anthony Cristoforo, Carson Woodall, Conor Walton and Carter Hicks. Then there are a pair of dependable overages in goalie Joey Costanzo and defenseman Wyatt Kennedy. Greentree and Nesbitt (first rounders) and Spellacy (third rounder) are already National Hockey League draft picks and Belchetz, Lemieux and Hicks are likely to follow come the 2026 NHL Draft. Of note, the Spitfires have one of the very best general managers in the OHL in Billy Bowler and perhaps the most under rated head coach in the league in Greg Walters.
HOUNDS ON REBOUND: The Soo has had losing seasons in two of the last three years but it has a much better than average team that is ready to rebound in ’25-26 from a seventh place finish in ’24-25. Notably, the Greyhounds had four forwards taken at the 2025 NHL Draft led by Brady Martin (first round, Nashville Predators), Travis Hayes (fourth round, Pittsburgh Penguins), Jordan Charron (fifth round, Pittsburgh) and Marco Mignosa (seventh round, Tampa Bay Lightning.) The Greyhounds also have big goalie Landon Miller returning as a fourth round NHL pick by the Detroit Red Wings two years. Also returning is point per game defenseman Chase Reid, who is already being projected as a first or second round pick at the 2026 NHL Draft. Looking ahead to the ’25-26 campaign, holdover head coach John Dean will be rightfully expected to lead the Greyhounds to not only a winning record during the regular season but at least one round of playoff series triumph.
BEST OF THE REST: I like Kitchener. Who doesn’t? But I don’t like Saginaw as much as others do. And among the rest of the cast of the soon to be viewed Western movie of ’25-26 I don’t mind at all what the Flint Firebirds have. Flint may not be a top flight contender but the Firebirds seemingly always make the playoffs and are a tough out for rival teams. I see them as a fifth or sixth place team in the Western Conference in ’25-26, one that has a decent chance to finish ahead of its arch-rivals from Saginaw. Flint also produces its fare share of NHL Draft picks along the way. The Firebirds have done of a lot of good work internally en route to being a respectable OHL franchise.
