Windsor via Espanola
Among the notable interior brackets for the second seed Windsor Spitfires of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League is a tested trio of 2006 birth year defenseman. Besides former first rounder Anthony Cristoforo and homegrown Windsor product Carson Woodall, the ’06 group of blue liners includes mammoth defender Conor Walton, formerly of the Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
It was prior to his rookie OHL season with Windsor in ’23-24 that Walton developed over a full schedule in the NOJHL with Espanola in ’22-23. Walton, a 6 foot 5, 205 pound defender, skated in 51 NOJHL games and put up 30 points for Espanola in ’22-23 after being a fourth round pick by the Sudbury Wolves at the 2022 OHL priority selections draft.
Subsequently, on the eve of the ’23-24 OHL regular season, Sudbury dealt Walton to Windsor in a blockbuster trade. In the deal, the Wolves obtained well seasoned, 2004 birth year defenseman Nick DeAngelis and fringe defender Trevor O’Dell from the Spitfires in exchange for Walton and four future draft picks that included two seconds, a third and a sixth.
Walton fit in well over the course of the ’23-24 season as one of three young defensemen with 2006 birth dates on a Spitfires team that missed the playoffs but has since rebounded in a big way in ’24-25.
Spitfires general manager Billy Bowler likes a lot of what Walton brings to the Windsor lineup.
“He is big body who can skate,” Bowler relayed to Hockey News Windsor. “He is an excellent defender. He has good upside with that skating and size.”
Walton played in 64 of Windsor’s 68 regular season games in ’23-24 and had one, goal, 14 assists, 15 points. He also had the second best plus-minus numbers of any Windsor defenseman. This time around, in ’24-25, he has two goals, nine assists, 11 points in 57 games and his +14 is third best among Spitfire blue liners. Walton has appeared in every one of Windsor’s games thus far this season.
As far as moving up from the NOJHL to the OHL and having established himself as a seasoned defenseman in Windsor, Walton’s head coach from his time in Espanola relayed good words about the lanky lad.
“We are super proud of Conor to have made it in the OHL and stick with Windsor,” Espanola coach Jason Rapcewicz told Hockey News Windsor. “It was a pleasure to work with him when he was with us and help him develop his game to be a consistent defender in the OHL for Windsor.”