The Edmonton Oilers are signing quality out of the US college system again. Last year it was Quinn Hutson and Damien Carfagna, and this spring the club added a unicorn in RH center Owen Michaels. He is the only known RH center headed to Oilers camp this fall. That’s a unicorn.
This guy has no chance! He won’t make opening night, but Michaels is a unique talent on this roster and I do believe he’ll play NHL games in 2026-27.
Why? He’s a righthanded center, scored 31-31-62 in his final 81 college games. That isn’t Shawn Horcoff level (26-76-102 in his final 81 college games for Michigan State) but he can play based on scouting reports.
What does he do? Corey Pronman at The Athletic described Michaels as “a good-sized center who skates well and works hard at both ends. He’s not the most natural scorer you’ll ever see, but he has enough pure skill and sense in his game to have a chance to get points at the next level and provide off-puck value.”
The Oilers could sign Curtis Lazar today and bury him. True, but only for this year and maybe not the entire season. RH centers who can PK and check well are rare. I think Michaels has an NHL career in his future and it could be soon.
What is his Achilles? Foot speed, it’ll keep him far from a feature role in the NHL. However, he could land as a bottom-six RH center who kills penalties and chips in offensively.
Pronman said “skates well, you lout!” Pronman spends plenty of time evaluating speed, and I trust his view. Having said that, Michaels’ speed isn’t universally lauded and Pronman didn’t say he was lights out.
So which is it? This is what I wrote about Michaels speed: There are some online sources that suggest Michaels’ foot speed is shy; conflicting reports surrounding speed are normal in the hockey industry. There is a tremendous amount of nuance in assessing an individual’s speed and pace. Pronman is an excellent resource in this area; if anything, he’s often mentioned as being a hard marker. Oilers fans should wait to see him in action, but the scouting reports are mainly positive.
So we don’t know?? We still don’t really know if Quinn Hutson is fast enough to play as an NHL regular and he has some NHL games and a full year in the AHL. Josh Samanski’s max speed according to NHL Edge is below 50 percent. I believe he’s a much better skater than indicated by the small sample, but I don’t know. I’m not a scout.
Man this is a lot of reading for not much payoff. You’re too kind. Michaels could be a RH Matt Hendricks or have a career outside the NHL. I believe he’ll get a chance with Edmonton in the next 18 months.
Because he’s righthanded? Yes, plus he brings a rugged style to a team that wants that in the lineup every night. He can forecheck, penalty kill and win faceoffs. We just need to see him do it in Bakersfield before he sees the NHL.
Should have kept Sam O‘Reilly! I would always prefer the Oilers grab a goal scorer in the first round, and the Ike Howard acquisition still has miles to go. Bowman made a good deal there, I think. We’ll see.
Centers have more value than wingers, fool! Oilers have two of the best centers on planet earth if the coach plays them in the middle. Ike Howard scores 20 if he’s with Leon all winter. Fool yourself.
How many of these worthless pieces are you going to write? I’ve done Damien Carfagna (here) and the plan is for five in total.
Why do I even read you? Well, I can write reasonably well, and we’ve been getting together long enough to have discussions, arguments, grudges and moments of warmth and clarity. Mostly it’s just a need to tell someone they’re wrong. Powerful magnet for all of us.
Craig Baird – Canadian History Ehx
@CraigBaird
George Chuvalo has died.
Born on this day in 1937, he was a five-time Canadian heavyweight champion and twice fought Muhammad Ali.
In 93 fights, he was never knocked down. Ali called him the toughest man he ever fought. He had 73 wins, 64 by knockout.
RIP Champ.
Kreider signs a 1-year deal with the Habs.
Good to get him out of the West.
A great deal for the Habs.
1 year at $2.15 million.
Krieder likely slots in at 2LW with Demidov and Oliver Kapanen.
Could be a superb line.
https://x.com/stapenhl/status/2098895152806862981?s=61
Quick story that may help explain why Chris Kreider is now in Montreal:
— Feb. 15, 2024. Jim Ramsay returns to MSG as the MTL trainer after 30 years with the #NYR and a dismissal the previous summer that left several Rangers very, very unhappy.
