Spits unsure of return of NHL picks
After loading up with veteran players for a Memorial Cup run last season, the Windsor Spitfires knew there would be more youth in this year’s lineup as a result.
What the club probably wasn’t expecting was to potentially lose as many as four players that still had junior eligibility left to NHL clubs this season on top of that.
“It’s out of your control, especially when you’re coaching,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said. “Management will figure that out. In the meantime, we approach with what we have.”
Defenceman Mikhail Sergachev is not expected to be returned by the Tampa Bay Lightning while defenceman Sean Day, because he was granted exceptional status to play in the OHL, could be placed in the minors by the New York Rangers.
Centre Logan Brown is expected to get an extended training camp look by the Ottawa Senators due to centre Derick Brassard’s recovery from June shoulder surgery.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Vilardi has been nursing an injury in California all summer and there’s no known date when he’ll be ready to play for the Los Angeles Kings, who made him a first-round NHL pick, or be returned to Windsor.
“You just don’t know what’s going on with teams or what they have,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said. “I don’t expect to hear anything until Nov. 1.”
A former OHL defenceman of the year, the Spitfires were so sure that Russian-born Sergachev would not be back that the club filled both its import roster spots in this year’s draft by selecting forward Kirill Kozhevnikov and defenceman Lev Starikov.
“For me, I don’t expect Sergachev back or Sean Day back,” Letowski said.
Day made great strides in his game after coming to the Spitfires in a trade with Mississauga last season. While not a candidate for the Rangers, who took him in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft, he could be placed in the American Hockey League as the next step in his development rather than returned to junior because he has played four seasons in the league.
“Day, I’m pretty sure, is going to play in the American (Hockey) League,” Rychel said.
Both Brown and Vilardi would add some much-needed size and scoring punch to the Windsor roster, but things remain in limbo for both.
A first-round pick by the Senators in 2016, Brown has trained in Ottawa all summer and also attended camp for the American world junior team. Vilardi was invited to the Canadian world junior camp, but suffered an injury during the Memorial Cup that the Kings say is to his back. It has not responded to treatment.
“They’re going to do some different rehab,” Rychel said.
None of which is much help to the Spitfires, who will open the season on Thursday against the Saginaw Spirit at the WFCU Centre.
“If they come back, they’re obviously huge additions and change the way our team looks,” Letowski said.
“The identity of our team remains the same whether they’re here or not. You have to come and try to get the most out of the group.”
And the message Rychel has given to his coaching staff is to just move on and focus on the players on hand.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Rychel said. “I told our coaches not to even worry about it.
“If they come in the door, you shake their hand, but until they’re here, they’re not here, and we don’t even talk about them until they’re here.