Damien Carfagna is miles from being famous, and he is undersized for a pro defenseman. Beyond that, there’s not much downbeat on this player. He’s fast, excellent in coverage, can move the puck and has good instincts. He stepped up from college to the AHL last season without a sweat, and did it so well, so quickly, no one made a fuss. I think it’s time someone did make a fuss about Carfagna.
Let’s start with his even-strength goal share with the Bakersfield Condors last year. It was 57 percent on a team with a 51 percent overall share. Bakersield was 53-40 when Carfagna was on the ice, 128-133 (49 percent). That’s significant.
Among rookie defensemen who played significant minutes since 2021, Carfagba looks damn good:
- Philip Broberg 2021-22 (30-15, 67 pct, 55 pct wo)
- Damien Carfagna 2025-26 (53-40, 57 pct, 49 pct wo)
- Beau Akey 2025-26 (33-25, 57 pct, 49 pct wo)
- Mike Kesselring 2021-22 (40-30, 57 pct, 56 pct wo)
- Max Wanner 2023-24 (53-42, 56 pct, 53 pct wo)
Carfagna shows well here, better than anyone not named Philip Broberg and there are two actual NHL players in this group. I think there should be more buzz surrounding Catfagna. Let’s take a look at even-strength points-game among rookies during the same period:
- Philip Broberg .39
- Damien Carfagna .27
- Mike Kesselring .24
- Max Wanner .22
- Beau Akey .17
Again Carfagna shows well compared to the group. Kesselring is not a similar player. First of all, he’s 6.05, 220. However, Carfagna’s speed is effective on offense and defense. I’m thinking that Carfagna is going to surprise many this fall and winter, but the numbers from last year suggest we should not be surprised at all. We should be talking more about Carfagna and a possible NHL future.
World Cup Semis are set with the Top 4 ranked teams in the world advancing for two dream matchups. France v Spain and England v Argentina. The games today were top notch again.
Go Three Lions!!!!
What a World Cup it’s been. I can see why it’s by far the most popular sport. I love the fact that Soccer isn’t game managed anywhere near what happens in hockey.
Is this sarcasm?
Remember when we were lamenting how Horcoff was overpaid(he was for the time) at an AAV of $5m?….
Man times have changed. Lol
That was almost 10% of the cap……
When he signed that he was coming off a 50 point in 53 game season. If then was now, we’d have to pay him Nico Hischier money.
Reja and OP this one is for you. It looks like Clattenburg realizes the work he’ll need to do to stay in the NHL. I’m providing the link and not commentary because it’s within 24 hours.
https://oilersnation.com/news/connor-clattenburg-oilers-roster-battle
I saw that blog, thank you.
I’m hoping he heeds his own words.
It’s a good read and I wish for the same as you. He can become a very effective and needed player type on this team. Cheers
I agree, 100%, he can be an effective player on this team, I’ve said that all along – I am hopeful he heeds his own words, he did not last season upon re-assignment.
He has surprisingly good hands, but if he is carrying the puck through the neutral zone, and puckhandling through traffic, I don’t think he’s going to be an Oiler for long. The man has good hands, and we didn’t see him a ton so the foot speed drag is just a five-game sample.
I think he’s an interesing player. He should go to the net and try to score goals. He shouldn’t try to finesse, especially on this Oilers team that is populated by impressive skill players.
…
Agreed 100% Don’t try to be something he isn’t. I think Babcock would have time for a willing to adapt Clattenburg. He can learn from Podz
Clattenburg is a fun person to cheer for he’s all heart and then some. If Slap Shot filmed a sequel Clattenburg is the perfect name and individual to act in it. He was the Captain in Flint if you managed to watch him Junior he’s a perfect digger that seems to get grade A chances because of his hard work. Clattenburg will get a call up at some point this season. Boooook It………..
Okay, let’s do the Lowetide voice doppelgänger challenge.
The other day, I was watching Facebook reels. Marshall from Wristwatch revival. He sounds a lot like LT, albeit with a slight southern USA twist.
https://youtu.be/KY8nU7BOM34?si=lZ_GOs3sLSdUPXaw
Can anyone beat that?
It took me a while to decide if LT was doing the voice on 1440 for the Oodle Noodles guy and/or Mr. Rooter. Don’t think so
I don’t think it sounds a thing like me, but hes a talented fellow so I take it as a compliment.
Hey Lt, I certainly didn’t mean as an insult. He is a talented guy and it’s oddly satisfying watching him restore watches.
