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Knight Watch: London has won four straight; Hawery, Brown face off against former teams again; Gatto continues to impress; What will the Knights do at the trade deadline?; Two at home this week, starting New Year’s Eve.
Two members of last year’s Memorial Cup-winning team are rejoining the Knights.
Will Nicholl and Jesse Nurmi are both expected to make their season debuts this week. Nicholl, who had surgery over the summer, is returning from injury, while Nurmi was returned by the New York Islanders, where he was playing with their ECHL affiliate.
The Knights find themselves in a will-they or won’t-they situation: are they going to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? The return of Nurmi and Nicholl adds another dynamic to that question.
Despite what was expected to be a rebuilding season for the defending Memorial Cup champs, the Knights have won four straight games and sit just two points back of the Midwest Division lead. It’s much better than you’d expect from a team with high roster turnover after three straight trips to the OHL Final, winning the last two.
But despite exceeding expectations, the Knights will have to go through a couple of tough teams in the Western Conference in order to make a fourth trip. That means they’ll have some appealing players at the deadline for those teams looking to make a run of their own.
The Firebirds may have their best team since the team moved to Flint; Windsor and the Soo both appear to be gearing up; and Kitchener just made a big deal this week that suggests they are pushing their chips in as well.
Jared Woolley has 10 goals this season, including two game winners in his last four games. He has the size and versatility to be a very good fit on a number of contending teams. Captain Sam O’Reilly is another player that could be moved, but any trade involving him would have to wait until the Knights captain returns from the World Junior tournament, where he is representing Team Canada.
The Knights have already made a deal since Christmas, swapping former first round picks with Sarnia. London sent Logan Hawery to the Sting in exchange for Ryan Brown. Both made their debuts Sunday against their former teams (and they’ll do so again Wednesday in London).
Sebastian Gatto has stopped 65 of the last 66 shots he’s faced. I don’t see the Knights shopping a goaltender, but Gatto could be an appealing alternative for a contending team looking to upgrade in net but not willing to pay the hefty price for Carter George.
I don’t see the Knights having a fire sale and trading away all of their older players, but I could see them part ways with one or two for a young player and draft picks that could help them down the road. With the roster they currently have, even after a potential trade of a top player, they could still be competitive in a tight Western Conference and have a decent playoff run while also setting themselves up for the future.
It’s an interesting stretch ahead, as London will face one of the OHL’s hottest teams Friday in Flint, but bookend their week by facing the OHL’s two worst teams in Sarnia Wednesday and Oshawa Sunday.
Some alumni news, as former Knights captain Denver Barkey recorded a pair of assists in his NHL debut with the Philadelphia Flyers.
UPCOMING GAMEDAYS
Wednesday (Dec. 31, 4:00pm) vs. Sarnia Sting (10-20-4-1, 10th in Western Conference)
This is a rematch of Sunday’s game, where the Sting outplayed London bigtime but came away empty-handed. Logan Hawery and Ryan Brown will both play against their former team for the second time in four games. Sarnia’s Jack Van Volsen has points in five straight games, while newly named captain Alessandro Di Iorio has five goals and nine points over his last six games. London has won all three games of the season series, and the Sting are at risk of missing the playoffs for their third straight season.
Friday (Jan. 2, 7:00pm) vs. Flint Firebirds (24-8-2-2, 1st in Western Conference)
There’s lots to be happy about in Flint. Nathan Aspinall leads the entire OHL with 51 points. He has the Firebirds atop the West Division standings, two points up on Windsor. Flint has scored the fourth most goals in the OHL and boasts the third best penalty kill. No OHL netminder has more wins than Mason Vaccari. If that wasn’t enough, they just acquired Niagara IceDogs captain Kevin He, and they have enough draft capital to make another big move. Alex Kostov and Jimmy Lombardi are two others to watch out for. Both have more than 40 points.
Sunday (Jan. 4, 2:05pm) @ Oshawa Generals (9-25-0-0, 10th in Eastern Conference)
It’s been a rebuilding season for the Generals, who have lost six straight and look likely to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2010. London’s Harrison Franssen has been a nice surprise with 12 goals on the season. Special teams have hurt Oshawa. They have the fourth worst powerplay and fifth worst penalty kill. Owen Griffin leads the team with 31 points, and Brooks Rogowski is a name to keep an eye on for the upcoming NHL draft. The towering forward has 18 points in 22 games.
KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS
20 – The Knights won their final three games before the Christmas break, giving them 20 wins on the season so far. That extends their streak of reaching the 20-win mark before Christmas to four years in a row.
2 – Sebastian Gatto made 31 saves in Barrie to record his second shutout of the season, both of which have come on the road.
A LOOK AT THE LOCALS
– Niagara’s Ryan Roobroeck has points in eight straight games, the longest active point streak in the OHL, with six goals and nine assists over that stretch. That point streak started with a four-point effort against the Knights on Dec. 11.
– Harrison Franssen has doubled his season-high for goals in nearly half as many games. He’s up to 12 on the year heading into action this weekend.
