Let's take a deep dive into the Flint Firebird's 2024 preseason roster
The OHL preseason is ongoing, and excitement is building as more teams gear up and form their rosters for the start of the 2024-25 season. Building on our training camp series breakdowns, we'll dive into the preseason rosters to give you the inside scoop.
In our roster breakdown series, we delve into the import players, overage players (2004-born), first-year draft-eligible players to watch, and other noteworthy storylines from each OHL team.
Today we are looking at the Flint Firebird's preseason roster. The link to their roster can be found here.
The Firebirds opened their preseason last Saturday with a 4-3 loss in a shootout against the Sarnia Sting. They played the following day against the Windsor Spitfires in what was an extremely chippy affair, which saw eight players get ejected from the game.
Flint had a busy offseason improving its roster by adding experienced players Evan Konyen, Christopher Thibodeau, Matthew Mania, and Nolan Collins, and securing a substantial return for trading away Tristan Bertucci.
Let's break down Flint's preseason roster and other storylines to follow for the upcoming season.
Overage Players
The Firebirds have five 2004-born players on their roster. However, Coulson Pitre has an NHL contract with the Anaheim Ducks and should be headed for the AHL to play for the San Diego Gulls. The other four overage players are forward Evan Konyen and defensemen Blake Smith, Nolan Collins, and Marko Stojkov.
Evan Konyen brings an offensive toolkit that will increase the team's production. Flint finished with the fifth-least amount of goals last season (232) and the fourth-lowest powerplay percentage (16.6%). Konyen's speed in transition is a threat and he is coming off a career-high in goals (23).
With three overage defensemen on their roster, either Smith, Collins, or Stojkov will have to sit out games as a healthy scratch from time to time.
Nolan Collins has 193 regular season games under his belt in the OHL and should be in the lineup for every game. With his new team, Collins will play north of 20 minutes a night and be utilized on both the powerplay and penalty kill.
Blake Smith's size and physicality will help keep him in the lineup over Stojkov. He was one of only three players to finish the end of the year with a plus rating on Flint (plus-6). Smith is a player that the coaching staff can lean on to kill penalties and defend leads late in the game.
Marko Stojkov could be the overage player on the outside looking in. He finished with the fifth-worst plus/minus rating (minus-40) in the OHL last season and needs a massive bounce-back season. The other worry for Stojkov is that the team has three young defensemen — Rylan Fellinger, Artem Frolov, and Jack D'Arcy — who can fill out Flint's third defense pair without worrying about the overage cap.
Import Players
Flint's two import players for the upcoming season come from Latvia and Slovenia — forward Karlis Flugins and defenseman Urban Podrekar.
Urban Podrekar enters his second OHL campaign. The 19-year-old was selected fourth overall by the Niagara IceDogs in the 2023 CHL Import Draft. He played 62 games for them last season, recording 22 points, and a rough minus-32 rating.
The Firebirds acquired the import defenseman in return for Tristan Bertucci. Podrekar is a mobile defenseman capable of making impactful plays at both ends of the ice but lacks flash and a high-end attribute. He'll compete with Blake Smith, Artem Frolov, Marko Stojkov, and potentially Mason Taylor for ice time on the left side of the ice for Flint on their backend.
Karlis Flugins is a young (late 2007 birthday and not eligible until the 2026 NHL Draft) skillful forward who showcases a lot of upside. He needs to get bigger and stronger but despite his average size, he is still willing to play an aggressive style with a lot of pace. Offensively, Flugins is a nifty stickhandler who creates chances through his manipulativeness.
NHL Affiliated Prospects To Watch
Flint saw three of their players get drafted in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, two of them went back-to-back in the fifth round.
Nathan Aspinall was the first Firebird off the board at pick No. 159 by the New York Rangers, followed by Connor Clattenburg, who was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers at No. 160.
Ironically, the most skilled player out of the three, Kaden Pitre, was drafted after his two teammates at pick No. 181 by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Additionally, Flint has LA Kings defense prospect Matthew Mania (2023, 5th round, 150th overall), and starting goaltender Nathan Day (2023, 6th round, 184th overall), who is also an Edmonton Oilers prospect.
Both Mania and Day are in the market to earn entry-level deals from their NHL clubs, so expect them to dial it in this season and play with another level of intensity.
Aspinall and Pitre need to show that their offensive games can reach another level in the upcoming season to mitigate the losses of Nolan Dann, Coulson Pitre, and Oliver Peer in Flint's offensive arsenal.
2025 NHL Draft-Eligible Players
Flint has four first-year NHL draft-eligible players who are worth keeping an eye on — Jeremy Martin, Jimmy Lombardi, Artem Frolov, and Rylan Fellinger.
Martin and Lombardi were full-time players with the club last season as 16-year-old rookies. Lombardi is a terrific skater who opens the ice up with his feet, while Martin is a goal-scorer who loves to be at the net front and has a knack for finding pockets of space between the dots. Will we see elevated roles from the two 2007-born forwards?
Frolov and Fellinger also played a full season as underage players in 2023-24. Fellinger played 58 games with Flint and Frolov played 67 with Niagara.
Fellinger will be intriguing for NHL teams considering he shoots right and is 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. However, as we have mentioned countless times in this article, Flint has a ton of depth on their blueline and the 2023 13th-round draft pick will have to earn his keep in their lineup in the upcoming season.
Fun fact, Artem Frolov was picked one spot before Jimmy Lombardi in the 2023 OHL Draft. The two played against each other in the GTHL in 2022-23 and now find themselves as teammates. What is Frolov's identity as a player though? He's a smooth puck-mover, but can his offensive game reach another level? Or, can he morph himself into a reliable defensive defenseman with a strong puck-moving skillset?
2024 Draft Class
The Firebirds' first five picks from the 2024 OHL Priority Selection have earned a spot on Flint's preseason roster.
RW, Cole Zurawski - 1st round, 6th overall
C, Xavier Tessier - 2nd round, 33rd overall
LW, Ryland Cunningham - 2nd round, 41st overall
C, Gage Brandon - 3rd round, 48th overall
LHD, Christian Colosimo - 4th round, 63rd overall
Cole Zurawski is the new big fish for Flint. As mentioned, the Firebirds are losing a big chunk of their offense from players who have aged out or graduated to the professional ranks. But Flint's first-rounder has the offensive tools to become a top-six forward in the OHL in time.
Zurawski was labeled as one of the purest goal-scorers in the GTHL last season with the U16 Mississauga Rebels AAA. He's a sniper at heart but also brings a competitive style of game that should help him transition to the OHL level.
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