For nearly a decade, the Edmonton Oilers haven’t been a prospect-focused team due to their emphasis on winning in the Connor McDavid era. Even with this, their prospect pool still offers plenty for fans to be excited about. Following the acquisition of Matthew Savoie and the selections of Sam O’Reilly and Eemil Vinni in the 2024 Draft, there are quite a few prospects to pay attention to this season.
Savoie’s Journey to the NHL
When the Oilers acquired Savoie from the Buffalo Sabres for Ryan McLeod and prospect Tyler Tullio, the immediate reaction from the NHL world was that Edmonton won the deal. While that is true, few talked about just how impactful Savoie could be in the short and long term.
Likely to begin this season in the American Hockey League (AHL), Savoie is well-equipped to join the NHL roster by the end of the season. He still has to round out his game, but evident in his 30 goals and 71 points in 34 Western Hockey League games last season, as well as his two goals and five assists in six AHL games, his potential is sky-high.
With the Bakersfield Condors, Savoie is set to begin his first full professional season as a top-six center. Fans should focus on his ability to control the play and stay composed, even when he is not producing. His skill set is translatable to the NHL, but he needs to add confidence to reach the NHL and stay there. If he can not only produce but also look confident, poised, and in control, he should see the NHL by the second half of the season, if not sooner.
Akey’s Return From Injury
Oilers 2023 second-round draft pick Beau Akey suffered a season-ending shoulder injury 14 games into last season while playing for the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The defenseman had four goals and nine points in those games, but in such a short sample size it is hard to gauge his growth.
Now fully healthy, Akey has begun skating again. Earlier this offseason he spoke with Derek Van Diest of NHL.com about the injury, recovery timeline, and what he learned throughout rehab. He told Van Diest “I was going into the season on a high coming back from camp and I was feeling great…. I had been battling injuries with that same shoulder for a while, and it was actually kind of nice to have the surgery and be able to recover fully from that injury.” While missing nearly an entire season with an injury is never a good thing, Akey began skating again two months prior to the start of the OHL season, paving the way for a dominant final season in Juniors.
It will be important for Akey to catch his stride early on and also showcase his offensive prowess. The Oilers are in no need of a superstar, right-handed defenseman since they have Evan Bouchard, but the team lacks defensive prospects. Outside of Akey, there may not be another defenseman currently in the Oilers’ system who will reach the NHL in a full-time capacity in their careers. Because of this, Akey will be heavily relied upon to carry the blueline in the prospect pool, and showing the injury is behind him will be the first step in his path to reaching the NHL.
Vinni’s First Liiga Season
The Oilers drafted Vinni, a goaltender, in the second round of the 2024 Draft and this season will be pivotal in his development. After going 17-9-10 with 2.72 goals against average and a .892 save percentage for JoKP in Mestis, the second-highest men’s ice hockey league in Finland, last season, he is expected to join HIFK in Liiga, Finland’s top men’s league, this season.
Vinni does many things well, even if the numbers don’t always show it. He ranked first in the final 2024 NHL Central Scouting rankings for European goaltenders due to his speedy lateral movement and advanced positioning. He stands at 6-foot-2 but plays much taller. He does a good job at taking away angles from the opposition and has the raw talent to develop into a quality NHL goaltender. While there’s no single metric to track for Vinni this season, monitoring how often he gets starts and how he navigates through rough patches will be a strong indicator of his development.
Lavoie’s Fight to the NHL
Raphael Lavoie had a great 2023-24 season in the AHL with the Condors. Offensively, he was dominant in close, netting 28 goals and 50 points in 66 games. His shoot-first mentality has evolved into a well-rounded offensive game, and despite having just seven NHL games to his name, he’s clearly ready to join the league full-time.
Lavoie breaking through will come down to head coach Kris Knoblauch’s opinion of him and the impact of Evander Kane’s injury. The Oilers have limited cap space and around 10 forwards fighting for a role in the bottom six. Lavoie is deserving, but so is everyone else, so he will face an uphill battle to join the NHL roster. If he does, he will provide a valuable sense of youth, physicality, and excitement to the team’s bottom six.
Copponi’s First Season at Boston University
After spending the past two seasons at Merrimack College, Matt Copponi will be transferring to the prestigious Boston University. The 21-year-old center will be playing alongside premier NHL prospects like Cole Eiserman, Jack Pridham, Alexander Zetterberg, Ryan Greene, Kamil Bednarik, and Devin Kaplan. It will be interesting to see how Copponi adjusts to the increased caliber of competition, but his impressive and unique skillset equips him well to take the next step in development.
The Oilers may not have a strong prospect pool, but there’s a decent amount of talent. While the focus will be on the NHL team this season, Oilers fans should be following these prospects as they each have a lot on the line this season.
