Entering the countdown at #19 is another Hockey East alum in Filip Engaras.

As we mentioned with #20 Carl Berglund, the bottom part of the Edmonton Oilers Prospect Countdown has a lot of commonalities: older, collegiate players who tend to be defence focused in how they play the game. Filip Engaras fits this description perfectly.

The right-shot center turned pro after his third collegiate season with the University of New Hampshire for the 2022/23 season. As the stats illustrate, Engaras has not produced a lot of offence at any level. His rookie year in the AHL had him total 5-0-5 in 37 games. He also played a large portion of the year in the ECHL with Fort Wayne where he tallied 5-9-13 in 24 games.

Much like Berglund, Engaras thinks the game from the defensive side of the puck almost to a fault. He’s a very smart player when it comes to understanding where to be on and off the puck defaulting to being over top of the play most of the time.

Here is a full shift clip that displays all of Filip Engaras. Good faceoff guy. Supports his defensemen exiting the zone nicely. Gets on the forecheck good with a nice skating stride. A little hunched over in the upper half which maybe holds him back on both skating power, but also vision with the puck.

Then watch the segment from 8:10 to 8:03. This is the part that holds Engaras back. Watch the play behind the net where he gets the puck and then spins a wild backhand pass out front. He had a lot of time to protect the puck and work it back to the net in a more composed way.

Once this is done he does a nice job getting to the front and is the receiver of a nice pass from the point. However, he fails to handle the puck and ultimately the puck leaves the zone. This is the part of the Engaras game that needs to get better. His puck skills and ice vision development will be critical to his success as a pro.

The irony of this assessment is that Filip Engaras has one very notable offensive skill. He has an NHL-level release. Take a look at this goal and how quickly the puck gets off his stick with power and accuracy.

For Engaras this is a skill to build on. He didn’t nearly shoot enough in his first pro season managing only 16 shots in 37 games. Some of that is a lack of ice time, but most of it is puck skills and not thinking about offence enough. If Engaras wants to leverage his shot, he needs to improve his pucks skills and to be more aggressive on the attack. With his skating and defensive understanding, he should be able to take more opportunities on the puck to create offence.

Before getting to all of that, Engaras needs to make Bakersfield for the 2023/24 season. He only played 11 games with the Condors this past season. He spent 24 games with Fort Wayne in the ECHL.  Oddly, he spent another 26 games in the AHL, but with Utica, not Bakersfield after a trade mid-way through the season. This, however, is considered a loan situation and Engaras will be back with the Condors this year.

He is signed to Bakersfield through the end of the 23/24 season, so he has a chance, but the center position is fairly deep. For the 24-year-old Engaras, time is ticking on making an impact and it needs to start this training camp.