The 2025 entry draft was never going to be a big moment for the Edmonton Oilers franchise. No picks in the top 75, and not much cap room mean waiting your turn. It’s possible the picks currently in the Oilers possession are dealt as a sweetener in an effort to offload Viktor Arvidsson. Stan Bowman’s options are not strong, because the organization has been scorching the futures forever. It’s been a decade of selling precious picks and prospects for aging veterans.
The team has finally reached the point where the aging veterans who should be dealt are here due to no-movement clauses. Buyouts are possible but unlikely, offer sheets are possible (Evan Bouchard) and the roster already has significant injury worries (Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm, possibly Trent Frederic) for camp in the fall.
Bowman is in a spot of bother, but there are facts in his favour. The Oilers have eschewed youth for six years now (Holland’s five plus last year’s coda) and the reckoning is here. I am hopeful the organization embraces it.
Vasily Podkolzin is 24, delivered 1.43 points-60 at five-on-five, with a 49 percent goal share (59 percent expected). He scored 2.17 points-60 alongside Leon Draisaitl, that’s a solid number.
Matt Savoie went 19-35-54 with the Bakersfield Condors and appears primed for a plug-and-play role on an NHL team. If the Oilers don’t believe in him, the team should cash him for a player they do believe in. Perhaps Isaac Howard is more to their liking. Noah Philp can help the NHL team, pretty sure.
The best fowards on the Condors a year ago were mostly NHL-AHL shuttle types like James Hamblin and Drake Caggiula. I think Bowman is building the AHL roster with more NHL upside for this winter. Adding players like David Tomasek and Atro Leppanen (who could both play in the NHL next season) recognizes a need for more substantial depth. Men like Josh Samanski, Quinn Hutson, Viljami Marjala, Damien Carfagna, Alex Regula means a significant Condors team is likely. Beau Akey will turn pro, hell maybe Sam O’Reilly shows well, I really like the fact the team brought back Roby Jarventie.
I was mostly supportive of Ken Holland during his time as general manager, but his overcooking of prospects was a bad idea overall. Along with the no-movements it led to the offer sheets. The Condors became something close to those old Hollywood westerns that had main street dotted with ‘fronts’ of buildings (everything but the saloon had no frame beyond the front) and it looks like this Condors team will compete. It also looks like the NHL team will be open to recalls, and eschew playing the same bunch due to cap and other issues. Bakersfield won 32 games last season, the lowest full-seasoon total since 2017-18. The team should hit 40 next spring if the goaltending holds and the NHL team avoids massive injuries.
They got their goaltender Daniel Salonen from the Finland goaltending factory at 191.
He won the Top goaltender & Top player awards in the Top Finnish Junior League.
Lafreniere item here
https://lowetide.ca/2025/06/28/oilers-at-83-tommy-lafreniere/
Looks like they targeted a RC at 83. Not a bad idea!
Oilers select Tommy Lafreniere, Kamloops winger at #83.
He was not on your list yesterday of #25-60 prospects leftover from McKenzie’s list.
Interesting tidbit about him – Hockeydb has his birthplace as Hornby Island, BC while on the telecast they had his birthplace in Quebec.
I will be cheering for him. But I was hoping for Bryce Pickford who went 81st.
Right shot right winger
5’11” 170 lbs
https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/576977/tommy-lafreniere
WOOHOO!!!!
Reading some very positive scouting reports on him emphasizing speed, hands and very tenacious.
Was hoping for Cameron Schmidt here but team seems to be shopping in the right aisle with this pick.
FWIW he was high on my list 🙂 Work ethic, skill, skating and playing on a bad team makes his numbers look unimpressive.
WHO’S NEXT???
I know nothing about him, but he’s undersized and played on a horrible team this year as a rookie. His numbers seem quite good though.
His teammate (and possible linemate) Nathan Behm went earlier in the same round to Chicago.
A quick run through various online scouting reports, it seems like the common threads are:
He will be an interesting player to follow next year as the current top players (Finnie, Shtrom and Keller) leaving Behn and Lafreniere to lead the forward group.
Lots of the scouting reports are calling him a C, but the Blazers’ site has him as RW. I have no idea where he actually played or what position he will play next year either.
is there an NHL draft this year …. never knew …
waiting for Fall …
See what Bowman can cook up to try and make the team better ….
Ihs Wozniak at 55 is incredible value and him going as the ninth swedish draftee is nuts to me, I get that scouts tend to overthink stiff/clumsy mechanics and he certainly has that, he also clearly hit a plateau mid-late season last year and going into the first half of this season but the last few months arrows are pointing up and the kid can flat out play. And a lot of his flaws will improve naturally as he grows into his body. I tjink there’s a pretty good chance he ends up the best swede out of this draft when all is said and done. That’s the kind of upside he has.
Freaking Vegas.
Three Russian goaltenders already picked in this year’s draft. I guess Russian goaltenders are a thing.
They’ve always been a thing, but many never come over to North America, so if a high pick is used, it’s more often by teams with loads of picks, who can better tolerate that risk.
