Spits look to fill gaps

by Evan Mathias

The Windsor Spitfires will look to fill some of the gaping holes in their roster April 6 during the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.

Due to injuries and suspensions, the Spitfires were forced to play many of their games in the season’s second half short of a full roster.

Windsor will have to wait until the third round to make their first selection in the draft as they are without a first and second round pick.

“It’s a different kind of draft, without a first and a second (round pick),” said Spits general manager Warren Rychel. “It’s a long wait, so were going to make sure our list is nice and tight and take the best player.”

Windsor’s surplus of defence leaves them looking to add forwards to their lineup. The OHL draft however might not be the best opportunity for that.

“I think it’s fair to say that overall, this crop is probably a bit below average,” said OHL scout Scott Campbell. “The defence are fairly strong in this draft but it seems to lack high-end forwards.”

The OHL Cup was held March 12-17 in Mississauga, with the Oakville Rangers defeating the Toronto Marlboros in the championship game. Rychel scouted players he would like to draft if they are still available once Windsor has the opportunity to pick.

“There’s a couple players that had really good OHL Cups that might not be high on other teams lists, so that’s what we’re looking for here,” said Rychel.

However, the OHL Cup isn’t the best way to determine a player’s skill.

“I’m not a huge advocate of putting much stock into such a short tournament,” said Campbell. “With so much on the line, you see players start to play different styles of game and really elevate their level of play.”

Windsor does have two first round picks in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, which is where Rychel is hoping to bring in talent.

“I think were going to obviously take an older European and put him right on the top line,” said Rychel.

With so many roster spots to fill before next season Rychel will be looking at more than just the drafts to beef up the Spits lineup.

“There’s different ways we could do this, through the OHL draft, the Import Draft, through trades, through free agency and through guys we drafted last year,” said Rychel. “It is going to be a really competitive mini-camp and (main) camp.”