Saginaw Spirit New Lineup Predictions

The Saginaw Spirit made a lot of moves leading up to the trade deadline, bringing in several big pieces. Before they hit the ice tonight, here is a lineup prediction and lines that could be successful come playoffs.

Jorian Donovan, Owen Beck, Josh Bloom, Aidan Castle — all names that the Saginaw Spirit traded for at the OHL Trade Deadline. Not to mention, they acquired Rodwin Dionicio, Alex Christopoulos, Nolan Lalonde, and Ethan Hay earlier in the season. 

The Saginaw Spirit are ready for a deep playoff run and Memorial Cup stint, and that mentality was evident through the moves that they made.

Saginaw now has one of — if not "the" — deepest lineup in the Ontario Hockey League. The Spirit hit the ice again on Wednesday night against the Windsor Spitfires. 

Here is an idea of what Saginaw's lines could look like, and more specifically what I think they will look like as they approach the postseason:

Michael Misa - Hunter Haight - Alex Christopoulos

Josh Bloom - Owen Beck - Calem Mangone

Joey Willis - Matyas Sapovaliv - Aidan Castle

Sebastian Gervais - Ethan Hay - Nicholas Sima

Extra: Lincoln Moore

Braden Hache - Rodwin Dionicio

P.J. Forgione - Zayne Parekh

Jorian Donovan - Will Bishop

Extra: James Guo

Nolan Lalonde

Andrew Oke 

Extra: Brett Fullerton

These forward lines are very interchangeable from first to third, as the first three lines are as good as most team's first line. The amount of depth options that Saginaw has is remarkable, given Luke McNamara is not included in the list. 

The position that stands out the most is their centre depth. Hunter Haight, Owen Beck, and Matyas Sapovaliv are all first line centres in this league, but will have to share the ice. Their fourth line centre is Ethan Hay, a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick who is one of the best defensive centres in the league.

On defence, all of their "offensive catalysts" are on separate pairs — Rodwin Dionicio, Zayne Parekh, and Jorian Donovan. These three are used to being on the first power play unit, as Donovan was with Brantford, and Dionicio was with Windsor. 

Zayne Parekh will likely remain as the number one guy on the power play, but we could see two on one unit at some point.

The Saginaw Spirit will never run out of options in any position. They have made this Memorial Cup hosting-gig count, and they plan to go far in the OHL playoffs as well. 

The team has two months ahead to learn to gel together as a group, which will take some time given all of the new additions.