There was no acknowledgment in MSG for Ramsay and he was not shown or mentioned at all during the telecast.
After the game, Kreider was in his usual spot next to the door. Instead of just high-fiving his teammates after a 7-4 win he directed all of them to go and acknowledge Ramsay. Kreider did so too, in a long embrace on the ice in full view of anyone who cared to see.
Kreider had a hat trick in that game but didn’t do any postgame media.
Habs fans remember 2014, but this is a character guy who still has some game left.
May I ask why it’s good to get him out of the West? I mean, he’s a fine player but he’s 35 and it’s not like we are talking about Celebrini or someone like that. Honest question.
Bigger and better than Nuge?
The younger RNH has played more games and has more points than the elder Kreider.
Considering you think RNH’s teammates are consistently the worst collection of players on the worst team in the world, this would conflict with this statement you have made.
You are consistent in your love for big, heavy boys though, I’ll give you that.
A $2.15-million, one-year contract for a six-foot-three, 232-pound, 35-year-old winger who has over 1000 games of NHL experience and is still producing at a reasonable rate is hardly a gamble.
The Athletic has an article up about waiver pick up options. The list includes familiar names like David Jiricek, Matthew Poitras, and Reid Schafer as potential waiver targets.
My favorite target: Ivan Miroshnichenko.
He’s a right-shot with a high battle level. Seems like we have a great mentor for him in Podkolzin.
If they snag him and keep Mukhamadullin they’re going to run out of letters in the team store! 😂
Lebrun reports that Babcock got a three year deal plus an option for a 4th year. So basically a 4 year deal, it seems
I wonder what the $ per year is. My guess, he is one of the highest paid in the league.
Reports have DJ Smith as the highest paid assistant/associate coach and, ya, I agree and presume Babcock is also near the top.
I have to say it’s a little aggravating the way the Owner throws around money like this, following the news of the Oilers having the highest ticket prices in the NHL by a considerable margin.
How does this constitute throwing money around? We don’t know the yearly salary.
Its pretty standard for veteran coaches to get 3-4 year deals.
It’s his money. He can spend it how he likes
It’s actually the fans’ money.
No it’s not. The fans chose to spend that money on Oilers games/ merchandise. If the fans don’t like the product/price/ethics of the organization they could spend money elsewhere. The fact that the Oilers can charge the highest prices show that the fans are generally supportive of the team and the Owner’s decisions.
The owner doesn’t pay the Oilers expenses out of his personal savings. Ipso facto, it’s not “his” money. It’s Edmonton Oilers revenues, a portion of which is derived from the highest ticket prices in the league.
This is being so intentionally obtuse – if you want to go down that route, really its the banks money – well, the money of the banks in his lending syndicate.
Nope, they’ve spent the money voluntarily for a product.
No one’s disputing that. What’s questionable is why the Owner feels the need to be so greedy?
Firstly, charging what the market will support for a product is business and the owner is a business man.
Secondly, revenue is Vitaly important and with the money the owner spends (excess money, such as paying Knob to not coach and paying multiple extra millions in for high salaries for players to play in the minors not to mention the willingness to start the season with an effective 27 player roster, etc., etc.) plus the reduced net income due to one playoff round last year (and that was SIGNIFICANT) to the bottom line, etc, etc.
Corporate lawyer approves of billionaire owner’s greed. Shocker.
Market sets the price.
I have direct knowledge of the effects of playoff revenue fallen short of expectations – there are material implications that most would not be in the know about.
Good Christ, OP. You can’t just say direct knowledge in every post and then not share. Are you talking to Bob? If so, let us know. We don’t mind! 🙂
Lawyer/Client confidentiality.
Haha. Fair. However, I can’t let unconfirmed verbal remain on the site, so when you say that you have it on authority and then do not share, your post will be deleted.
I think it should be the opposite – in particular after only one playoff round this past year – they have many more home playoff dates built in to their financial planning.
