The Edmonton Oilers have a reinforcement coming from the minors.
The team announced on Sunday evening that forward James Hamblin has been called up from the Bakersfield Condors on an emergency basis.
Here’s how emergency recalls work in the NHL…
- Teams can use an emergency recall if, at any point during the regular season, they: A) fall below either 18 healthy, game-available skaters or two healthy, game-available goaltenders on their active roster and B) have less than the league minimum salary plus $100,000 in available cap space.
- In order to be eligible to use an emergency recall, a team must have what the league considers to be a “roster emergency.” That means the team has to play one game with fewer than 18 skaters or two goaltenders first before using an emergency recall.
- This player doesn’t count against the salary cap while they’re on the roster. That said, the player must have a salary cap hit of no more than the league minimum plus $100k, so, in this season’s case, $875k.
- Once another player from the active roster is ready to return to the lineup, the player who was recalled on an emergency basis must be sent back down.
The Oilers have an active roster with 13 forwards, six defencemen, and two goaltenders and only $437,054 in open salary cap room, according to Cap Friendly. Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown were both scratched from Saturday’s game because of injuries, leaving the Oilers with just 17 skaters in what wound up being a 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. That made them eligible to call up Hamblin on an emergency basis.
Hamblin, a native of Edmonton, signed a minor-league contract with the Oilers after finishing his WHL career with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2020. He put together two strong seasons with Bakersfield and earned a two-year, entry-level contract with the NHL club in March of 2022.
So far this season, Hamblin has three goals and five points over six games with a plus-four rating. He’s a fast skater who plays well defensively and will give the Oilers another penalty-killing option, which is helpful with Brown and Janmark on the shelf.
For more on James Hamblin, take a look at Bruce Curlock’s prospect countdown article.
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