The first round of training camp cuts has arrived, as the Edmonton Oilers returned four prospects to their respective Ontario Hockey League clubs Tuesday.
The #Oilers have returned goaltender Nathaniel Day & forward Connor Clattenburg to the @FlintFirebirds, forward William Nicholl to the @LondonKnights & forward Dalyn Wakely to the @OHLBattalion.
Best of luck this season, fellas! 👊
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 24, 2024
Goaltender Nathaniel Day and forward Connor Clattenburg were assigned to the Flint Firebirds, while forwards William Nicholl was sent to the London Knights, and Dalyn Wakely to the North Bay Battalion, the Oilers announced Tuesday.
Day, 19, will return to the Firebirds looking to find his way after a few rough season. He struggled to the tune of a 25-26-1 record last season, posting a .868 save percentage and 3.73 goals against average on a team that joined the playoffs as an eighth seed, getting swept by the London Knights in the first round. The Oilers drafted Day in the sixth round of the 2023 draft.
Clattenburg, Nicholl and Wakely, meanwhile, were all members of the most recent draft class, selected in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, respectively.
Clattenburg made some noise with a few fights during the Young Stars Classic, and got in for a pre-season game Monday night in Edmonton, where he took a four-minute roughing penalty trying to fight a Flames player. The physical side of the game is his strength, and there’s a lack of offence from his game he will look to find this season.
Nicholl and Wakely each drew in for the split-squad games, the former in Calgary and the latter in Edmonton, getting their first taste of the pro game. Entering his second full season in the OHL, Nicholl will look to gain more responsibilities with the Knights, and potentially develop chemistry with his teammate Sam O’Reilly, who the Oilers took in the first round.
Wakely, meanwhile, had a great 2023-24 season with the Battallion, racking up an impressive 39 goals and 104 points. Based on those totals and what Oilersnation’s Bruce Curlock has opined of him, slotting the right-shot centre as his 14th-best prospect in the Oilers system, I’m surprised he was drafted sooner. Nonetheless, the Oilers may have found a bit of a diamond in the rough, and he will be a player to watch in his 20-year-old season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
