Fourth-round pick O'flaherty excited to join Windsor
Fourth-round pick `so excited' to bring game to Windsor for the 2021-22 season
Life moved forward for the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday.
A day after Trevor Letowski stepped down as head coach to sign with the Montreal Canadiens as an assistant coach, Spitfires general manager Bill Bowler was back to work building his roster ahead of the 202122 season.
Chicago forward Chris O'flaherty, the team's fourth-round pick in June's OHL Draft, has signed his standard player and education package with the team.
“A player with good offensive instincts and tremendous work ethic on and off the ice,” Bowler said. “His shot and release are OHL ready.”
The Spitfires had two things working in the team's favour with O'flaherty. Of the 20 OHL teams, Windsor was the place he most wanted to play and his agent, Ed Mio of Octane Sports Management, is a Windsor native.
“I just want to play for Windsor and wanted (to sign) as quick as possible,” the 16-year-old O'flaherty said. “Windsor is the team that expressed a lot of interest in me and I couldn't be happier to sign with them. I don't think (landing with the team you want) happens too often, but I thought it was a good group for me. I'm just so excited.”
O'flaherty played his early hockey with the powerhouse Chicago Mission program, but moved over to the rival Chicago Young Americans prior to the 2020-21 season.
“It was just an opportunity to get more playing time and be a little more featured,” the sixfoot-one, 195-pound O'flaherty said. “It was a good year. I was always on the power play and was getting more playing time.”
O'flaherty delivered on those opportunities. He was the catalyst of the Young Americans' offence this past season. Not only did he lead the team in scoring with 70 points in 46 regular-season games, but his 44 goals were nearly double that of the team's next highest goal scorer.
“Windsor fans are going to love him,” Mio said. “He's big, he's aggressive, he can score goals and he's just your good, strong athlete. He loves to work out and I think Windsor made a good choice and I think fans will fall in love with the way he plays.”
O'flaherty helped the Young Americans qualify for the national U15 tournament in Texas. He tied for the tournament lead with five goals in four games in helping his team reach the semifinals, where the Young Americans lost in a shootout to eventual champion Detroit Honeybaked.
“He wasn't a high-profile guy with Mission and, with more opportunities with the Young Americans, he thrived with those impressive numbers,” said Bowler.
O'flaherty has former OHLER Ben Eager as his skills coach and Barry Brennan, who spent nearly two decades in the NHL, KHL and OHL, as his strength and conditioning coach, but the young winger also credits his improvement to a growth spurt over the last year where he grew three inches and added 25 pounds.
“It just gave me more confidence being a bigger kid and being stronger,” O'flaherty said. “I've always been an average size for height, but now I'm taller and more confident with a longer reach and bigger than a lot of kids.”
Neither O'flaherty nor Mio have any concerns about the Spitfires having no one in place as head coach after Letowski's departure.
“You can't blame the guy for taking an opportunity like that,” Mio said. “We know Windsor has had quality coaches and will bring in a quality coach.”
Windsor is the team that expressed a lot of interest in me and I couldn’t be happier to sign with them.