2026 Edmonton Oilers draftee prospect profile: Ryan Cameron

Cameron already has the fundamentals in place. He’s above six feet tall and built bigger, like most modern goalies are. The Berwyn, PA-born prospect has played up and down the Eastern Seaboard before heading down to the NAHL for a season prior to joining Cedar Rapids.

This was a natural pick for the Oilers, who are quite thin in net. Last year’s draftee Daniel Salonen had an 0.887 save percent in the Finnish Liiga in 30 games, while 2024 draftee Eemil Vinni has played 30 games over the past two years, and put up a 0.884 in the Finnish Mestis this year. The team could desperately use another swing in net, and Cameron was a smart choice.

Cameron’s on-ice production

Here are Cameron’s numbers from the past two seasons:

What a year 2024–25 was for Cameron. The goalie had 12 shutouts for Lone Star in the NAHL, finishing as the league’s Goalie of the Year and Rookie of the Year. He set the second-best all-time save percentage that season in the NAHL, and also won USA Hockey’s Dave Peterson Goaltender of the Year Award. Despite all of this, he did not hear his name called last year in the draft.

This year, his numbers took a dive as he moved to Cedar Rapids in the USHL, but this makes a good deal of sense in context. The USHL is the top development league in the US outside of the NCAA, and has always been known as a scoring league. On top of that, Cedar Rapids had just three draft picks besides Cameron, the highest pick being a fourth round selection. There was just one player above a point-per-game this past year. Not signs of a goalie being carried by strong skaters.

Cameron has been traded to the Sioux Falls Stampede this season, the team that won the league last season. He should see his numbers go up before making the jump to Boston College the following year.

Cameron’s strengths

Size and growth

Not only does Cameron already have the size to be an NHL netminder, he continues to grow. According to Rick Pracey, Oilers Director of Amateur Scouting, “He’s a kid who grew two inches in the last two years, so we think there’s a little bit of growth there in terms of size, potential, and we like him from an ability standpoint.”

There’s a lot to like in his game already.

With goalies, the biggest thing is getting lots of minutes, and Cameron stole the crease in Cedar Rapids last season. Despite not putting up exceptional numbers, the netminder played the eighth most games and faced the 13th most shots in the league. Being a rookie goalie isn’t easy, but for him to come into a new team and get into the crease 40 times is a great sign for him and his development.

Calmness in the crease

In those 40 games last season, Cameron allowed 115 goals against, which is not a small number. And for an 18-year-old netminder, it’s easy to expect this to shake his confidence, but his calm and collective presence in the crease was a major positive this season.

His coach, Dan Wildfong, compared his consistency to that of a professional netminder, no small praise for Cameron. While he does have a long way to go in his development, this collective presence will bode well for his future.

Cameron’s areas of improvement

Production

At the end of the day, his numbers were quite poor last season. Allowing three goals against per game almost is simply not good enough for a guy hoping for an NHL job. Cameron needs to take a major step forward next year if he wants to be in the running for a job with the Oilers in the future.

Reading the play faster

The biggest reason that Cameron struggled last year was that he wasn’t able to anticipate the play quickly enough, and thus wasn’t able to get into position to make the save. This is something many young goalies struggle with, and comes with getting into the game faster and continuing to grow his game.

He did take big strides forward as the season went on, but he will need to work on this aspect of the game over the next year before going to the NCAA.

Cameron’s next steps

Next year is a pivotal year for Cameron. If he takes steps forward in his reading of the game and production, he could find himself running up the depth chart. The team desperately needs a goalie to rally around, and Cameron could very well find his way in the conversation.

However, if next year looks more similar to this past year, he will find himself languishing in the “what could have been” category. Finding a goalie to build around has been a challenge for the Oilers since time immemorial, but he could find his way into the conversation if he takes a step forward. That, however, is a very big if.

Projection with the Oilers

The odds of Cameron being the next Dustin Wolf are low. There are positives in his game, but the road is long for him to get to the NHL. Not only does he need to see a massive rebound in his numbers this season, that needs to continue for at least three more seasons as he goes to the NCAA, and then ideally to the AHL. If he gets there, the conversation is going to be very interesting, but it seems unlikely.

NHL ETA: 6+ years

NHL potential: Unlikely. Likely NCAA goalie, probable AHL goalie