How the Edmonton Oilers should approach increasing their NHL talent pool

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A veteran team trying to win the Stanley Cup isn’t going to trust many newcomers to the league, but does need bona fide reinforcements from the farm. The AHL Bakersfield Condors have supplied players as needed since the fall of 2015 and will be counted on again next season. Last season, rookies saw significant action. Matt Savoie played 82 games, Ike Howard and Alec Regula played 29 games, and Josh Samanski arrived in time to play 20 games. It was a departure from recent seasons, especially under coach Kris Knoblauch. In 2024-25, Knoblauch employed rookie skaters for just six total games. Last summer, general manager Stan Bowman made some room for Savoie, Howard and others. The organization would be wise to continue that trend and to audition the best talents for 10-plus games during the regular season. Jay Woodcroft was brought in to coach the Oilers from Bakersfield in February 2022. The expectation was an annual deep playoff run. Head coach Dave Tippett paid the price for an indifferent performance from his team. Woodcroft, as coach of the Condors, was familiar with players like Ryan McLeod, Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway, Vincent Desharnais and Stuart Skinner. He played these men and other AHL grads he had coached right away, with impressive results. By doing so, Woodcroft increased the talent pool immediately. The result was less reliance on expensive free agents and a short burst of cap freedom (which ended when Ken Holland signed Jack Campbell that summer). Most of the graduating Condors had a flaw or two, but Woodcroft knew their strengths and weaknesses and worked around the issues. Taken as a whole, despite the increased 2025-26 rookie deployment, Knoblauch has faded rookies from Bakersfield, and the talent pool has shrunk for the parent team: The Woodcroft Oilers had young legs and a range of talents entering the league. The numbers above don’t list all the players Woodcroft brought to the NHL, only skaters who qualified as rookies. Goaltenders like Skinner and defencemen like Desharnais (who was too old to qualify as a rookie) were also beneficiaries of Woodcroft’s belief that talent was abundant in the organization if you gave opportunities. Recalls from the minor leagues are less expensive than free agents signed on July 1. The Oilers, a team facing cap issues annually, may want to return to the practice beginning this fall. If the Oilers are going to use the pool of talent in Bakersfield to their advantage over the next several years, NHL ice time will be important for the players who start the 2026-27 season in the AHL. Some of those names should be recalled to the Oilers when they’ve earned it, given an audition of several games before returning to the minors with a list of things to work on. For instance, Howard worked hard on his game and earned a recall of at least 10 games during the second half of the season. Damien Carfagna, a rookie defenceman from college, was the team’s best defender all year. A recall would have benefited the player and team for next season. In recent years, the Edmonton roster has been populated by veterans with no-movement clauses and others vulnerable to waivers. Bowman made room for Savoie, and for Howard, too, although it didn’t work out that way. The organization needs to build in more time for qualified AHL players who are pushing. It requires a few roster spots devoted to youth, and players who can be recalled or demoted when the need arises. Spending below the cap will also help in this area, as will using all of the 23-man roster. Speed is important when evaluating Oilers rookies from 2025-26. Some of the names below posted the quoted max speed number in a small sample, so it may not be completely representative. A larger sample of games might produce a more impressive maximum speed. The top three names on this list have enough speed to play at the NHL level: All of Howard, Savoie and Colton Dach could be categorized as NHL regulars moving forward based on speed. Samanski is an interesting player who could emerge as the No. 4 centre in the fall. Samanski is not a plus scorer, and his foot speed is not above average. He may be a tweener (defined as a player who is overqualified for the minors but can’t score enough in the NHL to keep a regular job); he has earned the opportunity to show what he can do as an NHL regular next season. It’s important that management doesn’t block the player with a series of late 20s free-agent signings. The rest of this group can be placed in the “too soon to know” category. Quinn Hutson has a nice range of skills, but will need to improve his speed (or show better in a larger sample) if he is going to have a career of note in the NHL. Connor Clattenburg has surprisingly good hands and an awareness of what makes him useful. Roby Jarventie was the most impressive forward in Bakersfield late in the season, but he has since signed with a Swiss team, so he won’t be a recall option in 2026-27. Several players who have yet to appear in the NHL, like defencemen Carfagna and Beau Akey, are regarded as plus skaters whose mobility should be considered an asset as they move through the system. William Nicholl, who turns 20 this month and is likely headed to the Condors this fall, showed plus speed in eight late regular-season and three playoff games before Bakersfield’s season ended. The club failed to sign Notre Dame rearguard Paul Fischer this spring, so he will return to Notre Dame for his senior year. Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, Fischer was part of the trade return in the offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway. He has progressed over the last several years and is regarded as a legit NHL prospect. The Athletic’s prospect writer Corey Pronman considers him an NHL-quality skater, and Fischer was ranked inside the top 10 of Edmonton’s prospects last winger. The Oilers can sign him next spring, but Fischer could also become a full free agent and sign with any NHL team. A somewhat recent example is John Marino, who was drafted by Edmonton, played out his college career, and eventually surrendered in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. With so few draft picks each summer, Bowman can’t afford to let anyone slip through the cracks. The Fischer signing miss should be regarded as an organizational failure. College free-agent centre Owen Michaels appears to have a fairly complete resume, and can play a two-way style. Online reports suggest speed is in the average range, so he will be a player to monitor in the fall. The club also signed defenceman Tomas Cibulka, who appears to be a burner based on early reports. Bowman did a good job in procurement last spring, but the downbeat on the crop was foot speed. No one should question Samanski’s signing; it was an astute move by a team that needed exactly what he brings (defensive acumen). However, the boots are always a concern, and the league gets faster every year. The Oilers need to add speed. Proof comes in the max speed numbers from last year’s Oilers rookies. These young men can improve, and the speed demons usually get drafted, but the club needs to find more men like Carfagna, Dach and (this spring) Cibulka. They also need to sign Fischer. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms