The first thing you have to do after a game like last night is to check the other team’s roster and look for players with NHL experience. The Oilers were so impressive last night, one would think the Jets sent a bunch of kids.
Among the players who dressed for the road team were Nino Niederreiter (969 NHL games), Vladislav Namestnikov (786), Tanner Pearson (722), Alex Iafallo (584), Phil Di Giuseppe (302), Morgan Barron (256), Logan Stanley (202), David Gustafsson (149), Cole Koepke (99), Haydn Fleury (77). You can criticize the offensive firepower, or hammer the young goalie (Domenic DiVincentiis), but I think the Oilers should get a lot of credit for last night’s result. Full stop.
Edmonton’s veterans (Calvin Pickard’s shutout, a goal from Darnell Nurse, fine work by Andrew Mangiapane and Kasperi Kapanen) helped the game along. Noah Philp isn’t a veteran NHL player, but he’s going to make this team or be claimed on waivers by another NHL club. Man he looks good to me. Not just the goal (DiVincentiis had solid AHL numbers a year ago but struggled last night) but the overall quality of play from Philp has been top drawer this fall. I’ve mentioned Kyle Brodziak’s 2007 preseason before, he broke out from the pack and never looked back. Philp is an older player, but he is delivering a similar performance compared to his pack.
Now for the kids. Quinn Hutson played often on a line with Philp and Mattias Janmark, they had the edge in shots and a slight edge in expected goals (all numbers here are five-on-five). I like Hutson plenty, but this is the point in preseason when we need to remind ourselves about waivers. Hutson won’t make the team for that reason, and because David Tomasek has probably done enough to secure a job. We’ll see, but I’d bet all of your money we see Hutson sent down in the next few days. He’s impressed, though.
Matt Savoie has impressed me but has no crooked numbers in the boxcar columns. I doubt it matters, he is so good at winning the puck and sending it to good places. I am frustrated by his lack of usage at five-on-five, but Kris Knoblauch is learning to trust this young player. He has been on the ice for 37 five-on-five minutes, with zero goals against and an average SA-60 of 21. 25 so far. Small sample, but I think he’s earned more than 12 minutes a night at five-on-five.
Ike Howard is getting 15 minutes a night at five-on-five, and has an assist (plus a power-play goal) so far. SA-60 at five-on-five are 30.8 and I think it may come down to the wire for his chances at the opening night lineup. I have Howard making the team, playing sparingly, getting sent to Bakersfield and then returning. My reasonable expecations for this player are nine goals in 50 games.
Roby Jarventie has a pair of five-on-five assists, but he is playing less than the other prospectts. Last night’s five-on-five TOI (nine minutes) was lowest on the team. I like him, and he is waiver eligible. I’m not sure Knoblauch fading his minutes will protect him from other teams, but there’s zero doubt in my mind he’s not making the Oilers. The ice time tells you that much.
Viljami Marjala has played quite a bit (37 five-on-five minutes) and has an assist plus a 4-1 goal advantage while he’s on the ice. Much of that came early, mind, but he’s shown well. Bowman’s Europeans are doing as well against NHL oppo as the Euro golfers are doing against the Americans currently at the Ryder Cup. Marjala will be sent back, but he’s good.
Josh Samanski has played 34 minutes and been a revelation. He played in the German league last season, so the buzz was muted compared to KHL, SweHL and Liiga Atlantic crossings. He’s a big, strong center with skill, and early days of camp has impressed. I’m going to stop short of calling him Bowman’s best Euro signing, but he’s 23 and that’s a thing.
That was a great game last night for young Oilers, Stan Bowman and the waiver wire.
New for The Athletci: Can Edmonton Oilers prospect Noah Philp make the final step to the NHL?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6668337/2025/09/27/oilers-prospect-noah-philp-nhl-roster/
Per Oiler twitter account:
Marjala and Jonsson the non waiver guys reassigned.
Only a few more obvious cuts left.
The slash by Akey on Kakko ended up breaking his hand – he’s out 6 weeks.
I don’t think it was malicious by Akey, just a hockey play and got him in between the padding.
So the Seattle game we threw it away because 10 fingers and toes were all that mattered with the big guns but because the Oil won against some NHLers we can take plus arrows from it?
Happy they won but I take the same amount from it as the Seattle game, not much.
Brodziak emerged age 22-23. I know LT gave the caveat but Samanski popping off into a 4th line role would be more apt imo. Brodziak had 3 years in the minors with small callups in between before emerging. His AHL numbers outperform almost everyone on the roster not seeking a top 6 job.
