Edmonton Oilers and their recent signing strategies

With a flurry of signings happening by the Edmonton Oilers front office these past couple of weeks, it’s been a busy time for the organization’s front office both on and off the ice. We can take a look at their signees and examine just what Stan Bowman and company are looking at.

In the past month or so the Oilers have signed seven total players, with five of them coming from outside of the organizations prospect list.

Who the Oilers have signed so far

*Denotes NHL rights were held by the Oilers entering the 2024–25 season.

• Quinn Hutson, RW, Boston University, NCAA (23)
• David Tomasek, C/RW, Färjestad BK, SHL (29)
• Josh Samanski, C/LW, Straubing Tigers, DEL (23)
• Arto Leppanen, LD, Sport, Liiga (26)
• Damien Carfagna, LD, Ohio State, NCAA (22)
• Nathaniel Day, G, Flint Firebirds, OHL (20)*
• Samuel Jonsson, G, BIK Karlskoga, Allsvenskan (21)*

• Maxim Beryozkin, RW, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, KHL (23)* (Rumoured)

The Edmonton Oilers have looked to unconventional leagues, players, and age groups to bolster their thinner prospect pipeline.

This has been a trend in past seasons as well. The Oilers have been one of the more active teams in the Canadian Usports scene as exemplified by the signings of Noah Philp and Connor Ungar.

They have also been drafting older prospects as three of their seven picks in the 2024 draft alone were overage prospects. Overall this tendency to draft older is best demonstrated by the selections of Wakely, Clattenburg, Sundin, Copponi, and Maatta all being in their draft plus one or two years at the time.

Oilers compensate draft capital in unconventional ways

They have to compensate for missing draft capital by looking for older players by more unconventional means.

Less high round draft picks means less draft capital.

This compensation for less draft capital often translates to the signing of late bloomers. This leaves no rock unturned in their pursuit of prospects. Expect the Oilers to continue to look for older European players, and NCAA free agents.

Another avenue would be taking players in the 20 to 21-years-old age range from the CHL, or USports. Also don’t be surprised if the Oilers look to the lower tier European leagues like the MHL/VHL (Russia), Allsvenskan (Sweden), Eliteserien (Norway) and Mestis (Finland).

If they can secure players who are further along in their development this can assure quicker routes to the NHL than first year eligible draftees.

Oilers heavily rely on their pro-scouts

With teams looking at older players like the Tomaseks and the Leppanens of the world they are no longer looking at their potential of what they could be. Pro-scouts focus on rather how do these older players make the team better right now.

This has different considerations, as pro-scouts look at how players like the previously mentioned ones fit into the Oilers systems, both 5v5, and special teams. Are they an upgrade over their bottom six, or bottom pairing defenders right now? Does their skill set compliment current NHL players on the team?

With signing older players think of it as an upgrade in a patch work sort of way for organizational depth.

They are trading potential for certainty on the draft floor

The priorities of the organization echo that of sooner NHL ETA. This means that management is looking for players with higher certainty of NHL play, but this is a trade off as these players typically have lower ceilings/potential.

The best example of this would be the Sam O’Reilly selection at the 2024 NHL draft. He is a player who might only two years out of NHL contention, but largely projects as a top-nine forward. A sooner NHL ETA but at the cost of some potential.

Another way that this can mentality can articulate itself is through the selection of late bloomers.

Don’t be surprised if the Oilers take a handful of 2005 and 2006 (D+1) born players in this upcoming draft. These players will likely show some more development than that of a first year draft eligible.

Another avenue the Oilers could take is that of the late bloomer. The over-agers in the CHL with better developmental options. With the recent NCAA-CHL rule change CHL players can now go the NCAA route which theoretically could help their long-term development.

This is where we might see some particularly late round selections be made now with this expanded development path in mind. As this CHL-NCAA pipeline is lower demand for organizations and maximizes their development before turning pro, as typically four CHL years plus four to five NCAA years.

This gives the player and organization a lot more time to “figure things out” in terms of growth and pro-readiness.

Organizational outlook for the Oilers

As long as the Oilers cup window remains open this strategy is quite standard for contending teams. Contenders rely on older prospects with a more developed game to fill their cupboards.

The Oilers are simply in that part of the hockey process. Nothing unusual, but who knows maybe the organization can find a diamond in the rough. Only time will tell.

Are there any of these players you want to know more about? How do you feel about this sort of strategy? Are you excited for these players to make their possible NHL debuts next season?