The 6-foot-5 goaltender joins from the U.S. National Team Development Program.
As OHL development camps kick off across the league, the Saginaw Spirit decided to announce a major signing ahead of the 2026-27 season.
That signing is Brady Knowling, the USNTDP starter who's committed to play collegiately at Boston University of the NCAA.
Knowling, 18, was Saginaw's third-round pick in the 2024 OHL draft, but it always would've taken him some convincing to come over to play major junior.
Brady Knowling had an exceptional performance in goal at last year's CHL/USA top prospects game, making 42 saves en route to a victory in game one. (Photo: Jenn Pierce/CHL)The Toronto-born, American national team goaltender is seen as one of the best available in this summer's NHL draft, being ranked as high as the top of the second round by some publications, and the top NA goalie available according to NHL central scouting.
He came up playing in the GTHL for the Toronto Nationals and played U16 AAA for the North York Rangers. But, it always seemed likely Knowling would head down to join the USNTDP, which is exactly what he did for his U17 season.
Still, the Spirit drafted the 6-foot-5 goalie, knowing they'd have a chance at landing him at some point. That point would be now, with Knowling graduating from the program and choosing to play in the OHL before heading down to the NCAA in the future, likely for 2027-28.
Knowling has a gold medal for the U.S. at the Hlinka-Gretzky cup and featured internationally at both the U18 worlds and World Juniors this past season.
For the NTDP, he was the team's starter this season, posting mixed results behind what was a weaker crop than normal years.
In Saginaw, he'll head to a team that has made some strong signings of late, including signing fellow 2024 draft pick American Tyler Martyniuk a few weeks back.
Additionally, the Spirit announced the signing of their first two picks of the 2026 OHL draft, Drew Bate and Kyler Lauder, on Friday.
Now, they also have their starting goalie for next season in Knowling, and should once again be a team to look out for in what looks like a stacked Western conference.
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