The clock may have finally run out for the Windsor Spitfires. With just four wins through 18 games to start the 2023-24 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) season, the club made two big trades on Thursday afternoon, sending shockwaves through the league.
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Coming into this season, the Spitfires had won back-to-back Western Conference regular season titles. Unfortunately, significant roster turnover meant the likely start of a rebuild. While expectations were lowered, home ice in the first round was reachable. However, a disappointing start has snowballed into just four wins, plenty of soul searching, and now a pair of trades to shake up the organization. General manager Bill Bowler is showing that he’s not playing around.
Spitfires Trade Christopoulos and Dionicio to Spirit
In the first move on Thursday, Bowler pulled off a deal with the 2024 Memorial Cup hosts, the Saginaw Spirit. Here’s how the trade looks:
To Spirit:
- 20-year-old forward Alex Christopoulos
- 19-year-old defenceman Rodwin Dionicio
- Kingston Frontenacs’ sixth-round pick in 2024
To Spitfires:
- 20-year-old defenceman Roberto Mancini
- 18-year-old forward Valentin Zhugin
- Peterborough Petes’ second-round pick in 2024
- Soo Greyhounds’ second-round pick in 2025
- Ottawa 67’s’ fourth-round pick in 2026
What the Spirit Get
When you think of heart-and-soul type players on the Spitfires, two names that immediately come to mind are Christopoulos and Dionicio.
Christopoulos came to the Spitfires in a November 2021 trade with the North Bay Battalion. The former third-round pick had offensive potential but hadn’t realized it before the trade. Once he arrived, he showed his true colours, including a 49-goal campaign in 2022-23. The 6-foot, 190-pounder brings everything you want in a veteran; speed, offence, leadership, and a passion that you can’t teach. While he had off-season surgery, his six goals and 11 points in nine games this season showed he was ready to lead the team.
Related: OHL: A Preseason Look at the 2023-24 Windsor Spitfires’ Leadership
The New Jersey-born, Switzerland-raised Dionicio was the Niagara IceDogs’ first-round pick in the 2021 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft before being traded to the Spitfires in January 2023. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, the offensive defenceman throws his weight around, had 20 points in 16 games this season, and has been a fan favourite since nearly day one. The Anaheim Ducks’ prospect will likely head to the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship next month with Team Switzerland. However, when he returns to the Spirit, expect an energetic kid who stands up for his teammates, puts up points, and flourishes in the opportunity to play for the Memorial Cup.
When you’re hosting the Memorial Cup, you make as many big splashes as necessary. Getting Christopoulos and Dionicio is a message to the rest of the OHL.
What the Spitfires Get
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Mancini is a shutdown defenceman who has 66 points and 210 penalty minutes through 185 career OHL games. He joins a defensive group that has allowed the most goals in the OHL and desperately needs help. After his Spitfires’ debut on Thursday against the Owen Sound Attack, he said it’s “extremely hard” to leave his billet family and his teammates after five years. However, he’s here to play that physical, in-your-face role.
“(I play) gritty, competitive, get in your face, shutdown defence,” Mancini said. “(I’ve) got that offence, too, skate and move but I’m known for the shutdown defence. (The coaches want me to) be that steady older guy for us on the back end. (They said) if I have a chance to go, green light is all yours. Just play your game and don’t change anything about it.”
Zhugin gives the Spitfires a creative piece up front for potentially two seasons. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Russia native had nine goals and 14 points in 17 games for the Spirit this season and brings a slick offence to the lineup.
The picks are a significant part of this deal, too. With Bowler already acquiring the IceDogs’ 2024 second-round pick earlier this season, getting the Petes’ second-rounder in 2024 brings more options. The second-round pick in 2025 and the fourth in 2026 also help the cupboard for the future.
Spitfires Acquire Outwater from Frontenacs
Shortly after that move, Bowler struck a deal with the Frontenacs. Here’s how the second trade looks:
To Spitfires:
- 18-year-old forward Owen Outwater
To Frontenacs:
- Flint Firebirds’ fourth-round pick in 2025
- Guelph Storm’s third-round pick in 2026
- Spitfires’ third-round pick in 2027
Spitfires Get Potential, Frontenacs Get Picks
After trading forwards Ethan Miedema and Christopher O’Flaherty at last season’s deadline, the Spitfires have lacked impactful 18-year-old forwards this season. They have a handful of depth players but needed someone who could make a statement. Outwater may be their guy.
The Battalion’s first-round pick in 2021, Outwater had 16 goals and 41 points in 62 games for the Frontenacs last season along with nine points in 19 games for them this season. The 6-foot-3, 170-pound Ottawa native was caught in a numbers game and Frontenacs’ GM Kory Cooper said this is a chance at a fresh start.
“Owen is a good young player on and off the ice and was well liked by our players and our staff,” he said in a statement. “With Gabriel Frasca nearing a return to the lineup, we have an influx of offensively skilled players making opportunities for Owen limited … We want to wish Owen the best of luck in Windsor, and we hope to see him thrive with the opportunity he will get with the Spitfires.”
The picks will help the Frontenacs add to their ever-growing draft pick cupboard. The club now has five picks in the first four rounds in 2025 and 2026, along with four picks in the first four rounds in 2027.
What Does This Mean for the Spitfires?
In late September, just as the Spitfires were boarding their bus to Sarnia for the season opener with the Sting, Bowler sent veteran defenceman Nicholas DeAngelis to the Sudbury Wolves. In return, they got rookie defenceman Conor Walton and several picks. At the time, Bowler said it was a reshuffle of the roster and that they still wanted to be competitive this season.
Fast forward to now and Bowler still insists that, despite their last-place record, the team can compete in the Western Conference. He told the Windsor Star that the picks are good for the future but the talent remains on the club.
“We’re not giving up on the season,” Bowler said. “The reality is, with the players coming in, we feel we’re rearranging our roster and we’re just as good and this helps us today and in the future … It made sense to alter lineup and adding the second rounders made sense. Those players (Christopoulos and Dionicio) only had four or five months to play for us, so we needed to look to the future with those picks…” (from ‘Spitfires shuffle roster deck in trades with Spirit and Frontenacs,’ Windsor Star, 11/16/2023).
Bowler may not be done there, either. With numerous veterans playing well enough to have strong value, the Spitfires could still make a few moves for next season and beyond. The team has two months to decide which direction they want to go before the Jan. 10 trade deadline hits. The idea of a rebuild may not be what the fans want to hear, but after back-to-back regular season conference titles, this might be what the team and the organization need. Between Thursday’s trades and the DeAngelis move earlier this season, it certainly looks like the Spitfires are focusing on the future.