There is no Brodziak on the roster at this time.
My cornflakes are fine thank you very much.
Samanski won’t make the Oilers opening night roster, and he probably won’t play this year. Philp, despite the difference in age, is the comparable.
Per Tony B:
Get a healthy Walman on PP2 and it is cooking with gas. At least from a fun/watchability perspective haha.
Is Tomasek playing with Connor & Leon on the top line or is Freddy still getting the nod?
Freddy, as per Bob’s posted lines today. Tomasek at 3C with Henrique and Savoie.
Thanks. It would be nice to have Tomasek play 3c, they might have two RHC’s Tomasek & Philp in the bottom six.
EDM lines — Saturday’s skate:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Frederic
Howard – RNH – Mangiapane
Henrique – Tomasek – Savoie
Janmark – Lazar – Kapanen
Samanski – Philp – Hutson
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Dineen – Regula
Leppanen
Skinner
Pickard
Tomkins
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Samanski has outplayed Howard but that swap isn’t happening.
Savoie has outplayed Mangiapane (for me) but Mangiapane is a vet in pre-season he gets rope.
Philp has outplayed Lazar, by miles and, while Lazar is “a vet” he’s not a locked in roster vet – he’s competing for a job.
It would appear they want to look at Tomasek at center instead of Frederic.
Knoblauch said they want to try out players without McDavid and Draisaitl. Frederic seems like a Hyman place holder. He’s making the team and is not going anywhere. The can place him after they sort out some of these other players.
I would not say Samanski has outplayed Howard, although Howard has gotten the bigger push.
Brown and Jarventie on waivers today.
Brown is a no-brainer clear (would love if he got claimed) and Jarventie a 99% clear.
Anyone else have time for a 4th line of Howard-Philp-Savoie to crush the gritensity?
That in itself is a great question. Can they crush gritensity? I don’t mean those 3 individuals per se, but if a skill line could do such a thing, games would be won via fourth line. Need enough talent to go around is usually the problem, and you run low on skill and cap by the time you get to the fourth line.
Or would the NHL gritensity crush the rookies?
One young guy with two vets is a better model, so Howard and Savoie should play apart, until they get established.
I don’t get the appeal of kid lines. In fact I think each one of those players should be with vets on separate lines.
Been waiting and waiting and waiting on the second coming of Brodz, Glencross and The Huggy Bear. _Those_ kids were worth a goal a game.
Can’t see Howard or Savoie playing on the 4th line.
Does Samanaski replace O’Reilly as our future 3rd line Centre in a few years. He’s got the Jason Arnott look to him. I was reading Sportsnet and they said he was 6’ 2” which is obviously a error as he’s listed at 6’5” and he’s all of that looking at him. I can’t wait to see him cruising around with Leon at the Olympics and wouldn’t be surprised if Germany knocks off some higher ranked teams in Milan.
I’d mentioned this after his signing. He is NOT close to 6’5”
Samanski is a bit over 6’2”
pay attention when he stands next to Nurse. You should be able to see this clearly after goal celebrations.
Also, Clattenburg is NOT 6’4”, he’s list at 6’2”, but about a half-inch shorter than that.
Of note, Berezkin IS 6’4”
Philp, Samanski, Marjala, things are looking up!
Im too busy to check but back in July I posted if management had any balls we would have 5 new faces…Tomasek Savoie Howard Philp and of course Mangi….I continue hoping management has the courage….if they go this route….younger, faster, bigger than last year
the lower cap hit room allows for a big move in net….we win everywhere
Howard will be on the Season Opening Roster, only because his $250 K performance bonus does not apply against the Cap when he is on the SOR.
We saw this with the 2 players who shall not be named to start the 2023-24 season.
But he has not earned a spot and will likely be sent to Bakersfield. I can see a world where Samanski sticks, but probably this is unlikely.
Marjala has performance bonuses, so I can see him and Howard on the SOR, with vets being sent down and then these players exchanging places a few days later.
This is not necessarily true as the performance bonus hitting this year’s cap is only a think when a team is over the cap using LTIR and its not about being on the season opening roster but being on the roster when the team goes in to LTIR and sets their pools (in this case, the LTIR bonus reserve pool).
Its unknown if the team will be placing Hyman on LTIR to start. They might and, if that’s the case, MAY think about Hutson’s performance bonus but if keeping him on the roster to set that bonus pool means they have to waive someone they don’t want to, I don’t think they bother with this. Hutson MAY play some games this year but is not a lock to do so and this only matters when operating in LTIR which they are hoping not to do for most of the season, I’m sure.
Hutson does not have a performance bonus.