Not really. Bad goaltending really cost the Russian internationally from the mid-eighties till about 15 years ago.
HH favourite Jordan Spence, a valuable Kings asset and a sign of LA’s gluttony of RHD depth and excellence in draft and developing players, was traded to Ottawa for a 3rd and 6th round pick.
I’d have stepped up and beaten that deal.
$1.5M for an RHD who can put up points and is 24? Done.
They’d better raid Kenny’s fire sale or send him some overpaid geezers to take advantage of this situation.
I thought he looked good against us when the coach actually played him. New G.M cleaning house I would definitely have payed that price.
This is a variation of the usual Holland trade which is to give up good picks for a over the hill veteran player. Instead he trades a good young player for crap picks.
It’s also on par for the Kings org in general lately. Rob Blake traded 24 year old Durzi for a 2nd round pick.
Kings seem to be the place to go to if you want young, developed RHD for cheap.
John Gibson to Detroit for Petr Mrazek and two picks.
Not sure Gibson the goalie made sense for the Oilers and, truth be told, made no sense without retention – if this deal doesn’t have retention, its not available to the Oilers.
Ducks did swimmingly.
Wings sure have a lot of goalies.
Looks like a plethora of mid to meh
Perhaps this sets up a trade deadline option for Detroit to recoup some of the cost if they’re way out of it at the deadline. If he’s still playing well.
Nice to see some wins for the the younger players in the new CBA – the NHLPA negotiating committee is vets and the youngsters often don’t get much say.
Stuff like getting rid of paper loans where a player is assigned for a day and doesn’t actually report. Prohibiting sending waiver exempt players to the AHL for the bye week if they’d played in 15 of the team’s last 20 games (reduces their comp for that week and they deserve the earned week off).
I also love the standardized draft rights period.
Teams not hold rights for 4 years post draft (not 2 years for junior, through senior year for college, 4-5 years of Europe, etc.).
Just 3 years for 19’s.
I see Holland has brought his brand of asset management to the Kings….
I’m looking forward to the Kings becoming moar old.
It’s a very good thing he stayed in the division, takes out a rival. Now if Dubas can get on somewhere in the conference…
to extend our window to contend.
Oilers really need Savoie to basically hit the ground running and fit in the top 6.
Plus need to look in the Podkolzin bin and find another diamond in the rough.
Then there is the goaltending….
I would imagine the Oilers would use cap space to build up until the trade deadline and look to add a top 6 forward
Savoie is ready (in my opinion – just got to see it in the NHL). I can see him making an impact on Drai’s wing (the perfect long term spot for him) or as 3RW – he has a skill set that can succeed in either role.
On that last point, I think that would be the plan but they may have one or both of Hyman or Ekholm starting the season on LTIR. With that said, unless Ekholm is out for the year (I could see late off-season groin surgery being a 6 month thing – total speculation), they likely won’t spend the LTIR reserves and will continue to try and stay under the cap and accrue.
I’m all for Kevin Bahl at 6 X $5.35MM.
i see what you did there
We should go Bahls out to sign him.
Grab Wahlstrom, too.
Bahls to the Wahls.
I believe O’reilly gets Hymans spot if he’s not ready to start the season. Maybe Janmark or the like gets waived otherwise.
Barring a terrible camp I think he starts his 9 games or less with the Oilers. A close look and a nice pay check and then back to London.
Unless the Oilers are using LTIR, they will very likely be a cap team and unlikely to keep a player slated for the OHL for a few games to start the season – can’t see them waiving any sort of vet to keep a 19 year old around.
Unless they have LTIR, they won’t have cap space to have a 23 (or maybe even 22) player roster.
With the London graduations to pro hockey, SOR will be THE man in London and I look forward to him being a massive 2-way force in the OHL.
When’s Hyman due to return if rehab goes well?
Not sure, I thought he would be ready for the start but wouldn’t surprise me if they take their time.
The contracts to Skinner Arvidsson and Rico led to the offer sheets.
what a different offseason this would be if we kept Holloway and Broberg
True, but losing Broberg was also due to the Oilers slow playing and blocking him so much that he soured on the organization.
And this happened partly because the Oiler D corps had basically zero injuries in 2023-24, which is almost unheard of.
We wanted to see who we had in late-blooming expiring-contract 6’7″ Vincent Desharnais.
I looked into it once – the average 7D plays something like 39 games. Broberg and the team probably expected him to play those games.
Sometimes your good luck turns into your bad luck.
And the contracts to Skinner Arvidsson and Rico were almost universally loved at the time.
People wanted to make JJ the permanent GM.
Skinner was one year removed from being 2nd in the league in ESP/60.
Arvy had historically been an absolute gamer.
Rico took less to stay with us.
Hindsight is 20/20. I still think – at the time – they were good bets.
What are the odds the Oilers actually use all four of their picks on selecting prospects?
I assume we still have a small – but underused- amateur scouting department.
Not saying I want 11 picks like the 2010 draft, but management’s gotta throw the scouts a bone once in a while and let them pick somebody they’ve been scouting.
