The Edmonton Oilers’ prospects saw plenty of action this past week. Despite some strong individual performances across all leagues, we had to give this week’s spotlight to the end of an incredible season for Nikita Yevseyev. Let’s dive in!
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. We have defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games, and is younger than 25 years of age. All data is from EliteProspects. We also use an NHLe calculator built by Christian Roatis (@Croatis) which is used to estimate a player’s equivalent point total in the NHL based on how they are performing in their respective league. The calculator uses the difficulty of the given league combined with the ease at which a player puts up points to determine the NHLe.
Yevseyev finishes impressive rookie KHL season
Nikita Yevseyev and Ak Bars Kazan lost in the Gagarin Cup Finals to CSKA Moscow in Game 7. After suffering a big hit earlier in the series, Yevseyev returned to action, continuing to be a valuable contributor to Kazan as a teenage rookie.
This clip begins with Yevseyev firing a low shot from the point that is tipped wide. Kazan regains control of the puck, with eventual goal scorer Artyom Galimov working the puck up to the blueline back to Yevseyev. Yevseyev shows poise and awareness in walking the blueline laterally, hoping to open up a shooting lane. Yevseyev uses the space he gained to kick the puck back out to Galimov who has rotated up to the blueline as well. Galimov will eventually fire the puck home, but Yevseyev remains active in the play, activating down towards the net.
This clip shows us a lot of strong offensive habits from Yevseyev. In a close game, in one of the best leagues in the world, Yevseyev is making plays well beyond his years in his first post draft season. Indisputably, Yevseyev looks to be an early candidate for late round steal of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
Yevseyev does not necessarily profile as a top scoring offensive defenceman, but with an awareness like he’s shown here, there is clear evidence of an effective player in this respect. Yevseyev would do well to reprise his role as a regular contributor on a strong KHL blueline next season, and should likely be considered one of the Oilers top prospects on the blueline, if not in general.
This and That
WHL
Jake Chiasson and the Saskatoon Blades lost in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, falling four games to none against the Winnipeg Ice. Although the Blades loaded up at the trade deadline, the Ice are a stacked team including many top rated prospects.
The Blades showed a lot of grit in the playoffs, buoyed by some huge goals from Chiasson. The Ice will face either the Kamloops Blazers or the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL finals.
OHL
Matvey Petrov and the North Bay Battalion advanced to the Western Conference Finals against the Peterborough Petes, where the series is tied at two games apiece.
The Battalion break the puck up the ice with Petrov on the far wall. The breakout pass is on target, but bounces off of teammate Kyle Jackson’s stick. Petrov is there to find the loose puck, breaking in over the Pete’s blueline. Petrov initiates a clever give and go with Jackson, cutting to the middle and leaving a drop pass. Weaving inside and towards the net, Petrov does well to gain centre lane positioning, presenting his stick as an option, and making no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Petrov has the skill to collect points from the outside, but to continue to excel at higher levels he will need to be willing and able to operate in the middle of the ice as he does here. At such a crucial point in his final Junior season, this is exactly what we are hoping to see from Petrov.
USHL
Shane Lachance and the Youngstown Phantoms won their best of three opening round series against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. Lachance was held pointless in the two-game sweep, but will have the chance to add to his point totals in the next round against the Chicago Steel.
The Steel are the top seed in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, not to mention one of the more prolific developmental programs in all of Junior hockey, and will be the heavy favourites.
NHLe Leaderboard
NHLe is a metric used to estimate a player’s offensive output at the NHL level from their point totals in their respective league. Here are the Oilers’ current top five (bracketed numbers denote movement from the previous week).
