Nashville Predators’ Joey Willis had eyes set on NCAA – now, he’s chasing a Memorial Cup

SAGINAW – Saginaw Spirit forward Joey Willis was born in Elmhurst, Illinois – definitely not the most well-known state for producing Ontario Hockey League players.

For Joey, it wasn’t making the OHL. Like many young American-born kids these days, his eyes were set on something different.

“Growing up, it was always NCAA for me, that along with making the USNTDP team were my big goals,” Willis said. “When that didn’t happen and I got cut, I went into my U-16 season with the (Chicago) Mission and I ended up getting a season-ending injury that held me out for six to eight months.”

That didn’t slow the young forward down. While with the Mission, he was coached by former NHLer Yanic Perreault, whose son, Gabe, went on to be a first-round selection by the New York Rangers in 2023. Coach Perreault taught Willis the little aspects of hockey that he has now taken to another level.

“Having him (Yanic) there every single day to train with, learn from him and pick his brain was probably one of the most important things,” Joey told Daily Faceoff. “On top of that though, he also let us just play our way, almost like playing off instincts and we didn’t really have any system plays, it was just go out there and play. I feel like that allowed me and other players to explore our game more and keep working and working. The coaching style he led was top tier and allowed us to excel.”

During his downtime with the injury, Joey decided the college route wasn’t for him. Instead, he’d head to Saginaw to join a Spirit team with high hopes for the future.

“I had a lot of time to think with my family and my advisor, and we came to the conclusion that Saginaw was probably the best fit for me and my development,” Willis said.

Between coaches, management and Spirit president Craig Goslin, they recruited Willis to sign a Canadian Hockey League agreement with Saginaw. Willis is now in his second season with Saginaw, and has compiled 55 assists and 74 points in 105 OHL games.

“With us being in the United States, we had a lot of opportunity to travel to tournaments and we instantly fell in love with his game and his skill level,” Spirit GM Dave Drinkill said.

“You go back and watch his very first press conference with us when we signed him and he was trying to deflect the spotlight on him and turn it to his teammates and talked about how excited he was to join our club, that’s the type of guy he is.” Spirit head coach Chris Lazary said.

Willis quickly caught the attention of scouts as a rookie and was selected No. 111 overall by the Nashville Predators in 2023. It was extra special getting selected in the host city, with thousands of fans cheering for every Predators prospect.

“It was honestly a blur after I heard my name, it was a whirlwind of media and stuff like that,” Willis said. “Hearing the crowd cheer, because it was a Nashville pick, was just a surreal moment and on top of that, they hosted our families for the after-party and they had the best spot in town. It was just amazing to get drafted, but also to get drafted to the host city added more to the experience.”

As Joey headed to the Predators development camp, he got to work alongside former NHLer Nathan Gerbe. Gerbe was listed as just 5-foot-4, but that didn’t stop him from scoring 63 goals and 151 points in 435 career games. Willis isn’t a big guy at 5-foot-10, and while that’s still a big increase, it’s considered quite small by today’s NHL standards. So having the ultimate small guy working alongside him was viewed as a positive.

“Being a smaller guy like myself, Gerbe gave me a lot of tips on learning the ways of the game as a smaller player,” Joey said. “Ultimately, the Preds wanted me to work on my strength this season, work on a harder shot, just some little things that I can improve on as I get older.”

The Spirit are hosting the Memorial Cup this year, and they’re attempting to go all-in to become the first American team to win the tourney since 2008. They are led by 2025 top prospect Michael Misa, potential 2024 first-rounder Zayne Parekh and eight NHL draft picks – including WIllis.

Willis didn’t grow up watching junior hockey’s most prestigious tournament, but that changed once the Spirit were awarded the event. Now, he understands the importance of trying to win Canada’s top major junior event.

“Our coaches made us watch some old games, like Erie vs. Windsor when they had (Dylan) Strome, (Alex) DeBrincat, those players,” Joey said. “We watched the Knights win with (Mitch) Marner, (Matt) Tkachuk, and (Christian) Dvorak. I think that watching those older games give us a taste of what the atmosphere will be like and how the games are going to be difficult but being at the top tier will be surreal.”

It won’t be long until Willis gets his moment in the spotlight.