While it’s “nice to know”, the term on Babcock’s deal really means nothing. The owner has never been shy to flex his financial strength and play multiple managers/coaches at the same time by firing and hiring.
Knob is getting paid for 3 years not to coach right now.
If Babcock is not successful, he’ll be fired when they deem it necessary not matter how long is left on this contract.
Now, its not like the money spent doesn’t matter to the owner, trust me, I have direct knowledge of what each playoff round means to real financial matters, but that’s the thing, even getting one more round more than off-sets any yearly comp a coach makes.
Of course, the three year term does show real intent on a term relationship with Babcock – here is hoping.
I doubt Babs would have agreed to less than three years.
We pay the highest ticket prices in the league and the owner gets the credit for “his financial strength”?
That’s a good deal.
When will the Oilers announce their EBUG for the season?
All but completely inconsequential (I mean, he won’t get any game action unless both goalies get hurt in the same game) but he’ll be travelling with the team and likely helping in practice, etc.
Its likely someone we’ve never heard of given the requirements that essentially only allow nobody’s to have this job.
I suppose it will have to wait until the next CBA, but with 84 games now it’s not unreasonable to see a future where the 23 man roster limit gets expanded to 24 with the extra spot being designated for a 3rd goalie on the roster
Well the next CBA doesn’t even kick in until this coming Wednesday so we’l be waiting a while for that.
I could see something like that – lots of points to schedule around it – does that 3G on the 24th spot count against the cap? Does the 24th have to be a 3G. As of now, 3G and one less skater on the roster is strategy.
The resident E-Bug in Edmonton last season was Westin Cardwell. Near the end of this article from March/26 he said he “had his hat in the ring” for the 26/27 job. Doesn’t mean it will be him but sounds like he has applied.
NHL emergency goalies have one of the quirkiest jobs in pro sports | Edmonton Journal
Thank you.
The issue that’s starting to emerge with the Oilers is not really giving their older prospects a chance. Save for Savoie, they seem to keep blocking them with below average NHLers that keep them out of their appropriate role (Howard) or out of the NHL all together.
It makes these College signings with limited ceilings less useful and we really should just be going for shoot-the-moon prospects like Howard and other skill
How have they blocked Howard from an appropriate role?
They didn’t sign anyone for the top 6 this off-season.
Every player in the NHL who isn’t McDavid/Formenton/Cogliano fast will have some evaluators out there saying foot speed is an issue. As it has always been, so shall it be.
The Oilers keep wanting to play McDavid and Draisaitl together, and Nugent-Hopkins is aging and should be viewed as a winger, so swapping O’Reilly for Howard was a bad move. You can never have too many centres.
Dumping McLeod and O’Reilly were really bad moves.
McLeod: Agreed. O’Reilly? No. The Oilers have 97 and 29, and Samanski may end up being a solid third-line center. I don’t think dealing O’Reilly was a mistake, especially considering how few pure offensive forwards were in the organization at the time.
I am a bit Ryan McLeod fan but four playoffs in a row he got crushed, leaking goals against. I’m not one that sees a poor playoff performance and extrapolates the future based off of it but four years in a row (save the team non-playoff season) and its a thing until he can prove its not.
Sam O’Reily has not played a game against men yet. Issac Howard was one of the best players in the world’ second best league. Perhaps O’Reily gets some NHL games this year, I don’t know, but he’s not the answer at this time.
I remember him being very good in 22-23 playoffs and his stats look good that year too (5 5v5 points in 12 games, 70% high danger chances but -1). 21-22 he didn’t really get crushed either – he was -2 but 61% high danger chances. He certainly has gotten crushed the last two playoffs though for whatever reason, but we also have no idea how Savoie will be in playoffs.
That is also my recollection.
5 on 5 goal share:
-1
-2
-1
-8
-5
OK, only crushed for two years but I think one has to acknowledge this is a thing.
Correct, we don’t know how Savoie will be in the playoffs, we do know how McLeod has been.
Well we’ll see how Matt Savoie plays in the playoffs. He didn’t show that well during that first round debacle against the Ducks but not many did.
