This is NHL rookie scoring in January of 2013. The Oilers had a couple of freshmen tearing up the blacktop, and there were a few fast starts that did not turn in to NHL careers.
The best Oilers rookie camp of all time was 1980, when Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey all arrived as full-time NHL players, while Charlie Huddy and Andy Moog also debuted. How about this century? There are two candidates.
THE 2010 GROUP
- R Jordan Eberle—Now at 1060 NHL games.
- D Jeff Petry—Now at 981 NHL games.
- L Taylor Hall—Now at 909 NHL games.
- L Magnus Paajarvi—467 NHL games.
- R Tyler Pitlick—Now at 420 NHL games.
- C Chris VandeVelde—278 NHL games.
- D Martin Marincin—227 NHL games.
- D Brandon Davidson—Now at 180 NHL games.
- L Teemu Hartikainen—Now at 52 NHL games.
- D Alex Plante—10 NHL games.
- L Phil Cornet—1 NHL game.
- D Johan Motin—1 NHL game.
- C Milan Kytnar—1 NHL game.
- L Curtis Hamilton—1 NHL game
- G Tyler Bunz—1 NHL game.
That’s an outstanding group, three men will exceed 1,000 games and two more played over 400 NHL games. The Oilers didn’t make a dent with this group, but the constant changing of managers and coaches, along with a subpar group of support veterans, were the main reasons for the failure to launch.
THE 2015 GROUP
- C Leon Draisaitl—Currently at 790 NHL games.
- D Darnell Nurse—Currently at 716 NHL games.
- C Connor McDavid—Currently at 712 NHL games.
- D Ethan Bear—Currently at 275 NHL games.
- D Caleb Jones—Currently at 248 NHL games.
- G Laurent Brossoit—Currently at 140 NHL games.
- L Anton Slepyshev—102 NHL games.
The 2015 group contains two future Hall of Famers, and built ‘up the spine’ with centers and defense. I think the clear edge is the 2015 group, and we’ll see if Stanley is in the future. I think Laurent Brossoit is an underrated member of that group, 140 NHL games for a goaltender is a good number.
ROOKIE CAMP 2025
We’ll see some great young talent this fall, although it’s possible Matt Savoie misses rookie camp. Ike Howard should be there, I am also looking forward to seeing Quinn Hutson. He left college after his junior season, clearly spiked as an offensive contributor and it will be interesting to see if he can push for playing time in main camp. I think his rep with fans was hurt by those few NHL minutes where he barely played and didn’t touch the puck. It’s the ultimate small sample size, but he didn’t get much done in those minutes (a total of 27 minutes) but did get a shot on goal and took a penalty.
Dobber prospects writes this about him: A responsible, fast-paced winger with good defensive instincts, he is an above-average skater with an excellent set of hands and a pro-level shot. Unlike his younger brothers Cole and Lane, he has limited upside but could become a valuable bottom-six forward.
One of the things a full pro season for Hutson, Howard, Josh Samanski, Viljami Marjala and others will do is give us a better view of their potential in the NHL. Not every skill player who arrives in pro becomes a top-six forward, but all of the bottom-six forwards in the NHL could post offense in their amateur, college and European leagues. Stan Bowman is shopping in the good aisles. It’s been a few years since Edmonton has been a player in procuring talent that other teams were interested in.
New for The Athletic: What can Oilers fans expect from Stan Bowman’s European signing pipeline?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6544239/2025/08/10/edmonton-oilers-bowman-european-signings/
Looks like Olivier Rodrigue is heading to Kazakhstan to play in the KHL for Barys Astana……
I truly love that group of “who the hell knows” players.
I personally agree with the “limited upside” comment on Hutson from Dobber prospects but, really, who the hell knows?
For me, I’m interested to see if Marjala can out-pace him – noone talks about Marjala but I have him in the same tier as Hutson, maybe even with a “better chance” to make it.
The one thing that Howard brings to this team hopefully will be a little bit of that swagger and confidence he brings naturally with his personality. I don’t expect it right away, but as he gets more comfortable, I think you’ll see his personality come out more. I think this will be good for the Oilers.
That swagger could prove to be detrimental if things don’t go his way. I mean he came to Edmonton after a fall out in Tampa. What happens if he has to go down to Bakersfield?
I know a lot of people believe Howard is ready now.I am of the thought that O Rielly will play next year (26/27). He plays a very mature game that will translate to the NHL.This is the reason I think Howard has to hit. If he doesn’t,I think we gave up a hugely valuable asset in both need and and value of position and handiness. My fingers are x it turns out favourably.
Mangiapane CMD Hyman (when back)
Pod Drai Savoie
Howard Nuge Frederic (can Howard or Nuge play RW? If Knobby doesn’t like Nuge at C)
Henrique X X
Janmark, Kap, Lazar, Philp, Tomasek as the on the cusp ones up or down, battling for two spots. I don’t see how Bowman isn’t going to make some deals. Unless three of these guys want to go down to stay on board. The first three are fairly established NHL players, I imagine the A isn’t top of mind
Maybe Howard has to go down to start, but he’s not going to be down there long going by what happens with forwards that score a bunch there. So the problem with too many forwards remains. Maybe if Henrique at his age doesn’t make the team out of camp he would accept a trade
Also, PuckP has Janmark and Kap on their PuckGM roster, leaves only 225,834 in cap. Something has to give. If the rookies seem ready to go, they need to use them over keeping less skilled, more expensive, older bottom 6 types. They need a full or most of a season to get enough experience for later. If they can hold up the defensive side you want to bring in their skill. Both have enough jam I think
Maybe Tomasek is better at this point than one of them, but the injection of energy and scoring ability is needed.
