Spitfires’ Roster Rebuild Begins as OHL Trade Window and Drafts Approach

With the 2026 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Memorial Cup wrapped up in Kelowna, BC, (congratulations to the Kitchener Rangers), the focus now shifts to the 2026-27 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) season. For the Windsor Spitfires, that means a roster rebuild, and the work starts right away.

After making a run for the championship this season (losing to the Rangers in the Western Conference Final), Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler knows that this offseason won’t be easy. With numerous holes to fill in the lineup and the club looking at a rebuild, June has the potential to be a key player in this process. Let’s break it down.

Spitfires’ Roster Work-in-Progress for Bowler

The OHL is more cyclical than the NHL where, if you went for a championship run in 2025-26, chances are you’re going to rebuild in 2026-27. That’s the case for the Spitfires.

Bowler has his work cut out for him. He was set to lose overagers (20-year-olds) goaltender Joey Costanzo, defenceman Wyatt Kennedy, and forward Alex Pharand to graduation. After that, you can add forwards captain Liam Greentree (New York Rangers), A.J. Spellacy (Chicago Blackhawks), and Nathan Villeneuve (Seattle Kraken), who are all going to the pros.

In November 2024, the NCAA and the CHL agreed on a new transfer rule, allowing players to move freely between the leagues. With that, we can also include forwards Jack Nesbitt (University of Michigan), Ethan Belchetz (Michigan State University), and Cole Davis (University of Connecticut), plus defencemen Carson Woodall (Boston College) and Jakub Fibigr (Ohio State University) to the list of graduates. It’s a lot to take in.

With the new transfer rule, the Spitfires can’t rule out losing potential overagers defenceman Conor Walton and defenceman-turned-forward Anthony Cristoforo to the college route, too. Both are temporarily penciled in for next season, but erasers are there for a reason.

If Bowler had lost just the overagers and the NHL prospects, he could have moved players like Cristoforo, Davis, Belchetz, and Fibigr to help the rebuild. Instead, they’re left with even more holes to fill and a difficult time finding assets to move. How do they rebuild? With two drafts, trades, and free agents, which are now underway.

Building From Drafts

In the next two weeks, the Spitfires will take part in two drafts – the OHL Under-18 Draft and the OHL Draft.

The OHL Under-18 Draft takes place online on Mon., June 8 at 7:00 p.m. Every OHL team drafts two (or three, if a goaltender is chosen) players who are under 18 years old, weren’t protected by an OHL team, and played for either an accredited U18 AAA club in Ontario, the Ontario Hockey Federation, Hockey Northern Ontario, or Hockey Eastern Ontario this season.

The good news is that it gives Bowler three more options. The bad news is that most of the players chosen become depth, at best. In 2024, the club chose goaltender Michael Newlove first overall, and he became Costanzo’s backup this season. Otherwise, they’ve had nothing more than “break glass in case of injury” success. However, the draft can work as Saginaw Spirit’s forward Calem Mangone (227 points in 241 games) and London Knights’ forward Jacob Julien (148 points in 172 games) were both chosen in 2021.

The main event will be the OHL Draft on Fri., June 12 and Sat., June 13, which happens in person at the Slush Puppy Place in Kingston. Thanks to his buying at the deadline, and according to the OHL Draft Pick Database, Bowler has a pick in the first round, two in the fourth round, then picks in Rounds 7 through 15. It’s eerily reminiscent of the 2023 Draft where they only had picks in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds thanks to also going all-in in 2022-23. Unfortunately, Nesbitt (first round) was the only mainstay from that draft.

This time, Bowler needs to hit on as many picks as possible, especially in the first and fourth rounds. Their first-round pick has the potential to step right in and contribute on night one. That’s what 2025 first-round pick forward John McLaughlin did. He earned the trust of head coach Greg Walters, played early, and became a big piece of their playoff run.

Bowler’s not going to replace everyone through the drafts, but they’re going to be an important step in filling a few holes this summer.

Trade, Free Agent, and Transfer Season is Here

Tuesday morning marked the opening of the June OHL trade window, and we’ve already seen a handful of deals around the league, including multiple by the Brantford Bulldogs.

The trade window is open from now until Fri., June 26, with an exception for June 11-15 when it’s closed for the OHL Draft. We’re likely to see plenty of moves around the league, and that should include the Spitfires. However, there are two sides to this coin.

While Bowler has numerous gaps to fill, he’s not known for making moves in June. The last time he did was in 2023 when he moved defenceman Jacob Holmes to the Kingston Frontenacs to start that rebuild. He also doesn’t have many picks or players to work with thanks to previous trades and the previously mentioned NCAA changes. He may have to get creative or take a risk on a player with untapped potential.

He could also go the free agency route, as he did last summer with defenceman Jonathan Brown. Bowler brought in the 18-year-old from Shattuck-St. Mary’s and, while Brown was committed to Yale for 2026-27, he pushed that back to 2027-28 to give him two seasons in the OHL. Another signing or two like that would go a long way to helping the new roster.

Bowler could also look at his previous drafts to bring in players who played elsewhere this season like 2024 fifth-round OHL pick defenceman Sam Wathier (US National U18 team and committed to Boston College) or 2025 CHL Import first-round pick Michal Svrcek (Slovak forward playing in Sweden). While they may not be easy to convince, they would both be important players for 2026-27.

There are numerous gaps to fill in the Spitfires’ lineup, but June is a prime time to start that process. While Bowler is often patient and quiet before making any moves, he’s entering an important time heading into the next phase. We’ll see if quiet and calculated wins the race before the calendar flips to July.