Humphrey on Hockey – Second half of 2023-2024 OHL season will be interesting for Spitfires
In the event that the Windsor Spitfires miss the Ontario Hockey League play-offs in the spring of 2024, there are still a number of goals that could be scored by the team both on and off the ice during the final few months of the 2023-2024 OHL season.
As of early December, the Spitfires sit in fifth place in the OHL’s West Division with a 7-18-1-0 and are currently 13 points out of a play-off spot with just over half of the 2023-2024 regular season remaining. However, there has been a significant improvement in the team’s performance as of late as they have won three of their last five games, all on the road, under the guidance of interim head coach Casey Torres who was named to that post after Jerrod Smith was relieved of his head coaching duties on November 20.
The reality is that the team – and organization – can benefit from watching the OHL play-offs from the sidelines in the spring of 2024. While Spits fans would not be happy if this happens, sometimes hockey teams need to take a step or two back in order to reboot and rebuild for the future. This is indeed what might be in the near-future for the Spitfires.
If and when general manager Bill Bowler decides that the time is right to go into full-blown sell mode at or near the trade deadline, it will be only last-year players or overage players who will more than likely be made available as these players have just limited time left in their OHL careers and the potential return for these players usually far outweigh their present value to the team. And what’s more, the return on these players will be either younger players or future draft choices, both of which can be used in future seasons to either select players in the OHL Priority Selection or as trade chips for when the Spitfires are once again in the hunt for a division or league championship.
In the event that the Spitfires sell off at or leading up to the OHL trade deadline, they will lose games the rest of this season sometimes simply due to inexperience. Young players will get more ice-time and experience in the wake of older former teammates being moved out. Roles of the team’s younger players will be expanded and both the player and team will benefit from this for seasons to come in Windsor.
Regardless of whether or not the Spitfires decide to sell leading up to or at the OHL trade deadline, the remaining portion of the 2023-2024 OHL season will provide a good opportunity for whoever is named the team’s new head coach. Whether that be current interim head coach Torres or whoever else is brought in, that person will be able to instill their own coaching and playing systems while also becoming familiar with the players who will be in Windsor for the rest of this season and perhaps seasons to come. Both the new head coach, and perhaps who they bring in as assistants to fill out their coaching staff them and the players will be able to audition for roster spots.
If the Spitfires go into rebuild mode, the young players who have been on the team’s roster or brought in as a result of trades made during the season will undoubtedly receive more playing time and expanded roles from which they will benefit for seasons to come in Windsor. A player seeing only spot duty while the team was still carrying older and impact players will receive a baptism by fire of sorts from which they will eventually look back upon as a growing experience. The OHL has forever been a hockey league where a 16or 17-year-old player scores 10 goals during his rookie season before exploding in both their performance and personal scoring statistics the following seasons. It is not uncommon for a player to match and/or surpass their rookie season stats early or by the midway point of their sophomore season.
The moving out of older players in a rebuild will almost certainly result in the bringing up of affiliate players from the team’s junior b club, the LaSalle Vipers, for a few games or even the rest of the regular season in Windsor. Players who have benefited in the past from starting out their junior hockey careers with the Vipers before becoming full-time members of the Spitfires include Aaron Luchuk, who scored the winning goal for the Spits as they clinched the 2017 Memorial Cup at the WFCU Centre. Current Spitfire rookies who are having productive seasons with the Spitfires after having played last season with the Vipers include left-winger Cole Davis and defenceman Carson Woodall.
Davis, by the way, is the OHL scoring leader for rookie players this season and was named the OHL’s Rookie of the Month for November. He is only going to get better with more playing time not only for the remainder of the season but for seasons to come in Windsor.
In the event that the Spitfires make only minor deals to rebuild and/or compete for a playoff spot in the spring of 2024, the team will still benefit even if the team fails to make the playoffs despite not rebuilding. The players will grow from the greatest teacher in both the games of life and hockey: experience.