Riding a 20-game point streak, the performance of the London Knights has been exceptional and they must be considered an early Memorial Cup favorite.
Memorial Cup Contender Series
Now that the 2024 World Juniors and the respective trade deadlines of all three major junior leagues that comprise the CHL are well behind us, it is time to look ahead to who the early frontrunners are to compete for the coveted 2024 Memorial Cup.
This year's edition of the tournament will be hosted by the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League and will take place from May 24th – June 2nd, 2024. The Memorial Cup dates back to 1919 and was initially established to honor the Junior Hockey Champion of Canada. The trophy is widely considered to be one of the hardest to win in hockey.
Since 1972, the Memorial Cup has become a tournament of champions. It is a four team tournament, featuring a round robin, followed by a single knockout playoff format. Of the 60 teams in the CHL, only the playoff champion of each respective league (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) and the host team will qualify.
In this multi-part series you will find a breakdown of who the current contenders are as organized by their respective conferences. The breakdown will feature selected teams' strengths, weaknesses, and an overview of the likeliness of a 2024 Memorial Cup Tournament berth.
This week, we will lead off with the Ontario Hockey League`s Western Conference. As the hosts, the Saginaw Spirit have a guaranteed spot in the Spring dance, but if they plan to get there as league champs, they do not have an easy route to achieve that. As has become the norm recently in the OHL, most of the strength of competition will come from their respective Western Conference foes. Let's start by breaking those contenders down.
In this piece, we will focus on the Western Conference leading London Knights. Watch for additional articles this week about other contenders from this competitive conference in the OHL.
London Knights (35-11-0-3): 1st in Western Conference / 1st in Midwest Division
Since the early 2000s, it has been almost impossible to not include a Mark (General Manager) and Dale (Head Coach) Hunter led Knights in a Memorial Cup contenders' conversation. This year is no different as the team is currently on a 20-game point streak, which featured a 14-game winning streak that stretched over five weeks and lasted the entirety of the 2024 World Juniors tournament. This meant that three of the Knights most important players (Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan, Kasper Halttunen) missed half of those wins while being away representing their respective countries. Their absences are what makes the streak that much more impressive of a feat by the remaining core of the club.
Strengths
Currently, while in the midst of a 20-game point streak, London currently leads the entire OHL in total goals-scored (231), goals-against (145), power-play percentage (32.6%), and penalty-killing percentage (84.7%). There is no doubt these numbers are a bit skewed by the current hot streak, but one that is hard to argue against is the strong penalty killing percentage since the Knights also lead the league in total penalty minutes. That lack of discipline could become an issue during a playoff run, but if the response continues to be a league leading penalty kill success rate of two to four percent greater than the rest of the leading contenders then this should be a non-factor.
Denver Barkey, a 2023 Philadelphia Flyers third round pick (95th overall), leads the Knights lethal attack with 26 goals and 45 assists for a total of 71 points. The third year right winger from Newmarket, Ontario is part of a balanced attacking core that features seven point-per-game (PPG) players, and an eighth in highly touted 2024 draft-eligible defender Sam Dickinson who is currently two points shy of the point-per-game mark (47 points in 49 games played).
That balanced attack should become even more beneficial in a long playoff run that will feature several prominent memorial cup contenders on route to the OHL finals. Having waves of attack split over a few lines makes defending very difficult for opposing teams that are set up more top heavy than the Knights currently deploy on a nightly basis.
After being beaten in the 2022-2023 OHL Finals by the Peterborough Petes, the Knights used the off-season to acquire the goaltender and playoff MVP that beat them in that final, Michael Simpson. The 20-year-old undrafted London native did not take long to settle in and currently owns a league leading 2.55 goals-against-average (GAA), along with a top three save percentage (SV%) of .908%. His championship experience will no doubt be crucial down the stretch and in what should be a long playoff run.
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Weaknesses
Besides a clear lack of discipline, as evident by London's league leading 789 minutes in penalties, there really aren't many weaknesses up and down this lineup. There is a good balance of experience, along with depth, at every position.
One strength that could potentially be a weakness as the quality of competition rises could be the lack of true star power. There is no Patrick Kane, John Tavares, or Mitch Marner in this lineup. As great of a season as Barkey and Cowen have had, I do not feel they possess that same elite quality to dominate and take over a game. This may be nit-picking, but in a tournament of champions, the elite rise up and time will tell if the Knights truly possess that star power. Between Bonk and Cowen, they already had one disappointment this season when the pressure was on at the World Juniors. Can they change the narrative?
Outlook
Locking up the West top seed will go a long way to ensuring the Knights will not be playing one of the other top three teams until the conference finals. At which point a true test of league powerhouses will take place prior to the OHL finals vs the winner of a weaker Eastern conference. I like the Knights odds a lot, but it will likely take a Game 7 victory to secure another trip to the finals.
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