Edmonton Oilers sign prospect Jake Chiasson to three-year, entry-level contract

Jake Chiasson has certainly taken the road less travelled. The Oilers’ fourth-round selection in 2021 has not had the smoothest of development paths. He came to Oilers camp in the fall of his draft year and promptly suffered a serious shoulder injury that limited him to 20 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings. When the 2022/23 season arrived, Chiasson was looking for a full campaign with the Wheat Kings. Unfortunately, Chiasson really struggled with a team that was not picked to be very strong this year. His play had not only plateaued, it had regressed. Chiasson was traded a few weeks ago to the Saskatoon Blades who are a much stronger team competing with the Winnipeg Ice for the Eastern division in the WHL. The hope with the trade was that Chiasson would regain that spark that led him to be a point-per-game player in the 2020/21 bubble season. Well, that has seemed to work.

Before we get there, let’s talk about Jake Chiasson. He’s a 6’2″, 190-pound right winger. He plays the game like a smaller, power forward. He’s got a tenacious style on the forecheck and plays hard through all 200 feet of the sheet. The troubles for Chiasson is that he appears loaded with some offensive ability. Why is that trouble? Well, he hasn’t scored very much. This year 14-27-41 in 53 games, which is serviceable for a 19-year-old, but not really adequate for someone with his skills. Finally, that may be changing. In his last eight games, he has four goals and four assists. His patented quick release was on display in two very different, but impressive ways.