The Jackets prospects have been fascinating to follow this year. You have a high pick whose been struggling, a mid-round pick proving that he should have been drafted higher, and a seventh round pick breaking out. Then you have Kole Sherwood who was playing for one of the most dysfunctional organizations in the OHL.
Coming into the season expectations were low for the New Albany, Ohio native. He was signed by the Jackets in the summer of 2015 and spent the 2015-16 season playing for the London Knights. He started off well for the Knights, scoring 12 goals and 29 points in his first 31 games. The second half of the season for Sherwood was a disaster. The Knights were a strong team with Memorial Cup aspirations so they made some moves to strengthen their team. They tried to transition Sherwood into a more defensive player and his offensive game crumbled. In his final 32 games he had just five assists. Sherwood starting bouncing in and out of the line-up and things got so bad that Sherwood played in just seven of the Knights playoff games despite London playing four playoff rounds and winning the Memorial Cup.
Sherwood needed a change of scenery and in the off-season he was traded into an even worse situation going to the Flint Firebirds. The Firebirds were entering their second season in the league and were looking for redemption after everything that could go wrong did go wrong their first season. Flint’s season started off on the wrong foot when their third overall pick Ryan McLeod announced he would not play for their team. Things went from bad to worse once the season started. The owner of the team complained about his son not getting enough ice time, fired the coaches and had the whole team quit in support of the coaching staff. The coaches were quickly re-hired but not long after were fired again. The OHL had to step in, suspending and fining the owner, leaving a black mark on the entire organization.
In the summer the Firebirds were forced to trade away their two best players in Red Wings prospect Vili Saarijarvi and Montreal Canadiens prospect Will Bitten, as neither wanted to spend another season playing for the Firebirds.
Flint now under a new leadership group were looking to redeem themselves and as one Toronto Sun writer wrote they were …saying ‘eff you’ to a tumultuous debut season. It was clear in what they did in the off-season they were looking for players with that same chip on their shoulder.
What was originally thought to be bad a situation for the development of Sherwood, turned into the perfect fit. Sherwood clearly had something to prove this season and what better place to do it than on a team with that same mindset. Sherwood’s play speaks for itself, in 55 games this season he is one goal shy of matching his entire point total from last season. Add in 46 assists and you have a player with 79 points and in the top 10 of OHL scoring. And for good measure he's tossed in a goal and two assists in two games against the Knights.
Sherwood does his damage with his shot. He's fired 268 shots on the year including a whopping 13 last night against Saginaw. His 4.87 shots per game lead all OHL forwards. He has helped turned Flint into a solid possession team. Their estimated Fenwick Close from Prospect-Stats.com sits at 52.96% at 5 on 5, the 6th best mark in the OHL. Sherwood plays alongside Ryan Moore, a Michigan native who stuck around after all the turmoil, and the two have worked out way better than anyone could have hoped. Moore leads the Firebirds with 84 points. The two also tend to play alongside Nicholas Caamano, another player who has been rewarded for sticking around; he has 58 points and leads OHL forwards with 55 high danger shots.
Flint did so much more than just bring in Sherwood. They swung a trade with Oshawa for Jalen Smereck. Smereck is a Detroit native, was never drafted but earned himself a free agent contract from the Coyotes. He was the exact player Flint was looking for, they brought him in the summer and he’s developed into the team’s top defencemen.
They found players that want to play there. In trading away Bitten and Saarijarvi the Firebirds on top a host of picks, received their current starting goalie Connor Hicks, defencemen Fedor Gordeev who’s been a solid contributor and Everett Clark who’s been good in a depth role. The strategy has worked; Flint officially clinched a playoff spot with 70 points, playing in the extremely tough Western Conference. (For context their 70 points has them at 7th in West, but would place them fourth in the East). This all comes after a 46 point season and missing the playoffs by 10 points.
They have been able to re-build the teams reputation and bring in younger players, including their top pick in the OHL draft Ty Dellandrea and top import pick Michal Steinocher. Those two are part of eight rookies on the roster. They have done well to set themselves up for success this season and continue to grow and build on that in the future.
Kole Sherwood and the Flint Firebirds have very a similar story. Both had difficulties in their first OHL season and needed a reset. Flint needed players who had a chip on their shoulder and had something to prove. It led them to Sherwood and it’s been a perfect match. Flint seems to have put everything behind them and look like they could be a perennial playoff team in no small part because of Sherwood’s development into one of the top offensive weapons in the league. The Jackets have to be thrilled with how everything is going as they have themselves yet another very good interesting prospect.
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