We will see.
As I mentioned, I’m not one to extrapolate a single playoff season (in particular 6 games) and extrapolate a career playoff performance off that – like Eberle and various others than had a poor start to what became successful playoff careers (Datsyuk) a great example.
The sample on McLeod now runs 5 years.
The sample of five playoff runs includes three years where he was essentially break even.
Come on, he was minus every single season and the last two season got absolutely killed.
He was moved to the 4th line for part of Buffalo’s run last playoffs.
Last season, Boston was 28-25 goals over all at 5 on 5 and McLeod was -5 – they were 23-15 with McLeod off the ice and 5-10 with him on.
In 2023/24 the Oilers were 53-52 goals and McLeod was -8. The Oilers were 49-40 with McLeod off the ice and 4-12 with him on.
Lets be real here.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
“Mark Stone signs a two-year extension with Vegas carrying a $9M AAV.”
Stone takes a slight haircut from his current $9.5 million cap hit. The deal takes him to age 36.
Look forward to getting eyes on this young man and watching him acclimate to pro hockey in Bako this season. Samanski is an NHL player and likely done with the AHL which likely leaves Michaels as 2C behind Marjala. Likely one tier above where he should start but we’ll see how it goes.
Prior to the injuries he was in the tier with Hutson/Tralmaks/Marjala that had not shot at the NHL but needed to leave a memory in camp.
The injuries really solidified the opening roster with the maybe a spot for a player in that tier as 14F but then Formenton got signed and that tier has no chance unless there are more injuries.
13F are locked (yes Formenton is 100% on the opening roster – he can’t get Bako time as he’d get claimed with at least 2 other teams wanting to sign him) and the question is Max Jones at 14F or Stastney at 8D.
I haven’t seen this guy play but from what I’ve seen, heard and read, he’s a large distant bell for the NHL and I have him a tier below Hutson who is a tweener himself. I mean, light on scoring as a senior on the NCAA with maybe OK skating does not translate to the NHL often – no matter how reasonable a player one is.
Right handed center is great but if he was left handed is he really talked about? Handedness only matters so much and is dwarfed by ability.
Definitely excited to get the know the player as Condor and I hope he blows my expectations out of the water like Hutson did last year.
The annoying thing is if we had kept one of Eberle, Halloween or both the lineup while older would be perfect goaltending aside.
Is it enough?
Is always my pre-season question.
Top 6 is strong due to absolute top talents who make everyone better. But LT I agree with your article days ago, they need another difference maker.
They are picking up some youth, very wise idea. They need talented ones to arrive and it looks positive. Some offence here and some role players.
Looking for hidden talent that can be acquired for cheap and they can test drive. Some good college signings, some moves with risk, but upside potential.
I would actually prefer 3rd line, 4th line as there looks to be a difference in roles; as opposed to saying “bottom 6” Dickinson is a bet on the creation and use of an identity shut down line. Don’t know if it works but the tool is available. Dickinson himself looks to be a useful player – or not – depending the role assigned, but hes got game.
Fourth line is stacked with speed and potentially rugged players. Lots of options. Looks excellent in my opinion.
Defence looks good. Some unknowns but they are pulling in some more hard to play against d-men. I think Walman benefits from a new coach. Trade some assets before you lose them for nothing on waiver wire.
Goalies, I doubt there is anything at all wrong with Anderson. There is some kind of agreement in place that hes out of the way so others can be evaluated.
Coach – I didn’t love it, but no choice now. Can he deliver clear systems play with identified roles? Add some flavor to Oilers predictable (at times) play? I think so.
I do think its enough, maybe best so far. And thats without adding the last impact player. Add another difference maker? Would cost so they need to target a 25 year old for long term which should be the play; or experienced player at the deadline.
I think there’s a certain belief system that goes a long way. There’s a magical power deep inside of all of us that’s undeniable and when brought out , it’s enough.
Oilers have nabbed some nice NCAA players. It would be great if one of them contributed at the NHL level.
