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Knight Watch: London busy at trade deadline, with O’Reilly, Woolley, Wilmott all departing; D-man Jacob Xu among those joining Knights; How will Knights fill holes in lineup? It’s home sweet home this weekend, with games against Brantford and Erie.
It was a busy week for the London Knights on the trade front, including a major move with one of their biggest rivals in which they parted ways with their captain and two of their longest serving players.
London’s biggest deal of the week saw Sam O’Reilly and Jared Woolley heading to the Kitchener Rangers in a move that officially signalled the Knights’ rebuild.
In return, they received 2008-born defenseman Jacob Xu, as well as a whopping 10 draft picks. Xu is a young defenseman with solid potential. He’s committed to Harvard University. In a separate deal, the Knights also acquired the rights to Kane Barch from the Rangers, son of former Knight Krys Barch. He was the Rangers’ first round pick in last year’s draft following a standout season with the Huron Perth Lakers. He’s been with the U.S. National Development Team.
The departure of O’Reilly and Woolley leaves some major holes in London’s roster. Both were top five in team scoring and offered defensive benefits that don’t necessarily show up on the stats sheet. The return of Jesse Nurmi and Will Nicholl last week certainly helped fill the void, and likely helped them make the decision to part with O’Reilly and Woolley a little easier to swallow from a team perspective.
O’Reilly finishes his Knights tenure with 155 points in 163 regular season games, adding 34 points in the playoffs. Woolley had 58 points in 142 games.
The Knights and Rangers play three more times this season but just once in London on Feb. 4.
In other transactions, Ben Wilmott has been traded to the Barrie Colts, meaning that London has parted ways with three of their top five point getters this season. None of the three were expected to return next season, with O’Reilly and Woolley graduating to the professional ranks and Wilmott bound for Ohio State University.
Coming back in the Barrie deal are four draft picks and the rights to forward William Moore. If that name sounds familiar to Knights fans, he was London’s first round pick in the 2023 draft before his rights were eventually traded to Barrie. He has eight points in 18 games this season as a freshman at Boston College.
Defenseman Julien Brown was also dealt. He’s heading to the Owen Sound Attack. The Knights received local defenseman Jacob Vandeven who’s been playing with the GOHL’s Komoka Kings this season.
Brown will return to London when Owen sound visits Feb. 16, with Wilmott and the Barrie Colts a few days later on Feb. 20.
This weekend, London will face polar opposites in Brantford, one of the league’s best teams, and Erie, one of the worst.
UPCOMING GAMEDAYS
Friday (Jan. 9, 7:00pm) vs. Brantford Bulldogs (26-7-4-1, 3rd in Eastern Conference)
The Bulldogs, one of the OHL’s top teams from the first half, have their reinforcements back from the World Juniors. Adam Benak, Adam Jiricek, and Vladimir Dravecky all won a silver medal with Czechia. All three were in the lineup against Niagara on Wednesday. Jett Luchanko and Ben Danford were not after their bronze medal performance with Canada, but both are expected to play Friday. Jake O’Brien hasn’t played since before Christmas. The Seattle Kraken prospect has 47 points in 28 games. Draft eligible forward Caleb Malhotra leads the team with 50 points. He’s third in OHL scoring. Gabriel Frasca will likely make his Bulldogs debut after a trade this week from Erie.
Saturday (Jan. 10, 4:00pm) vs. Erie Otters (14-22-1-1, 9th in Western Conference)
Already five points back of a playoff spot, the Otters parted ways with some of their top talent this week. Scoring has been an issue for the Otters, as Michael Dec is the only player with more than 17 points this season, leading the team with 42. Gabriel Frasca and Dylan Edwards both had 39 points but were traded to Brantford this week as the Otters look to the future. Erie’s 105 goals this season is second fewest in the OHL. Teams have split the season series with the home team coming out on top in both contests. They’ll play each other three more times after this weekend.
KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS
305 – The combined regular season games Sam O’Reilly and Jared Woolley played as London Knights.
1 – There was a trio of firsts in Sunday’s win over Oshawa. Jesse Nurmi and Will Nicholl both recorded their first goals of the season after making their debuts last week, while newly acquired Ryan Brown also scored his first goal as a Knight.
20 – Sebastian Gatto stopped all 20 shots he faced in a relief effort Sunday, helping settle things down for London, backstopping them to a 5-4 win in Oshawa.
7 – After going 173 regular season games without being shut out, the Knights have now been blanked twice in a seven-game span.
A LOOK AT THE LOCALS
– Harrison Franssen has five goals in his last six games for the Oshawa Generals.
– Parker Vaughan had three points, including a shorthanded goal, in North Bay’s win over Sudbury on Sunday. It’s the second three-point game this season for the St. Thomas product.
– Ethan Dean recorded his first two-goal game with the Subdury Wolves.
– Owen Sound’s Matthew Koprowski stopped 52 of 55 shots over the weekend, recording a win over Sarnia Friday night and stopping all nine shots in a relief appearance against Peterborough a night later.
– Matthew Wang was traded from the Flint Firebirds to the Oshawa Generals. The overage forward, who has missed a chunk of the season with an injury, has seven points in 10 games.
– Carter Hicks is on the move from Windsor to Brampton as he was part of a trade earlier this week.
AROUND THE OHL
– David Branch, the longtime commissioner of the CHL and OHL, passed away Sunday at the age of 77.
– Carter George is on the move. The Team Canada goaltender has been traded from Owen Sound to the Soo Greyhounds.
– Brantford acquires Guelph captain Charlie Pacquette. He’s a former linemate of Jett Luchanko, who Brantford acquired back in November.
– Windsor acquired Sudbury captain Nathan Villeneuve and Alex Pharand in exchange for draft picks.
– Flint acquired Jacob Battaglia from Kingston for a total of eight draft picks.