Maybe there’s some quality to his voice that reminded me of you, if not an exact match.
From my perspective he does not sound like LT, but his voice has qualities that remind me of LT, so I get it.
“Training camp” does not really exist anymore. One will be into season prep essentially day 1.
Would it be fair to say training camp hasn’t changed necessarily, but pre-season isn’t a part of evaluating as much, the 4 games will be geared to season play
Preseason lineups will be require the analysis department math guys to figure out, assuming the last game is for the presumed season starting team, because:
1) Skaters who have over 100 NHL games and goalies over 50 games are limited to 2 games.
2) The team must dress at least 8 veterans per game, although veterans for this purpose include include players who played 30 games last season. (Savoie, Muchy and Dach but not Howard).
Google’s ai (after 10 corrections) says the oilers have 22 players with over 100 games so that works out to a maximum of 44 man games or if the 80 for 4 games, leaving 36 man games for the rest. If 16 of those 22 play in the final game that leaves a maximum of 28 man games for vets in the first 3 games which is an average of 9 per game leaving an average of 11 non vets per game. That of course is enough to cover the required 8 beers per game.
The 22 over 100 include Stillman, Brown and the Bubble forwards like Janmark and Jones.
11 non-vets in each game seems like enough playing time to evaluate bubble positions.
Very few prospects played in more than 4 games in prior years and two of the games dropped will be the split squad games.
It was clear as mud but it cover de ground
The confusion make me brain go round
After reading this I’m not sure it’s worth posting but I decided it isn’t the worst post ever.
What a mess, so NHL
Why is this a mess?
Cutting down the number of exhibition games was what most fans wanted – and normalizing across the league as some teams were only playing 4-5 while the teams that made money off them were playing 8-9.
I thought Carfagna, along with Regula, was the teams top dman in the 2nd half.
He seems to do everything very well, but not great – a very underrated puck mover.
If he had a couple more inches, he’d be a premarital top 4 dman in this league.
No chance at camp unless there are many d injuries but hopefully he gets one of the two available non vet games and, if he starts the season like he ended in Bako, he will pass Brown on the street and put his name up with Stastney and Regula for call up.
Premaritial?
Your typos are mostly epic 😀
Damien CarfagnaDefense — shoots L
Born Dec 12 2002 –Wood-Ridge, NJ
[23 yrs. ago]
Height 5.11 — Weight 170[180 cm/77 kg]
6.0, 185 according to AHL.com but your point is made.
Whatever happened to Max Wanner?
I recall he had almost universally positive reviews round here, but then, silence.
Looking at his HockeyDB page, since his trade to the Bruins in the Max Jones transaction, he’s gone backwards as a prospect. He spent some time in the ECHL last season for the first time in his pro career. Considering we got some effective play from Max Jones, that was a win for the org.
Someone who follows the Bruins told me he was injured in his second year in the AHL and had a Kidney injury this year. It makes more sense than he was randomly sent to the ECHL this year, it might have been a conditioning stint. He played for Providence in the playoffs
I think Max has some issues, not as much with hockey. I don’t know what, but that’s what I ended up thinking, was hopeful for him. They needed some D that were harder than what they had
He started off very great as a rookie pro Condor – tough to do as a 20 year old d-man from the CHL as its a huge adjustment to the AHL for d-man. He faded during that season if I can remember and reversed hard in his second season and was hurt and healthy scratched.
Haven’t kept up but it seems like that’s continued since we traded him to the Boston org.
Given he was a 7th round pick, I suppose this is not surprising.
He has had 3 or 4 injuries that really slowed him down the last 2 years. He could still make it (big stay at home D) or he could end up in Europe. The Bruins didn’t qualify him so it’s pretty up in the air.
He was signed to an AHL deal by Providence, so he must be valued by the Bruins. He has struggled to get playing time not only due to injuries, but also competition.
His ability to keep up to the play and hockey sense is a concern in the organization, he doesn’t do well in the ozone.
So what’s Carfagna’s actual height and weight? How small is he?
I tried to find his measurements on the Condors page for the most up to date info but it’s been cleared of all players.
