The NHL has postponed all cross border travel due to the recent COVID outbreaks across the league. The Oilers have had their own positive cases which include Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Puljujarvi, coach Dave Tippett, and now William Lagesson and Darnell Nurse. Right now it is only the games leading up to Christmas that have been postponed but I wouldn't be surprised to see the game on the 27th against the Flames delayed as well.
With no game to discuss I thought we could instead talk about some of the Oilers prospects, because there is plenty of positives to discuss right now. This conversation is inspired by this tweet that was posted by Mason Black, creator of PNHLe. His model in it's simplest form tries to evaluate how prospects will translate to the NHL level. Here are his top 30 prospects
The top-30 prospects ranked by PNHLe (age-adjusted NHL equivalency)
— Mason Black (@NHLRankKing) December 19, 2021
The Buffalo Sabres have four players on the list. pic.twitter.com/OjHeO4ZuUi
There are three Oilers on this list: Xavier Bourgault is ranked 9th Matvey Petrov is ranked 12th Carter Savoie is ranked 14th
Let's discuss Bourgault first. The 19 year old right shot centre has had a brilliant season in the QMJHL with 42 points in 24 games (22-20-42). He has already recorded two hat tricks and 14 multi point games so far this season. He is 8th in the league in points but first in the league in powerplay goals with 13. He is a part of the final roster for the Team Canada World Juniors tournament that we expect will still start on December 26th. Bourgault is a natural goal scorer with a wicked wrist shot but watching highlights what impressed me the most is how quickly his shot comes off his stick. There is almost never any dusting of the puck or hesitation from the player when he wants to get a shot off. He also has a few impressive one-timer goals this season.
For our next player, we will go to the OHL where the Russian born Matvey Petrov is lighting it up. Drafted in the 6th round in 2021, Petrov leads the North Bay Battalion in goals with 20 and his 20-29-49 in just 29 games is second on the team in total points. The left winger Petrov actually is the third highest scorer in the OHL with both players ahead of him essentially two years older. Petrov should have been a lock for Russia's World Junior team but the fact that he left Russia to play in Canada likely sealed his fate. He along with Matt Duchene are the only players in the history of the North Bay Battalion franchise history to record two hat-tricks in their first season with the team. Petrov has been consistent all season and is looking like an absolute steal from the 6th round.
Last up from this list is Carter Savoie who is enjoying a very successful sophmore season with the University of Denver. Savoie leads his team both in goals and points, going 12-10-22 in 16 games and is among the youngest players on the team. Savoie was drafted in the 4th round in 2020 after the left winger had a historic season in the AHHL with the Sherwood Park Crusaders (52-46-99 in 54GP). Savoie might be the best natural goal scorer of this entire group. Alan Mitchell of the Athletic has found similarities in Savoie's point and goal numbers to the likes of Kyle Connor, Johnny Gaudreau, and Jaden Schwartz at the same age. That's some pretty great comparables.
The last player I want to talk about wasn't on Mason Black's list, but Tyler Tulio is another young prospect who is having a heck of a season. The Oshawa General's captain was just named the OHL player of the week following 7 points in two games, including a hat-trick scored in less than two periods of play. Tulio, a natural centre leads the Oshawa Generals in points (12-26-38 in 26GP) he has 10 points more than the next best player on his team. Tulio is looking like another late round draft steal by the Oilers as he was selected in the 5th round in 2020.
In order for the Edmonton Oilers to compete for the long term, they are going to need to have a steady supply of young talented players that can be brought into the fold on cheap contracts and right now Bourgault, Petrov, Savoie, and Tulio are all tracking extremely well. We won't know for a year or three whether all of these players have NHL futures but it's a positive sign that so many of these players arrows are trending up.
Hopefully in the New Year we can see Dylan Holloway back on the ice and be able to add his name to this list.
Thanks for reading!