Like last year? Sam O’Reilly was exactly that.
Presuming Jarventie is healthy and can hockey train this summer, if he doesn’t get hurt again, he should be on the Oilers prior to the turn of the calendar. In my two viewings (that’s all we had), the ONLY thing holding him back is injury – that’s an NHL player.
From what I’ve heard/read, Regula is also an “NHL player” in the waiting/making – again, just play a couple of months of games in the AHL and he might be there. Potential waiver risk.
Sam O. is NHL or OHL this coming season, so, OHL.
Regula is a likely waiver claim I would suspect. He might need to stay with the team as a number 7 who rotates in.
Then again, if he’s not good enough for that role then losing him on waivers isn’t a big deal.
He would be ideal as a #7 since he can play either side. However, he would have to beat out one of Emberson or Stecher. He might not get claimed off waivers; he really hasn’t played much hockey in the last couple years.
If he’s healthy and get his chops back soon enough I would be surprised if he doesn’t beat one of them out. I also don’t see Boston not claiming him back
He might be (and my post cites potential waivers risk) – at the same time, he might slide through with the mass of waiver placements in early October.
I thought Jarventie went back to Europe?
My 2 Cents, for those interested.
I am looking at who might be targets/available at 83 and even possibly at 117, so channelling my inner Kreskin the 2 that I’ve circled are:
Anthony Allain-Samaké a 6’ 180 lb LHD who is one of the youngest players in the Draft. Very good skater, puck mover and has been on a promising trajectory, despite unimpressive numbers.
Headed to UConn, I think he has loads of upside.
William Belle a 6’4” 220 RS power forward. Not much offense, but a very consistent effort player. High motor, defensively conscious and was on the USNDT. There is no mystery, you know exactly what you are getting with this player and every team want this player type, his size is an added bonus.
Headed to Notre Dame.
Are either of these lads on McKenzie’s compiled ranking?
He only ranks the top 32, but both appear on his “notables” list.
A A-S picked @ 168 by Anaheim
Belle pick @ 137 by TML
I hope they don’t move him (and doubt they do) – 2 years left on his ELC is likely to be good, then great, value.
There is every reasonable chance he can shift right on to Drai’s RW next season and produce 50 points and play a role on the PK. There is also every chance, if he’s not there yet, he can be a great 3RW to Nuge or Henrique – solid 2-way brain and skills, PK ability, energy, battle, etc.
I do think he will mesh with Drai – its partially up to coach.
Keep this player – value contract in hand.
1) Kane has already been dealt (I like the idea), Arvidsson looks to be next and I would be fine with Henrique and Janmark being dealt as well.
Truth be told, would be OK with Ekholm being dealt if there was a reasonable return – not sure what to expect from him next season given health and age, etc.
2) Can’t imagine any player under contract to this team being bought out – why would they buy out any current player?
3) So many mechanics make an offer sheet to Bouchard highly unlikely including:
(a) his elite arbitration case (not that I think they go to arb) which has been made even better by the Dobson signing – shit, Dobson at $9.5MM probably compares to $13MM for Bouchard in arb
(b) the 5-year max term for calculating offer sheet comp tiers which, effectively limits an offer sheet to 5 years if a team wants to stay below 4 first round picks
(c) accounts are Bouchard and the Oilers are in the same range.
3) I’m surprised that we haven’t head about surgery for Ekholm – maybe its not necessary, however, maybe Ek is enjoying a few weeks/a month of off-season before getting right in to it?
I know the NMC is there but I believe (and have heard/read) the player is amenable to moving on and no chance would I sweeten to move him. I believe (and have heard/read) there is a market to move him and the Oilers should be able to get a pick back – not pay a pick.
If they have to pay, eff that, keep the player – its common for UFAs to need a year to get to their peak game on a new team.
I believe he can provide $4MM of value next season – moving on is fine so they can go another direction with that money – paying to do so is not fine, in my opinion.
Yes sounds like they are going to wait until later in FA when the bigger names are off the board to see where things stand.
Round 2 begins at 10:00 a.m. Gainford time.
If the Oilers make their four scheduled picks, I suspect two will be spent on D.
Will be mildly surprised if #83 is used on a goalie.
I’d be shocked if they spent any of their sparse draft capital on a goaltender this year and next. All of Day, Jonsson and Vinni need some runway, that’s a lot of youngsters.
Pretty cool to see, add in Brochu (still unsigned, high possibility of moving on) & Ungar and I haven’t seen this much promising talent in that position ever for this organization. If someone would like to challenge this assertion, please do.
May be mistaken but I recall reading Brochu signed a pro contract in Germany next season.
You are correct, he has signed with ERC Ingolstadt In the DEL. I did not know this, but makes sense.
I wonder how the prospects will shake out with 3 very young goaltenders in the minors.
Rodrigue might be moving on, and an NHL vet may be brought in as the #3.
I think this kid is a gamer and would not be surprised if he shows up in the NHL in the next 5 or 6 years.