NHL teams asked Will Bitten about tumultuous OHL season with Flint Firebirds

BUFFALO – Will Bitten said he interviewed with 27 teams at the NHL draft combine.

Let’s just say the situation he endured with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds this season was a frequent question.

“Every single team,” Bitten said, chuckling, when asked if that was a popular theme in his sit-downs. “A lot of teams wanted to know what went on because it’s an experience not everyone will experience in their lives. I don’t think it’s ever happened before. They were all curious. I’m an honest person. I answered every question they wanted to know.”

The Firebirds finished out of the playoffs in their first year in Flint after moving from Plymouth, Mich.

That they made national headlines at various time of the season had nothing to do with their play.

It all started in November when owner Rolf Nilsen fired coach John Gruden and assistant Dave Karpa after a win over the Oshawa Generals, reportedly because his son, Hakon, a defenceman, wasn’t getting enough ice time.

The Firebirds players, including Hakon, turned in their jerseys in support of their coaches, who were then rehired and given three-year contracts the next day.

But that didn’t stop Nilsen from axing Gruden and Karpa again in February. The league wound up suspending Nilsen in April for five years, fined him $250,000 and took away the club’s third overall pick in the 2016 OHL draft.

The Firebirds finished ninth in the Western Conference with a 20-42-6 recording, missing the playoffs by 10 points.

“It was different. There was a lot of stuff that went on,” said Bitten, 17. “But I thought I matured as a person. As a leader, as a 17-year-old on my team, I had a big role. We didn’t give up until the last game.”

Bitten finished the season with 30 goals and 65 points in 67 games before suiting up for Team Canada at the world under-18 championship. He posted three goals and eight points as Canada finished fourth in Grand Forks, N.D.

One scout said the 5-foot-10, 167-pound right winger should get a star beside his name on team lists for how he performed.

“To go through negative situations or difficult situations and play well, those are always really positives,” said the scout. “But the one we put the most stock in because the team struggled was the U-18s. He played really well. No red flags for us around Will. Lots of credit to him for what he was able to achieve.”

Bitten’s father, Michael, told The Hockey News in February there was “no way” his son would play for Firebirds in 2016-17 if Nilsen told owned the team.

Bitten said he’s more concerned about preparing for the NHL draft right now than deciding what his future holds in Flint.

He did count the recent hires of veteran OHL executive George Burnett as general manager and Ryan Oulahen as coach as positives.

“I think they’re doing a better job now,” Bitten said.

Throw in the scare of the water crisis in Flint – even though the players don’t live with billets in the city – and it was quite the eventful season for Bitten and his teammates for all the wrong reasons.

No wonder every NHL team he spoke with wanted to know all about it.

“I’ve seen it all,” Bitten said. “The water, the coaches. But I thought our team got a lot closer as the season went on. As a leader on my team I had to bring everyone in. We did a really great job until the end.”

MORE JUNIOR HOCKEY COVERAGE ON YAHOO SPORTS: