Edmonton Oilers Prospects Roundup: Shane Lachance is gaining consistency and notice

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.

Lachance up the rank

For the last two and a half weeks, Oilers prospect Shane Lachance has started to gain more recognition in the NCAA and the prospect world as he has gone from the third line to the top line to be the left hand player for upcoming NHL phenom Macklin Celebrini. He has now been getting top line minutes with Celebrini and to powerplay time.

He has not disappointed in the new opportunity that he has been getting as he has scored four goals and four assists in his last 10 games. But his last five games have been the ones that have shown that this kid is able to hold his own with other top line players. He has three goals four assists in those five games and they have not been because of the power play or tap ins from passes by Celebrini. He has been creating space and wrecking havoc in front of the net.

The hands that Lachance displays around the net and behind the net are very noticeable and so is his size. He wins board battles with much more ease now as he has started to get accustomed the size. Also, his hockey sense has helped him with knowing where to be to create the offensive play and knowing where to be when he needs to clean up the mess in front of the net. His skating has gotten better but there is no question that he needs to have a quicker first step.

Thankfully, he does not need to be a superstar in the NHL and especially with the Oilers. Shane Lachance reminds me of Colin Greenway. Lachance may have more skill than Greenway but both have around the same size and both play the same game. Greenway was able to quicken his first step and I believe Lachance will be able to find his as well. The only thing Lachance needs to bring to his game more is grit and nastiness. I feel that it will come with time as it seems like he is focusing more on scoring.

As he progresses through the NCAA, we will see if he starts to progress even further or if he stalemates. I strongly feel that he will continue to progress and he will soon be one of the Oilers top three prospects.

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