Edmonton Oilers prospect roundup: Players are waiting for assignments within the system

The Edmonton Oilers have officially started their preseason NHL camp. This means the last of the junior eligible players within their system should be assigned to their respective teams and begin regular season play by the end of the week.

Also expect Oilers management to take a hard look at some of the newest Bakersfield Condors for possible NHL roster consideration.

Let’s take a look at this week within the Edmonton Oilers organization.

Welcome to the TOR Edmonton Oilers prospect update. Each week, we’ll take a dive into how the Oilers’ prospects have done in their respective leagues to go along with a feature one one standout prospect in Edmonton’s system. We have defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games, and is born 2001 or earlier.

The WHL and the Oilers

After going all season last year without a single prospect playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Oilers now have two mid-round picks playing in the WHL for the 2025–26 campaign: Kamloops Blazer forward Tommy Lafreniere, and Saskatoon import-forward David Lewandowski.

Both players enter this year with aspirations to grow their offensive sides, as both players tend to be defensive minded, high compete, physical forwards that thrive in the grittier areas of the game.

This could also have positive implications for the Oilers in the future, as players like Lafreniere and Lewandowski will shut opponents down, and be quite positionally responsible while showing high play engagement. These 2025 draftees have a clear identity on both of their respective teams.

A clear player identity is something that the Oilers have lacked from their middle-bottom of the lineup forwards in these past couple of seasons.

Look for this grittier two-way play of Lafreniere, and power-forward identity of Lewandowski to shine this season in the WHL.

Edmonton Oilers prospect updates

AHL

• The Bakersfield Condors begin their preseason in October. They are set to appear in two preseason games against the San Jose Barracuda on October 4 at home, and October 5 on the road.
• The Condors open their regular season on October 11, once again against the San Jose Barracuda, and have their home opener ready for a week later on the 18, against, you guessed it the Barracuda.
• Expect the roster picture for the Condors to become more clear once the NHL preseason is finished, and final cuts have been made.

ECHL

• It is expected that a handful of Oilers prospects will appear with Fort Wayne this year. The cuts to the ECHL will likely be made after the AHL preseason is concluded.
• Fort Wayne begins their preseason October 12, versus the Iowa Heartlanders.
• The Komets then open their regular season up on the road against the Indy Fuel on October 17. Their home opener is November 21 against the Bloomington Bison.

Europe

• Goaltender Daniel Salonen has started his season in the Liiga, and appeared in a trio of games this past week, collecting a relief appearance against HIFK, and a win/23 save shutout HPK.
• Emil Vinni played one game this past week, and fell 5–4 in a shootout to Kiekko-Vantaa.
• Sundin looks to have carved out a full time spot with Timira IK, appearing in an additional three game this past week.
• Hausr continues to appear in Czechia’s top league, and appeared in two more games this past week.

Russia

• Nikita Yevseyev is getting regular shifts in the KHL averaging 21–23 minutes per night across seven games this season. This is a positive development considering the young Russian was averaging half of that TOI last season.
• Maxim Beryozkin played two games this past week and averaged 15:43 against CSKA Moskva on the 18 en-route to collecting a third assist on the campaign. He then averaged 15:27 against HK Sochi in a second outing. The 2001 Russian continues to be a reliable top-six role in the KHL.

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