Carfagna may pass Leppanen, Stilman and Brown to put himself in call-up conversation this year.
Hutson likely sees some games this season (there will likely be 2-3 injuries at most times).
Future looking, lots of bets – Fischer and Sharp in particular – hope to get Fischer signed in March, I think its 50/50 until we get actual information.
Does Lafrenière count? Drafted out of junior but heading to Wetern Michigan (joining Sharpe) this season.
Does Barzalns count? Drafted out of the USHL but committed to Boston College for next season.
Asher Barnett too (and some others like Berry, Park and Wakley that are likely more distant bells).
The O’Reilly trade carries risk. When you are in the draft position the Oilers and most contenders are, betting on the player with the higher offensive ceiling is the way to go, having done due diligence of course. If you can’t find that, or don’t get really lucky in the draft, as the team ages out the alternative is that they would have to become a defensive team like the Canes
Carolina scored the second most GF/GP last season at 3.55…right behind Colorado at 3.63.
The Canes are not a defensive team…they are a balanced team.
Well said. Balanced is the key.
Last year mid season I was calling the Canes – Robots. Their style across the roster was similar. Positioning correct, system as it was to be played correct, defensive awareness correct and on it went.
Their win does teach us the importance of a couple of things. The first being depth, you can win with depth. The second is coaching can play a huge part. Its not just the coach himself, but style and the ability to bring a team together, to believe in what they are doing will pay off.
And of course that it can be won without sacrificing the future, and without top end star players. Very interesting really.
I always believed if there was good team built – and then you add McDavid, then sky is the limit. Oilers did not have a good team, they got McDavid then try to add a team, which has proven difficult.
Back to the Canes, are there a lot of teams looking to emulate the Canes? It looks to me that teams, Oilers included, are trying to build a team that will beat the Florida template.
Florida also has tremendous depth and excellent systems play although they built their roster through trades and free agent signings.
Carolina, though, is built for long term excellence with a clean cap sheet and a full complement of draft picks.
Oilers rosters looking backwards, while not perfect, could go toe to toe with either Canes or Florida. Oilers were very good.
I believe the deployment of players and the delivery of specific roles gave the bad guys a slight edge. The brilliance of Leon – Connor almost made up for it, but not quite.
Give Leon- Connor more support, and they will tip the scales and Oilers will have the edge. It will be enough.
The Oilers bottom 6 pales in comparison to those two teams.
Never mind that the Hurricanes have a brace of young players already making their mark.
The Oilers are wishing and hoping Savoie (22) Howard 22 and Samanski (24) emerge
while Logan Stankhoven (23) Jackson Blake (23) and Seth Jarvis (24) already have.
Jarvis – 32G 66P
Stankhoven – 22G 44P
Blake – 22G 53P
The Canes have zero dead money on their cap, more than $8 million in cap space, and 16 draft picks in the next 2 years including 2 firsts in 2028.
Canes deserved some wins and they got them last year. I see them returning to a second round team. I would be shocked to see them go further.
Prepare to be shocked…they’re the goods and can add an impact player for the post season.
Carolina has a not so great top end falling off as fast as its youth is arriving. They only succeed because they play better than the sum of their parts. Breaking them down, they just are not that good. Even as reining champs, there is no line up to join the Canes.
There have been plenty of changes in personnel with Edmonton’s bottom six for this season. Last season is in the past, lets see what the new season brings. Last year was obviously wonderful for the Canes but again that was last year.
We don’t know what we don’t know but…
Jason Dickinson – 7G 17P
Kasperi Kapanen – 8G 17P
Colton Dach – 5G 13P
Trent Frederic – 4G 7P
Josh Samanski – 2G 4P
Mathieu Joseph – 2G 11P
——————————-
Jordan Staal – 20G 36P
Jackson Blake – 22G 53P
Taylor Hall – 18G 38P
Eric Robinson 12G 18P
Mark Jankowski – 11G 21P
Jordan Martinook – 12G 29P
You will note that the Carolina 3rd line outscored the Oilers potential 3rd line 60G – 20G
while their 4th line outscored the Oilers by 35G – 8G
While its fair to think that Samanski will score more with additional experience and that Frederic can’t be THAT bad, that’s a massive hole to dig out of.
