CREDIT: THE CALGARY HERALD
Bo Horvat, seen at the 2013 Memorial Cup, is one of the few players who could make the NHL this season.

In last week's column, I told you how great a roster the London Knights are projecting for the 2013/14 season. But for a team that sent 17 players to various NHL camps, there's always a thought that plays at the back of everyone's mind: “What if a player doesn't return?”

In theory, most players who do make it to NHL camps from the OHL do return, but the London Knights have been forced to change their game plan in seasons past. Remember Sam Gagner back in 2007 or Michael Del Zotto in 2009? Both players were expected to report back to London the following season.

They never did.

Gagner made the Edmonton Oilers roster while Del Zotto was solid on the New York Rangers blueline in his rookie season.

If one or more of the Knights are able to break into an NHL lineup full-time, general manager Mark Hunter will have some big decisions to make. But if all the players return, London could become the first team since the 1980 Peterborough Petes to win three straight J. Ross Robertson Cups as OHL champions.

“Most of them will be back, but you never know how these young men will play,” said Hunter. “I don't know how the Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Vancouver organizations are thinking but I don't worry about those variables because they are out of my hands.”

Bo Horvat (Vancouver), Max Domi (Phoenix), Olli Maatta (Pittsburgh) and Alex Broadhurst (Chicago) are the major question marks for this season. And while their respective NHL clubs are fully aware that the Memorial Cup is in London this season, every franchise takes their own time to make decisions.

For instance, the Dallas Stars sent back Remi Elie ahead of training camp. Dakota Mermis, who was part of the Columbus Blue Jackets' rookie tournament, was the first defenceman to return.

“I don't want to hurt my kids' chances if they have a chance to play there [in the NHL],” Hunter added. “I do not call [NHL teams to find out about players]. To me, it's not right. That's my personal opinion. There's no way I call.”

Take London's penultimate preseason game from September 13, the Knights were able to dress only 14 skaters and two goalies, most of them unknown to the fans. Out of those 16 players, just four had previous OHL experience — goalie Jake Patterson and forwards Remi Elie, Jacob Jammes and Owen Macdonald.

The result was predictable, a 6-3 victory for Plymouth. But even then, London was able to fight back to within two goals; indeed a good sign of things to come in the future.

Since that game, a number of players from last season have returned to London — Matt Rupert, Miles Liberati, and goalie Anthony Stolarz to name a few. The biggest question mark however will revolve around Bo Horvat. The Rodney, Ontario native was drafted ninth overall, after the Canucks traded goalie Cory Scheinder for the pick and is the most likely player to make an NHL roster this season.

Domi, in my mind, comes a close second.

And while the OHL season got underway September 19, the comparisons to the famous 2004/05 roster that won it all have been circulating for months. That team famously went 31 games unbeaten to start the season, a 29-0-2 record, two games ending in a tie, as the rules allowed for back then. Last season's team won 24 straight games, and much of that side returns for this season.

The Saint John Sea Dogs went through a similar situation before the 2011/12 Quebec Major Junior season. The won the 2011 Memorial Cup and sent a number of players to NHL training camps and struggled to put a team on the ice for the first few weeks of the season.

In the end, everything fell into place and the Sea Dogs defended the QMJHL title and returned for the 2012 Memorial Cup in Shawinigan.

There's no doubting that the London Knights will deliver their promises this season. They've got the tools to do so and they've got the desire to make up for back to back Memorial Cup disappointments.

But for now, they're playing the waiting game.