Wrigley’s stopped running Doublemint gum commercials sometime in the late ’80s. The gum company resurrected them in 2005 with twins Natalie and Nicole Garza, but the ad campaign didn’t go any further than that. Should they want to bring it back a third time, the London Knights could provide them with a new duo.
On Thursday The Columbus Blue Jackets assigned forward Liam Foudy to London. Just hours later, the Chicago Blackhawks did the same with defenceman Adam Boqvist.
Both are expected to be in the lineup when the Knights host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens.
Foudy was selected 18th overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He played in three pre-season games for Columbus, scoring once in a win over Chicago.
He heads back to London primed to take over a top-line spot on the Knights and looking to continue the success he had following the 2018 OHL trade deadline when London’s roster became significantly younger and Foudy earned larger amounts of ice time in all of the critical situations.
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He had 18 of his 24 goals following the trades of veteran forwards Robert Thomas, Sam Miletic, Max Jones and Cliff Pu and even went through a span of seven consecutive games in which he scored 10 times.
Foudy uses the speed that no doubt comes from his Olympic silver medal-winning mother and the savvy of his Grey Cup-winning father to threaten the net anytime he is on the ice and he promises to terrorize OHL goalies for the rest of this season.
Boqvist has never played a game for the Knights. Not pre-season. Not regular season. Yet, his pedigree is one that has had London fans excited since he reported for training camp in late August. During two days of scrimmages, he showed off a deft ability to thread passes through legs and sticks anytime he was on the ice.
The native of Falun Sweden also played three exhibition games in the NHL. He recorded two assists and averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Even though the Blackhawks are dealing with an injury to Connor Murphy that will have him out months, they decided that the best place for their 2018 first-rounder to develop was in London, so he will spend 2018-19 as a Knight.
He has all kinds of offensive skill that he put on display in the Swedish U20 league last year, scoring 14 times in 25 games. Boqvist also had six points in six games at the Under-18 World Hockey Championship.
The return of Foudy and Boqvist leaves two Knights players from their 2017-18 team still with National Hockey League clubs. London captain Evan Bouchard is with the Edmonton Oilers and forward Alex Formenton is in Ottawa.
Goaltender Joseph Raaymakers returned to the Knights this week from Columbus as well. Raaymakers was a free agent invite to Blue Jackets’ training camp. The Chatham native appeared in a Columbus win over the Blackhawks, stopping all all seven shots he faced.
Notes: The Knights traded 18-year old defenceman Ryan Bangs to the Flint Firebirds on Wednesday in exchange for a third-round draft pick in the 2019 OHL Priority Selection. Bangs was originally a third-round pick of London’s in 2016 and spent last season with the St. Thomas Stars of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The Knights and Firebirds will meet for the first time this season in Flint’s home opener on Saturday, Sept. 30.
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