Babcock has been spending his summer looking at the entire league stealing what has proven to be successful throughout. But what stands out most to me is he’s saying we are going to be having fun this year and that is of the utmost importance. Let the games begin.
“Now, I will say this. Having been in that industry and close to players, in hotels, on the road, for basically a large part of my life. If everybody knew everything that went on, I’m not sure folks you’d ever watch another hockey game.”
From The Lowdown with Lowetide – Steve Lansky Sep 11, 2026
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-lowdown-with-lowetide-steve-lansky-sept-11th/id1706739162?i=1000789089112&r=646.74
Anyone who played junior hockey at any level would know that what the Hockey Canada 5 were accused of is mild by comparison to raunchy stuff that has been going on in junior hockey forever.
There are puck bunnies in every town across the country. Anyone who believes otherwise is completely naive:
Ive got no problem with Formenton being on the Oilers if he still has some juice left in his game and can improve the PK.
He will be wearing the number 26 in Edmonton.
As I posted yesterday:
I suspect if one was looking to put together an NHL hockey team with players that had never engaged in sexual activity that many consider immoral, abhorrent or even vile, the pool of available players will have shrunk, largely.
No I am not talking about illegal activity, criminal activity or anything without consent or actual coercion but I suspect, the “have you had group sex” would have a higher rate of positive responses if asked among NHL players than say this community.
To speak of the hockey decision, there is a no risk signing with real upside. The speed is real and speed does not slump and its use on the PK likely doesn’t really slump either. I presume he starts on the 4th (maybe 3rd) line with top 4 PK time and he has clear middle six upside. I know his boxcars in Switzerland were not great, in particular this past season, but I put little stock in to those – his life was chaos during his time over there. He’s only 26 and was trending to top 6 before his life became chaos – lets see where he is in a month, 3 months, etc.
Why do I even read you?
Ha!
I don’t know about “that guy”, but I come here for the wisdom, the humour, and the year round perspectives on the Oilers. It feels like grabbing coffee with a good friend.
At least he didn’t call you an ass hat today.
There’s always tomorrow! 🙂
LT, I’m assuming this statistical analysis has been done already so do you (or someone else) have a number that shows the incremental difference of a RH center taking a faceoff vs a LH center and what that incremental difference actually is?
For example, do RH centers win 2% or 10% more faceoffs when going against a LH centers.
I know I’m over simplifying and the value of a faceoff win depends on game state, position on the ice, and its not just faceoffs etc etc
If RH centers have this mystical quality I’m assuming it would show up somewhere in the numbers.
What I’ve seen suggests that ‘strong side’ faceoffs do work, and that RH centers have less of a platoon disadvantage. It’s also true that winning a faceoff isn’t the life or death struggle it once seemed to be.
https://soundofhockey.com/2023/08/30/digging-into-seattle-kraken-faceoff-data/
Thanks LT.
“Expect to see Kreider sign by early next week, and for now, the top three teams would be the Bruins, Penguins, and Hurricanes.”
https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2026/09/5-teams-linked-to-free-agent-chris.html
Tulsky has more than $8 million in cap space to pull this off…more if they can find a new home for Kotkaniemi.
However, Krieder is a Boston native and the Bruins have sufficient cap space to be a player.
Id rather see him with Islanders who were listed, maybe Penguins. Then Oilers can look at him at the deadline if they are interested. But for the season, Oilers do not need to spend assets on an older player, they need to spend assets on a younger version 23-26years old.
Sounds like he wants to be home again . Boston you say?
The Bruins have a massive hole at 2LW next to Pavel Zach and could certainly use a 6’3″ 235 presence as the build back bigger.
They have the cap space to pull it off.
This didn’t happen of course but where was all the talk about him being 35 and aging curves and what not?
Oh, right, those would only have been brought up if there talk about him signing with the Oilers…..