The 2014-15 season has not been kind to the Edmonton Oilers. The team has not progressed as hoped, individual players have struggled mightily and the path forward remains decidedly uncertain.

Those looking for a break from the gloom could do worse than consider Kyle Platzer, the 2013 fourth-round draft pick who on Sunday signed an entry-level deal with the Oilers.

Platzer’s progression has been fascinating to watch, and a really good example of why teams have a two-season window before being forced to come to a decision on their prospects. If the deadline had been a year ago, the decision would have been legitimately difficult, but Platzer has made it easy with a breakthrough OHL campaign:

Platzer’s an interesting player offensively. He scored nine power play goals this year, but he also put up 23 at even-strength and four more while shorthanded (12 NHL teams, including Edmonton, have scored four-or-fewer shorthanded goals this year). His assists, however, seem to be pretty power play-dependent; he put up 27 on the man advantage by my count and just 20 in all other situations.

I liked what I saw from the player in his brief cameo in Oilers’ camp this fall; he was quick and intelligent and that combined with his obvious affinity for penalty-killing work makes him an interesting player to watch going forward and perhaps a reasonable possibility as a bottom-six NHL forward in the future (it would be a stretch at this point to pencil him in any higher given his long-term offensive track record).

Importantly, Platzer will help an injury-ravaged organization immediately.

Platzer is now the fifth member of Edmonton’s 2013 draft class to sign with the team, following Darnell Nurse, Bogdan Yakimov, Greg Chase and Ben Betker. The Oilers still have some time on college/European picks made that year, but face two more choices in the immediate future. Both Marco Roy and Jackson Houck must be signed or they will go back into the draft; we’ll have to wait and see whether the Oilers are convinced they’re worth inking. Houck is playing in Oklahoma City at the moment on an amateur tryout deal.

Tyler Bunz has an uncertain future and a difficult path forward if he is to be a professional hockey player of note. With that said, he’s now played one more NHL game than I or the vast majority of the readers here have.

No matter what happens from here on out, Bunz is indelibly marked into the history of hockey at its highest level, and in the annals of the Edmonton Oilers. It must be a dream come true for him just to reach that level, to overcome a life-threatening injury and play for a club and a league with such a rich history.

It’s easy to get cynical about the sport, particularly for fans of a team in yet another losing season. It’s healthy to put that aside, even if only for a moment, and remember playing hockey in the driveway or the neighbor’s pond or in a little rink in the middle of nowhere. Playing an NHL game is a great personal accomplishment, a dream of many and an achievement of comparatively few. Bunz is now one of those few.