Windsor Spitfires Will Rebuild and Restock. . . Later
Windsor Spitfires General Manager Warren Rychel pulled off his second shrewd trade in less than a month last week by sending five draft choices to the Niagara IceDogs in exchange for Graham Knott, a 7th round draft choice in 2017 and the rights to Trent Frederic.
The Spitfires sent a 2nd round pick in 2021 along with 3rd round picks in 2017 and 2019. A 4th rounder in 2018 and a 6th rounder in 2017 were also moved to Niagara.
Still, that’s a reasonable price to pay for Knott, a hulking 6’4”, 198-lb left-winger who was a second round pick of the Chicago Black Hawks in 2015 and Knott has already signed an entry level contract with the NHL club that is coached by Spits icon and Riverside native Joel Quenneville.
Frederic, meanwhile, was a first round pick of the Boston Bruins last summer and is currently going to school at the University of Wisconsin. However, as soon as he signs a pro contract with the Bruins and while he would be eligible to play for the Bruins’ American Hockey League team, there’s an excellent chance he could end up in Windsor after the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships or the Spitfires might have to bide their time with Frederic until next fall. In reality, if Frederic ever dons a Spitfires uniform, it’s a tremendous bonus to this deal.
Less than a month prior to the trade for Knott, Rychel sent 2nd round picks in 2017 and 2018 along with a 3rd in 2020 and a 5th round pick in 2019 to the Mississauga Steelheads in exchange for defenceman Sean Day and a 6th rounder in 2017 and a 3rd rounder in 2019. Day is a puck-moving rearguard with tremendous skating ability despite – at 6’2” and 230 pounds – being built like a tank.
Dy was a 3rd round pick of the New York Rangers last summer
So in just these two trades the Spitfires have shipped out nine future draft choices in exchange for two players and three lower future draft choices. Still, that’s great value for Warren Rychel.
Yes, the Spitfires are mortgaging the future and as 2017 MasterCard Memorial Cup hosts they should be. .And yes, the team’s draft pick cupboard will be bare by the time Rychel is done shaping the roster. It should be. Spits already have guaranteed entry into the tourney.
When it comes to making trades, Rychel is a riverboat gambler and it was his wheeling and dealing that propelled the Spitfires to back-to-back Memorial Cup championships in 2009 and 2010 A third consecutive Canadian Hockey League title in 2011 might have been possible too if defenceman Cam Fowler and left-winger Taylor Hall didn’t make the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers respectively as underagers.
It is not a question of whether or not the Windsor Spitfires will be participating in the 2017 MasterCard Memorial Cup, they most certainly will be. It’s a matter of what capacity they will be participating as – either as the host team or as both the host team AND OHL champions.
And the Spitfires are very real contenders to win the OHL title this season – especially since Warren Rychel has until the January 10, 2017 OHL trade deadline to make his team as powerful as possible.
For the Windsor Spitfires the future is now and the future is bright.
Next week, I’ll explain how and why it might not take long for the Windsor Spitfires to accomplish their eventual monumental rebuild while re-stocking their draft cupboard.
Windsor Spitfires season schedule.