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Former first-round OHL pick embraced bigger opportunity with the Otters after a difficult start in Kitchener
Published May 10, 2026 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 4 minute read
Erie Otters’ Evan Headrick (81) is pursued by Sarnia Sting’s Ben Pickell (12) and Kaden Aucoin (33) at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ont., on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Malone/Chatham Daily News/Postmedia NetworkArticle content
While spending part of his off-season training in Prince Edward Island with his older brother Owen, Garden River’s Evan Headrick is already looking forward to the summer moments that help him reset from hockey.
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For the 18-year-old Erie Otters centre, that means heading to the family camp on Meniss Lake, fishing for walleye and spending long days on the water with friends.
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“When you’re fishing, all you’re really thinking about is whether or not a fish is gonna bite your line,” Headrick said. “It’s really relaxing.”
After a season filled with challenges, change and signs of progress, Headrick is hoping the same patient approach will pay off on the ice.
After a difficult start to his Ontario Hockey League career in Kitchener, Headrick found renewed confidence following a December trade that sent the former first-round pick and a 2029 fourth-round selection to Erie in exchange for overage forward Dylan Edwards.
While Edwards has helped power the Rangers to a 2-0 lead in the OHL championship series over the Barrie Colts, Headrick quietly began to rediscover his game with the rebuilding Otters.
“I had a really fun second half, and it was a lot of learning, but also a lot of fun,” Headrick told The Sault Star.
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Erie Otters’ Evan Headrick (81) and Windsor Spitfires’ Nathan Gaymes (19) battle for the puck on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor. Photo by (Dan Janisse/Windsor Star/Postmedia Network)
The Garden River First Nation product was selected 15th overall by Kitchener in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection, entering the league with high expectations after starring for the Oakville Rangers program.
But his rookie season was derailed before it truly began when he fractured his wrist in a pre-season game, limiting him to just 19 regular-season games in 2024-25.
“It was tough because I really didn’t play many games at all,” Headrick said. “So this past year was really my rookie year.”
He played a full 68 game slate, but it presented a different challenge.
Kitchener emerged as one of the OHL’s deepest teams, and opportunities were hard to come by for the undersized forward. Headrick recorded three assists in 32 games with the Rangers before the December trade.
In Erie, however, he found both ice time and confidence.
The five-foot-eight centre scored nine goals in 36 games in a middle-six role with the Otters after the deal — modest numbers on paper, but a significant step forward after managing no goals in Kitchener.
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“The confidence part just came with playing more and getting more reps,” Headrick said. “Just feeling more comfortable.”
The move also came with a degree of familiarity.
Nearly a decade earlier, Headrick’s older brother Owen patrolled the Erie blue line and helped the Otters win an OHL championship in 2017.
So when it came to walking down the streets of Erie, Evan was already a known commodity.
“It’s super cool going around and people knowing who we are, and knowing who my brother was, and asking me about him,” he said. “That part of it’s really, really cool.”
“It made it feel a bit more like home.”
Headrick said the second half also felt like a turning point physically after the wrist injury and a difficult transition into major junior hockey.
“It was challenging, but I’m definitely starting to get back on the right track now,” he said. “Starting to get more comfortable with my body and starting to get bigger and stronger, which has been nice.”
Headrick said he weighed about 145 pounds entering the OHL and is now up to roughly 175, with more growth still a focus this summer.
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“Still looking to put on a few more pounds and just get bigger and stronger,” he said. “Hopefully I’ve still got a little bit of growing to do. My siblings are all tall, so I’m hoping I can get a little bit of it.”
Even as one of the smaller players on the ice, Headrick said he has learned not to let size define his game.
“I’ve played my whole life being undersized,” he said. “Not really anything will change (if I don’t grow taller).”
That scrappy mindset has been shaped in part by one of Northern Ontario’s busiest hockey families.
All five Headrick siblings played competitive hockey, including Owen, who currently plays for the Nuernberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, and sister Mya, who suits up for the UNB Reds.
Now spending part of the off-season training in Prince Edward Island with Owen, Evan said having older siblings who understand the demands of the sport continues to help.
“Each day, they push me to be a lot better,” he said.
Headrick plans to split the remainder of his summer between Sault Ste. Marie and Oakville, where he trains and skates with former Soo Greyhounds forward Andrew Fritsch, now a skills consultant with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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But home still means Garden River.
A perfect summer day, he said, involves heading to the family camp.
“Just fishing all day,” Headrick said. “That’d be the perfect day for me.”
The reset matters after a demanding season.
Headrick has also been watching Kitchener’s playoff run from afar, cheering on many of his former teammates while looking ahead to what Erie could become.
“They’re looking good,” he said of his Rangers teammates. “It sucks a little bit not being there with them, but I’m just happy I got to go to a great place in Erie and I’m hoping that we can make a run like they have in the next few years.”
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