The Edmonton Oilers prospects wrapped up the 2024 Young Stars Classic yesterday with a third consecutive loss. With a 0–3–0 record, the Oilers were the last place team in the tournament and only scored one goal over the entire weekend. It was uninspiring, but the Oilers had a very shallow roster, almost entirely comprised of free agent invitees.
Still, the Oilers had a few noteworthy players who were expected to perform well, including newly acquired Matt Savoie and 2024 first round pick Sam O’Reilly.
Here were the standouts from the tournament this year.
Matt Savoie
When you look at the score sheets, it doesn’t look like Savoie did anything of note this tournament. While he was largely invisible in the first game against the Vancouver Canucks, he had a strong game the following night against the Calgary Flames.
He appeared to be much more confident, setting up several teammates for quality chances that they just didn’t bury. In the final game against the Winnipeg Jets, Savoie had the best chance of all the Oilers rookies at a goal, but couldn’t finish the play in the crease.
I think that overall Savoie was a huge disappointment in this tournament, however. He’s by far the most impressive Oilers rookie on paper, and with his experience at the professional level in both the AHL and NHL, he should have been more of a factor every time he stepped on the ice.
He was playing alongside Sam O’Reilly who is the second best forward prospect by a mile, but the depth dropped off significantly after that. Connor Clattenburg was the third man on that line, definitely not a guy expected to put up big offensive numbers.
With these games being the first most of these players are competing in this season, it’s sometimes hard to properly judge how they’re doing. Hopefully this tournament was just Savoie gearing up for the much more important training camp that opens in just a few days’ time.
Connor Ungar and Brett Brochu
The Oilers really lacked the firepower to compete in this tournament, as evidenced by the single goal they scored over three games, but their goaltenders played particularly well. In the Calgary game, Connor Ungar held down the fort extremely well against a very talented Flames squad, giving the Oilers a chance to win all game long. Without the empty netter, that was a one goal game, pretty impressive for an overmatched Oilers team.
Ungar looked calm and composed in the net and if it wasn’t for him, the Flames could have put up five or six goals on the board. He looked solid and set himself up well for main camp.
Similarly, Brett Brochu had a fantastic game against the Jets in the final game of the tournament. A late bloomer, Brochu has had a really nice run the past few months, factoring in heavily for the London Knights in the OHL playoffs, and showing true pro promise for the Oilers in the Young Stars Classic. Look for Brochu to push for AHL minutes this season and fight hard for the starters job in Bakersfield.
Nate Corbet
Perhaps the most noteworthy Oilers player this weekend, Nate Corbet was fighting, both literally and figuratively, to get his name on the notebooks of the many scouts in attendance.
Over three games, Corbet had three fights, two coming against the Flames in true Battle of Alberta fashion. He stood up for his teammates very well, and Corbet did everything he could to show he wanted to be there and wanted to be a factor. He will go back to junior this year to the extremely stacked Medicine Hat Tigers, and could find himself on the radar of more scouts and teams after this performance.
He’s a 6’2″ 170 lb defenceman who played 51 games as a rookie in the WHL last season, so he’s no doubt looking to get on draft lists and hopefully get taken as a D+1 overager in the 2025 draft. So far, he’s showing he has the compete and snarl to play against some of his most talented peers. A solid showing from the invitee.