He only has signing bonuses this year & next.
I am quite interested in the prospect pool and older fellas trying to break in. It’s been a while that I have been. Bowman has an eye for good players. He also likes player types more like what I like, which is why I’m being drawn back. All of these newer guys have a realistic shot, even if most won’t get there, at least on the Oilers. To me that was not always the case for most, for a long time, which is why I Iost interest
The young players have the best support of any Oilers’ prospects ever. Each one is dealt with personally at any level once in the org. They have a personal development plan. This is tremendous. Kudos to Jackson and Bowman for bringing us to leading edge modern pro sports, from seen him good and dusty old books
I was happy to see Tomasek and Samanski have good games. Philp was ready last year, I hope they handle this correctly. Regula is my type of D, a big guy who isn’t a pylon, goes to the front of the net when he’s weak side, instead of noodling around and out of position if something goes wrong, and makes a fine pass
You need that type of D to support the Bouchs and Walmans when they go on escapades. If he can grow some offense and stay healthy, kind of like an Ekholm light for the right side
Wow! Oilers rated as having one of the worst prospect pools.
Now suddenly:
they have a top first rounder emerging
they have Hobey Baker winner
they have a forth line home grown center emerging
they have gathered top talent from leagues far and wide
They picked up injured players who looked down and out; but just may recover their upside
they have some talent hiding in Russia
they worked the waiver wire last year
Draft not too bad either working the depths of the draft
When Bowman and his team “dig in” thats pretty impressive given what they had to work with. Great job.
It sure is. I have been banging that drum for a long time. A good GM can find players regardless of circumstances. You keep working and build, all of the time. Being able to manage the cap is a key, and Bowman can, so he can move when he wants to. Before it was an excuse and they were paralyzed by it
I think it was Bob talking to Lawton, that Stan has been working when many take holidays etc, and it’s showing. It is what he should do, early in his tenure with a lot of restructuring to do, but that’s not always the case apparently
Bowman has a team in place that develops where as holland always went for the sure developed player. If you were not extra good over your peers and drafted by Holland your basically fuked. where as Bowman had a assembly line of players from all ranges of the draft play for his Stanley Cup winning teams during his Chicago reign. Does Bowman draft better than Holland or does he develop better? I think it’s both and I’m enjoying Bowman style so far except for the goalie thing. For all I know he has a plan in place already to improve the most important position.
Chia had his college and pro U.S. league connects but this is on another level. Certainly refreshing after Ken ‘Mortgage The Present’ Holland.
Important consideration:
Barely any of the players you listed qualify as “prospects” according to the msm.
Great finds all, but age is absolutely a factor.
The Oilers preseason has been pretty good except for when McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard were on the ice together.
On balance, I see that as the glass is half full.
It is hard for them in that when they want to take a light skate, a light pre-season game, their opponents will always give them full effort in return. Every player wants to match themselves against the top players to see how they measure up. Even if it is beer league and an NHLer is having a skate, the others want to measure up and play them as hard as they can.
I hate the same old mental mistakes. One can play at half speed, but one does not have to shut off one’s brain too. Go through the motions, but go through the motions playing fundamentally sound.
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Coach said straight up points don’t matter for Savoie – its more important that he make hard plays on the board and smart plays with little time.
Once he does that for a few months, he may see some ice with legit NHL top 6 players.
Of course, Savoie’s play, along with the others that get used in the top 6 before him showing that they are really top 6 players, will get him that push before we know it….
I agree, lots of credit to the Oilers “bubble players” last night.
Philp, Regula, Samanski and Tomasek all had plus performances to different degrees.
It doesn’t mean everything, but it means something.
The next step is to continue to overtly impact in the last couple of games where the pace should be faster.
None of it will mean anyone is ready for the NHL, that can only be shown starting October 8 but impacting the game at the end of the exhibition seasons can earn that opportunity to show it on October.
I think we all believe Philp will be here but, for me, Regula is starting to show that he might be a real waivers risk despite not playing hockey at ll last season.
If he can show the puck poise Sunday through Friday, well, the brass will have a real decision.
Prospectocosm!
Second verse, same as the first as Lew and Laf (a forgotten vaudeville duo from Yorkshire) return to action Jackson.
Lewandowski is fresh off a first-star, 1+1 performance yesternight, while Lafreniere helped his Blazers to victory as well.
Saskatoon (Lewandowski) @ 7 p.m.
Kamloops (Lafreniere) @ 7 p.m.
Both times are the same time and are also Two Hills time.
A tradition unlike any other. Much appreciated as always!