Just three New York Rangers prospects were in action 0n Wednesday and two of them combined for five assists. Raoul Boilard made his debut for the Cape Breton Eagles but not as a center.
Nathan Aspinall had three primary assists to help his Flint Firebirds earn a 7-4 over the Sarnia Sting. The OHL’s leading scorer got going early when Aspinall found a wide open Jimmy Lombardi for a 1-0 Flint lead just 1:14 into the game.
🚨Lombardi
🍏Aspinall
🍏Anderson pic.twitter.com/lN4rZy2x32— Flint Firebirds (@FlintFirebirds) January 8, 2026
Remember this is a 6’7 player making plays like this and he was just starting.
After Sarina had tied the game, Aspinall earned his second assist when he skated out to the point. The Flint captain spotted Darels Uljanskis skating to the net and hit him with a pass for a 2-1 Flint lead at 10:35 of the first.
🚨Uljanskis
🍏Aspinall
🍏Lombardi pic.twitter.com/sJJaYyUMlX— Flint Firebirds (@FlintFirebirds) January 8, 2026
Flint added two more goals to make it a 4-1 lead and with timing running out in the first period, Aspinall struck again. This time on the power play, Aspinall spotted new teammate Jacob Battaglia up ice.
The long distance pass sent Battaglia off on a breakaway and he scored at 19:30 t0 make it 5-1. Aspinall would earn the game’s third star for his three assist night.
By the numbers the Flint captain improves to a Rangers prospect and OHL leading 23-32-55 in 37 games. It was the ninth time this season that Aspinall had three or more points in a game.
In leading the OHL, Aspinall is third in goals with 23 and fourth in assists with 32. Oh and the 32 assists were a career high as Aspinall will reach a new career best the rest of the season.
Artem Gonchar had two assists but it was not enough to prevent his Sudbury Wolves from falling to the Soo Greyhounds 6-2. The young defenseman had both a primary and secondary assist on the two Sudbury goals.
Gonchar improved to 9-19-28 on the season for the Wolves. Just an FYI as Sudbury struggles to hand on to the eighth playoff spot in the OHL’s Eastern Conference.
The Rangers drafted Gonchar before Sudbury drafted him in the CHL Import Draft. The Rangers are free to sign him to an amateur tryout contract.
That would allow them to bring him to Hartford when Sudbury’s season ends.
Raoul Boilard made his Cape Breton debut against the Rimouski Oceanic Wednesday. Now while he was scoreless what was headscratching was Cape Breton using him as a left wing.
Gonchar has won 308 out of 477 faceoffs the best record in the QMJHL at 64.6%. Yes the Eagles leading scorer is also their first line center as he is 500 out of 854 for 58.5%
So why trade for the top faceoff guy and use him just seven times as a left wing? Even Shawinigan realized that the best use of Boilard is at center not at left wing.