Bowman seems pretty up front, I doubt he loaded up like this without having some understanding with the not certain older players about outcomes. The younger guys have to accept some waiting. Some have mentioned Tomasek going home, maybe some promises of trades. Bob says Stan wants more cap for accrual and the deadline, hat tip to OP I didn’t hear Bob say it
I agree moves are likely to be made, but I can’t see any world where Rico ‘fails’ camp. If we were even supposing vets aren’t allowed to mail in it before the season proper.
Maybe Mangiapane can be with McDavid what Podz is for Leon.
The two youngsters, with those line formations, would be thrusted into a strong position for success with impressive veteran leadership.
The fourth line has all the elements with those six players to have two formidable fourth lines. Tomasek might be better than both of the two young guys let alone the other fourth liners.
Are there details of what is replacing the Young Guns tournament?
NHL SID has a niece thing up about Pod
https://oilersnation.com/news/vasily-podkolzin-edmonton-oilers-top-six
I agree with his line of thinking. I’ve been commenting about the need to find the right wingers for Connor and Leo. Everything has to be about maximizing having two centres like that. Not rely on them being able to do what they do with often sub optimal help. Their role shouldn’t be to make other players play better, even if that happens, the GMs role is make it so they can be even better. I think they can still be
When you can build a line on two players that can win the goal share and play in any environment, and find that third guy, you are going to have a very strong top 6. It is now but still runs into trouble, a lot of it being finishing or not being able to keep up strong two way play, I’m thinking playoffs
As is shown in SID’s piece a winger that can really help with defense and possession at both ends is a yuge boost to the elite player
Add with the third player what’s missing. If the second is more offensive find the defensive conscience, or vice versa. Someone that is going to do it almost every game. And now that they are older, wingers with lots of energy and pace
Big opportunities for the rookie skill forwards here. If Pod is Leo’s two way guy, a scoring winger fits the bill. If Zach is Connor’s second, a scoring LW is needed. I hope Matt and Ike have had the best training summers of their young careers
I agree with this train of thought,I am more inclined to believe that Savoie is ready now and have a more wait and see attitude with Howard. It’s not a lack of belief,but the pro game is a different animal than the NCAA from schedule to training and just adjusting to pro life. I was a big O REILLY fan, but I do see the need to take a shot at a goal scorer who has produced at every level.
Who is also much closer to contributing than Sam. Whom I also liked
We can only hope that Savoie & Howard will both contribute at a high level. But that is easier said than done. They will both get the big push, at the very least they should be equal or better than what Arvidsson & J Skinner provided, and they will only improve with more TOI.
If Podkolzin & Draisaitl aren’t a certainty playing together on the second line, it should be.
In fact, CMD could probably use a player like Podz on the first line. Gretzky had the wild & wonderful Tikkanen and that is the role Podkolzin is suited for.
Agreed, w caveat that Tik also buried the biscuit.
Hutson was a great get by Bowman, no doubt. He didn’t impress me in his Spring debut, but after that experience he should be better prepared for his next opportunity.
I hope he proves me wrong and shows me that he has NHL ability. I was impressed with his showing at the Development camp, he definitely has a very good wrist shot.
He has was easily a top 10, if not a top 5 player at the camp, but he was also one of the oldest (in fact he was the 2nd oldest behind Rhett Pitlick).
I don’t know how others feel about the subject, but it is really starting to irritate me that other hockey writers take someone else’s words to make it the basis of an article. The headlines they then use are deceptive or false to bring in readers.
Then a second or third person with a YouTube channel takes the 2nd article and uses it as a basis for their video.
So much lazy…I know LT has had to deal with this for decades.
I can think of so many other Oiler-related subjects to write about, what can’t those who actually make money from writing do this? Where in the world have original thoughts and ideas gone?
That is why I have begun to skip a lot of articles on other sites lately, seems like the “authors” come and skim LT’s article, slice and snip opinions from the comments and press publish.
I griped about this a few years ago as well. At that time I felt I kept seeing writing that to me was lifted from this comment section. I don’t mean LT, if he does that he seems to give props, but even if he didn’t it’s his blog
There are a lot of unique points of view, and soon after a day’s conversation there would be something up somewhere that took the ideas, and I didn’t think it was in the vein of the writer’s normal output
I thought they should have the honour to at least give credit to whoever had posted the line of thinking. But it seems that you have to write a blog or on some platform to have enough cred to get that. It’s easier to take credit as a pro pundit and have it seem like your thoughts. I let it go because it’s not worth the effort to push back and likely won’t stop anyway
I heard Rogan saying it’s the same for podcasts, mainstream looks down on them but are happy to have their thinking done for them and use the content. They do get credit if the media people are talking about the podcast/er, otherwise maybe not
Or it was exactly the same point or points, even if it was in their wheelhouse
Example?
Neither here nor there but, this thread has me thinking that while I may have my issues w Staples, no one could accuse him of not sourcing his material. That guy’s dropping like MLA format and everything.