- Matvey Petrov 37.9 (1)
- Dylan Holloway 35.5 (2)
- Maxim Beryozkin 33.0 (3)
- Raphael Lavoie 31.1 (4)
- Patrik Puistola 24.8 (5)
Overall regular season totals for Oilers’ prospects
Forwards
| Player | Team | League | GP | G | A | TP | PPG | PIM | +/- | NHLeLeague | NHLe |
| Justin Bailey (RW/LW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 55 | 18 | 13 | 31 | 0.56 | 40 | -5 | AHL | 22.3 |
| Tyler Benson (LW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 40 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 0.55 | 29 | -6 | AHL | 21.9 |
| Carl Berglund (C) | Hockey East | 41 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 0.66 | 12 | 7 | Hockey East | 24.2 | |
| Maxim Beryozkin (RW/LW) | KHL | 61 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 0.52 | 22 | 7 | KHL | 33.0 | |
| Jake Chiasson (C/RW) | WHL | 70 | 20 | 38 | 58 | 0.83 | 26 | -15 | WHL | 20.6 | |
| Maxim Denezhkin (C) | VHL | 39 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 0.54 | 90 | 1 | VHL | 17.8 | |
| Seth Griffith (C/RW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 69 | 17 | 41 | 58 | 0.84 | 32 | -12 | AHL | 33.5 |
| James Hamblin (LW/C) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 49 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 0.53 | 14 | -1 | AHL | 21.1 |
| Dylan Holloway (LW/C) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 9 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0.89 | 4 | 1 | AHL | 35.5 |
| Mattias Janmark (C/W) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | AHL | 39.9 |
| Klim Kostin (LW/RW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.44 | 15 | -4 | AHL | 17.5 |
| Shane Lachance (LW) | Youngstown Phantoms | USHL | 58 | 32 | 20 | 52 | 0.9 | 47 | 13 | USHL | 19.9 |
| Raphaël Lavoie (C/RW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 58 | 24 | 19 | 43 | 0.74 | 41 | 9 | AHL | 29.5 |
| Jeremias Lindewall (RW/LW) | Östersunds IK | HockeyAllsvenskan | 35 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.17 | 12 | -16 | HockeyAllsvenskan | 5.0 |
| Brad Malone (C/LW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 38 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 0.5 | 26 | 3 | AHL | 11.5 |
| Tomas Mazura (C) | St. Lawrence Univ. | NCAA | 28 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.43 | 8 | 2 | ECAC | 17.1 |
| Greg McKegg (C/W) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 65 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 0.31 | 62 | 6 | AHL | 10.0 |
| Matvei Petrov (RW/LW) | North Bay Battalion | OHL | 65 | 27 | 66 | 93 | 1.43 | 32 | 31 | OHL | 37.9 |
| Noah Philp (C) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 67 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 0.51 | 61 | 1 | AHL | 20.3 |
| Patrik Puistola (RW/LW) | Jukurit | Liiga | 60 | 16 | 24 | 40 | 0.67 | 12 | -8 | Liiga | 24.8 |
| Carter Savoie (LW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 44 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.25 | 18 | -17 | AHL | 10.0 |
| Devin Shore (C) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | AHL | 39.9 |
| Tyler Tullio (C/RW) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 60 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 0.43 | 18 | 3 | AHL | 17.1 |
| Joel Määttä (C) | Univ. of Vermont | NCAA | 36 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0.39 | 18 | -10 | Hockey East | 12.6 |
Defencemen
| Player | Team | League | GP | G | A | TP | PPG | PIM | +/- | NHLeLeague | NHLe |
| Philip Broberg (D) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.57 | 0 | -2 | AHL | 22.7 |
| Jason Demers (D) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 55 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 0.33 | 75 | -7 | AHL | 8.2 |
| Vincent Desharnais (D) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.15 | 19 | 1 | AHL | 3.7 |
| Cam Dineen (D) | AHL | 66 | 6 | 41 | 47 | 0.71 | 14 | -8 | AHL | 28.3 | |
| Philip Kemp (D) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 68 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 0.28 | 49 | 9 | AHL | 11.2 |
| Luca Münzenberger (D) | Univ. of Vermont | NCAA | 28 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0.18 | 24 | -9 | Hockey East | 5.8 |
| Markus Niemeläinen (D) | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 28 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.25 | 16 | 1 | AHL | 10.0 |
| Maximus Wanner (D) | Moose Jaw Warriors | WHL | 44 | 8 | 22 | 30 | 0.68 | 45 | 23 | WHL | 16.8 |
| Nikita Yevseyev (D) | Ak Bars Kazan | KHL | 48 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0.15 | 11 | 7 | KHL | 9.9 |
Goalies
| Player | Team | League | GP | GAA | SV% |
| Olivier Rodrigue | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 28 | 2.8 | 0.91 |
| Calvin Pickard | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 36 | 2.8 | 0.909 |
| Samuel Jonsson | Rögle BK J20 | J20 Nationell | 27 | 2.65 | 0.902 |
| Ryan Fanti | totals | 40 | |||
| Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL | 32 | 3.39 | 0.896 |
Photo from @hcakbars on Twitter