HockeyDB says 5’11’ and 170 lbs but Eliteprospects says 6′ even
Funny you should ask, I wrote a big comment about that and it wouldn’t post so I had to refresh. Might as well put it here:
I hope Carfagna becomes a great add for the Oilers at some point. I pull for all the young guys, even if I think most won’t get there or are tweeners. DC has a lot working against him because of his size, which is quite hard to determine. Elite prospects has him the largest at 6’0 and 185lbs. Most of the other sites 5’11 170lbs including the Oilers
If the former is true, that bodes well. Still too light, but perhaps he can get close to 200 as he gets older. If the latter is true, we should consider him an outlier that will have a hard time sticking, like Stastney who the Oilers list as 6′ 184lbs
This is what Google had to say when I asked how many NHL D were under 5’11 and 180 lbs:
“While there are around 40 active NHL defensemen under 6-feet tall, finding those who are simultaneously 5’11” or shorter AND 180 pounds or lighter narrows the field down to a very rare, elite group of roughly 5 to 10 active players.”
If there are 7 D per team that’s 224, 40 under 6′ is ~18%, their average weight is 184-188lbs, Stastney’s size. 10 under 5’11 and 180 lbs is ~5%. It’s less of a deal for forwards, but those numbers are also low. I have said for years that drafting undersized players is almost always a waste of a pick
Some see games but don’t become NHL players that do enough for the team, contribute enough. The games played measure is the most common marker to establish draft success, you need something, but really the goal is finding good NHL players that make a difference somehow to more team success
Same for over sized players, remember the years of Lucic hunting in the coke machine era until they finally got him? Chasing outliers lowers the odds of finding helpful NHL players. Signing players is different because it only costs money and a contract spot, so it’s not wasting an asset. But resources are finite, as is time for core players, so unless they really see something in an outlier type player, it’s probably smarter to look in the ‘typical size’ aisle
The Oilers D roster on their site shows them to be a fairly tall group, Emberson is the smallest, Stastney isn’t listed. 3 of them are on the light side for height – Bouch Emberson and Shak. Shea isn’t big but close enough to average
Why I mention that is I think the Oilers have had trouble defending the net front and players coming off the boards and driving the net, low and higher up. It was one part of Kulak’s game that was lacking as an Oiler for me. I’m interested to see how DJ addresses it, and how these lighter guys will do it
“I have said for years that drafting undersized players is almost always a waste of a pick”
I’ll qualify that with outside of say the top half of the 1st round. Essentially where elite or very high skill players are usually found. Some guys do slip like Debrincat, but odds plummet
Another qualification is smaller players have to be very good skaters. Slow boots are hard enough on bigger guys
5 of the most recent Norris Trophy vote getters were 6’0” and under and less than 200 pounds.
The game has changed.
So you’re saying because there are a handful of elite players at D who are that, now the game is changing? Folks were talking about the ‘modern D man’ years ago, perhaps you were as well. I never bought it
Most of those small D that were drafted around that lemmings to the cliff outlier chase are marginal or are out of the league, because they were not elite. Also, it was covered in my comment
Now we are seeing eastern teams going full 70’s Flyers. The lemmings are going to take a swerve left, Slapshot is back! The panthers leading the way with 2 goon brothers, ‘sadly’ not a third. I wonder if they wear glasses?
There was a shift over ten maybe 20 years ago to more skill and speed and agility in the nhl.
For many years those type of more skilled players were smaller because that’s what they had to do to have success.
More recently the big dudes are becoming more and more skilled and agile fast skaters. Catching up to the little guys.
There is a change in the way teams build now to more size again. The smaller players will be fewer and fewer in my opinion.
There will always be the elite few like Quinn and lane that make the top of the roster.
https://puckpedia.com/news/major-rule-changes-are-coming-nhl-contracts-heres-what-you-need-know
Mark Sep 16, 2026 on your calendars. If a player wants an 8 year deal, they have to sign it before that day. Afterwards, the max term a player can sign is 7 years and that’s only on extensions. UFA max deals signed on July 1 are 6 years. The silly (signing! autocorrect grrr!~) bonuses will be capped at 60% of the max value of the contract so the 95% bonus and 5% salary that Carlsson got on his deal won’t be allowed.
The Robertson impasse in Dallas is coloured by the fact that the player wants an 8 year extension at big money. Dallas is willing on the term but won’t budge on the money.
Since we’re all over the place with this name, I prefer this spelling: c’Artagnan.
So we have our c’Artagnan.
Now who are the Three Musketeers?
had a good laugh when I saw this….Ha!…I was actually wondering if you did that on purpose LT?..
Sadly, no. 🙂
I’m referring to the kid as “Catfang” from here on.