Liam Greentree is the future for Spitfires, Team Canada, and lucky NHL franchise to be named later
A couple weeks ago, Windsor Spitfires winger Liam Greentree said he was following the World Junior Championships very closely.
“I love the World Juniors,” he said. “They’re so fun to watch. That’s the next generation of players in the NHL. Those are guys I can watch and take notes from.”
Very soon, young players will be taking notes from him.
With the way Greentree’s stock is rising, it will be a surprise if he doesn’t make Team Canada’s roster for the 2025 World Juniors in Ottawa.
He’s also a strong candidate to be the Spitfires’ next captain, probably sooner rather than later.
Consider:
— Greentree rose to No. 14 on the latest rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft by TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button. His physical tools are one reason why. “I think I hit forearms just about every day at the gym [in the offseason],” Greentree said. “That helped a lot. I’ve always been a shooter, ever since minor hockey. Being able to bring that into the OHL is a pretty cool thing.”
— Greentree already has surpassed the full-season point total from his rookie year with the Spitfires; he has 53 in only 35 games, after totaling 45 in 61 games a season ago. He has an eight-game point scoring streak entering Saturday’s home date with Sudbury.
— Greentree, who turned 18 on New Year’s Day, is emerging as the face of the franchise after a busy OHL trade deadline in which the Spitfires dealt veterans Oliver Peer, Jacob Maillet, Roberto Mancini, Aidan Castle, and Ian Michelone.
“First and foremost, he’s an outstanding individual,” Spitfires interim head coach Casey Torres said. “High compete level. Then his hockey sense, his deception game, is at an elite level. He’s got an elite shot.
“When you have multiple elite characteristics, you’re going to find a lot of NHL teams interested in you . . . I certainly wouldn’t be shocked to see him walking on stage in June.”
Greentree has the creativity of a crafty scorer and the frame of a power forward. It isn’t easy for a 6-foot-2, 198-pound winger to disappear from a defender’s field of vision. Greentree can. That’s how he scored on New Year’s Eve against Sarnia. Near the end of a power play, he peeled away from the half-wall and curled unassumingly into the left circle. Then he darted to the slot. Mancini found him with a perfect pass. As quickly as the puck touched Greentree’s tape, it was in the back of the net.
Greentree deflected any postgame praise. He credited Mancini’s pristine feed. But Torres and the sold-out crowd at Windsor’s WFCU Center knew what they had witnessed.
“He’s such a smart player,” Torres said. “His deception game is so good. He’s able to show something to make the opponent think he’s doing something and then go somewhere else with it. It’s really at an ultra-elite level.
“There’s not very many players — anywhere — that have a deception game like that. Even NHL players don’t necessarily have the deception skills he has. That’s a huge part of his game. When you can combine that with an elite shot, he’s scored a lot of goals in a short time frame here in the OHL.”
A generation ago in the OHL, winger Rick Nash averaged 1.33 points per game for the London Knights during the season in which he was picked No. 1 overall.
Greentree is at 1.51.
Asked about the attention that goes along with the Draft, Greentree said, “I try not to focus on it. Obviously the Draft is a really cool thing. You only get drafted once. It’s really important to keep your head down and keep working.”
So far, so good.
NHL team executives will get a good look at Greentree in the 2024 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Wednesday, Jan. 24, in Moncton, N.B. If his performance all season in the OHL is any indication, Greentree will continue to stand out — even when playing with and against the very best of his birth year.
Jon Paul Morosi is an MLB Network broadcaster and lead features reporter for NHL Network’s coverage of the World Junior Championships.
