The Edmonton Oilers have changed their calendar to December now, which means the holidays are almost here. The Oilers have seen quite a few mid-late round gifts in the form of Tommy LaFreniere, David Lewandowski, and Asher Barnett. While good prospect performances aren’t on the Oilers’ 2025 holiday list, it’s certainly a bonus.
Let’s take a look at all the news within the Oilers system for the past week.
Welcome to the TOR Edmonton Oilers prospect update. Each week, we’ll dive into how the Oilers’ prospects have done in their respective leagues to go along with a feature on 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.
Asher Barnett, D, University of Michigan
It may be the season of giving with the holidays almost upon us, but no one was expecting Barnett to be named to the preliminary roster for Team USA’s World Junior Championships. The defensive bruiser looks to be a possible penalty killer and defensive zone asset for the Americans.
Barnett’s season so far
The NTDP alumni is off to a solid freshman season with the nationally ranked #1 program in the nation, the University of Michigan. With Michigan, Barnett has regular shifts as a third-pairing penalty kill specialist. In these shifts, he averages 16:26 per game, with 2:46 of that in penalty kill situations.
In addition to his penalty kill role, Barnett is stellar in all physical situations and shows no hesitancy in physical engagement. He dishes out 0.94 hits per game, absorbs 1.22 hits against per game, and engages in 10 puck battles with a 61% success rate per game.
He also begins 51% of all his shifts in the defensive zone, and displays hidden transitional upside as well.
It’s evident that his physicality and his compete level are the attractive aspects for Team USA, but his transitional upside shows good puck skills in terms of passing ability, accuracy (88% of all passes), and decent enough vision to make him a breakout initiator and asset as well.
Although not defined by his point production, with Michigan he has also posted eight assists across 18 games.
What does this mean for Barnett?
While this decision to name the defender to the roster doesn’t fast-track his development, any chance to play against the best players in the world at his age group will be a positive experience for the Illinois product.
The 2025 fifth rounder has all the tough, gritty aspects that many old school coaches would love, and if the rearguard does make the American roster, it will drastically improve his stock from a relatively unknown late rounder to a national team product.
This stock bump could even marginally increase his trade value, which makes him a tradable asset for the contending Oilers come the trade deadline this year and next. The opportunity to play even more hockey never hurts a player’s development either.
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Edmonton Oilers prospect updates
AHL
- The Bakersfield Condors had one game this past week, a 7–4 victory against the Henderson Silver Knights on the 29th.
- The Condors are now 6th in the AHL’s Pacific Division with an 8–6–4 record.
- Quinn Hutson once again leads all Condors in points with 19 across 18 games.
- After his call-up on the 21st, Clattenburg is off to a roll with the Oilers and looks to be on his way to becoming a fan favourite. The Condors might have to do without him for the foreseeable future.
ECHL
- Fort Wayne had another strong and busy week, and went 3–0–1, with their sole loss against the Kalamazoo Wings on the 26th.
- Fort Wayne Komet is still first in the Central Division with a 13–4–1 record.
- James Stefan leads all Edmonton-affiliated prospects on the Komets with 17 points across 18 games.
- Goaltending prospect Connor Ungar was reassigned to the Orlando Solar Bears on the 28th.
Europe
- Second-round goaltending prospect, Eemil Vinni, appeared in one game on the 28th against Pyry Hockey, where he stopped 25 of 26 shots en route to a 4–1 win.
NCAA
- 2024 seventh rounder, Bauer Berry, played Michigan Tech on the 28th and 29th. He played 15:43 in the first game and 14:33 in the second game. He continues to be a strong physical defender who isolates and slows the pace of the game by forcing opponents to the outside.
- Asher Barnett played Harvard on the 28th and 29th, and won both. Barnett collected an assist in the second game. The American defender also got named to the preliminary roster for Team USA at the WJC. Teammate Aiden Park scored a goal in the second game. Park plays a role in Michigan’s bottom six.
- Defender Paul Fischer played Merrimack College on the 26th in an unusual mid-week game, and it must’ve helped because the two-way transitional threat found the scoresheet twice with two assists. He also played at Boston College on the 28th, where he scored a goal.
- 2024 sixth rounder, Dalyn Wakely played two games this week, one against Clarkson University on the 28th, and St. Lawrence University on the 29th. Wakely scored the first hat trick of his NCAA career against St. Lawrence University on the 29th.
WHL
- Lewandowski and the Blades are now on a three-game losing streak after losing the only two games they had this past week. The big German still put up one goal and two assists across those games, he also generated 12 shots in those three games alone.
- Tommy LaFreniere has now entered the top 10 in WHL scoring this past week. LaFreniere played for the Spokane Chiefs on the 28th, where he posted a goal and an assist. The Canadian winger then played for the Penticton Vees on the 29th in a 7–5 win, where he posted two goals and one assist.
Russia
- Maxim Beryozkin’s club, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, were shut out twice to start the week in a 1–0 loss to Dynamo Moskva on the 26th, and a 2–0 loss to Severstal Cherepovets on the 28th. Beryozkin then collected an assist in their third game of the week against SKA St. Petersburg, a 4–3 loss, on the 2nd.
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maxim Beryozkin | RW | 34 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0.35 | 8 | Yaroslavl Lokomotiv | KHL |
| Jayden Grubbe | C/RW | 18 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.72 | 15 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL |
| Isaac Howard | LW/RW | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1.40 | 2 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Petr Hauser | RW | 24 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.29 | 10 | HC Vitkovice | Czechia |
| Quinn Hutson | RW/LW | 18 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 1.06 | 16 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Roby Järventie | LW/RW | 14 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 0.93 | 14 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Tommy Lafreniere | RW/C | Kamloops Blazers | WHL | ||||||
| David Lewandowski | LW | 25 | 8 | 20 | 28 | 1.12 | 18 | Saskatoon Blades | WHL |
| Viljami Marjala | LW/C | 18 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 0.83 | 2 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| William Nicholl | C/LW | – | – | – | – | – | – | London Knights | OHL |
| Aidan Park | C | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0.50 | 18 | University of Michigan | NCAA |
| Matvei Petrov | LW/RW | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Josh Samanski | C/LW | 18 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0.72 | 12 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| James Stefan | RW/LW | 18 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 0.94 | 6 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL |
| Brady Stonehouse | RW/LW | 18 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0.44 | 14 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL |
| Dalyn Wakely | C | 14 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0.86 | 12 | UMass-Lowell | NCAA |
Defence
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beau Akey | RD | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.20 | 2 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Asher Barnett | LD | 18 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0.44 | 8 | University of Michigan | NCAA |
| Bauer Berry | LD | 14 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0.29 | 10 | University of St. Thomas | NCAA |
| Damien Carfagna | LD | 15 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.33 | 4 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL |
| Paul Fischer | LD | 14 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.93 | 20 | University of Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Albin Sundin | RD | 23 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.26 | 8 | Timra IK | SHL |
| Nikita Yevseyev | LD | 30 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0.30 | 18 | Amur Khabarovsk | KHL |
Goaltenders
| Player | GP | GAA | SV% | Record | SO | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathaniel Day | 10 | 2.50 | .898 | 6-3-1 | 1 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL |
| Samuel Jonsson | 6 | 1.64 | .926 | 5-1–0 | 3 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL |
| Connor Ungar | – | – | – | – | – | Orlando Solar Bears | ECHL |
| Daniel Salonen | 14 | 2.81 | .867 | 6-5-2 | 2 | Lukko | Liiga |
| Eemil Vinni | 13 | 3.07 | .882 | 7-3-3 | 1 | JoKP | Mestis |
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