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Now, the real intrigue begins for the Windsor Spitfires.
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Forget about training camp or exhibition play, just how competitive the defending Western Conference-champion Spitfires will be this season will be determined over the next few weeks as NHL camps play out.
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It’s an annual ritual that plays out every season, but while the Spitfires will lose four players to NHL camps, there’s uncertainty about the return of two of them.
The biggest unknown is the fate of center Wyatt Johnston, who is the defending league scoring champion and was named the league’s most outstanding player for 2021-22.
“He’s such a special player,” Spitfires’ overage forward prospect Matthew Maggio said. “Getting him back would give the go ahead to have a great year.”
The 19-year-old Johnston never arrived in Windsor for training camp this month and instead has been in Dallas training and looking to start his pro career early with the Stars.
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Dallas general manager Jim Hill spent nearly two decades with the Detroit Red Wings where no prospect was rushed. Dallas hired former Spitfire Peter DeBoer as head coach this summer with an eye on winning now. Both would seem to open the window for Johnston to return to Windsor for his final junior season, but Stars’ director of player personnel Rich Peverley has made it clear he believes the club’s first-round pick in 2021 has a good chance to stick in the NHL this season.
“The best approach to take is that we’re not getting him back and look to other guys to do different roles,” Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard said.
The Stars could play Johnston for up to nine games and then opt to send him back to junior and not burn a year of his entry-level contact, but Dallas does not play its ninth game until Oct. 29th and sitting out games do not count against Johnston’s total.
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“We have to plan that Wyatt’s not here,” Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler said. “It would be amazing surprise if did show up, but you just try and worry about who’s here and not who isn’t here.”
But Johnston’s status isn’t the only one that the Spitfires will be keeping an eye on. The 19-year-old Maggio had a breakout season in 2021-22 to finish 15th in league scoring with 38 goals and 85 points in 66 games and the New York Islanders grabbed him in the fifth round of July’s NHL Draft.
The Tecumseh native headed out to camp on Tuesday and could return for an overage season with the Spitfires. However, with a strong camp, the Islanders could opt to sign him and place him with a minor-league team.
“Either way, it’s good for my development,” Maggio said. “I think I still have a lot of the fire and hunger from last year’s playoff run and I definitely want to repeat that again and I think we have a good chance to do that.”
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Maggio had company on his flight out of Detroit on Tuesday with new teammate Colton Smith joining him as a free-agent camp invite with the Islanders.
“It’s something everyone works for,” Smith said of heading to an NHL camp. “I’m a free agent, but there’s a lot of guys that have signed in the NHL after not being drafted.”
A gritty winger with a scoring touch, the six-foot-three, 215-pound Smith was on the draft rating charts early last year, but dropped off after leaving the London Knights for personal reasons.
“No, I ended up leaving London in March, so I didn’t expect anything from (the draft),” the 18-year-old Smith said. “I talked to a lot of (NHL) teams in London. When I left, I think people wondered if I was going to return to play. I knew I would play, but I didn’t know where.”
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Now, Smith is headed to the same team that drafted his father, and former Spitfire captain and coach, DJ Smith in the second round of the 1995 NHL Draft.
“It would have been a dream come true, but you have to move forward,” Smith said of the NHL Draft. “It gives me the fuel to get out there and go play and I’ll have a chance to show people what they could have missed out on.”
Defenseman Daniil Sobolev, who is expected to return for his final year of junior hockey, is headed to camp with the Montreal Canadiens while forward Daniel D’Amico, who played a huge role in getting the Spitfires to last year’s league final as an average player. , has been invited to camp with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
“I got a call from my agent early August and he asked me if I wanted to attend the camp and it was an obvious answer,” said D’Amico, who saw fellow overagers Louka Henault and Andrew Perrot from last year’s team sign American Hockey. League deals.
“However, I’m not going to camp just to go through the motions. I am aiming to make it all the way through to the main camp. I have a lot to prove.”
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