Earlier today, the Edmonton Oilers announced their roster for the 2017 Rookie Camp and Young Stars Classic in Penticton.

Looking at the names on the list (we’ll get there), I see a lot of potential but not many guys that have chances at cracking the Oilers’ roster come October and it’s interesting to see that times are changing around here. One of the products of Edmonton getting better is that the prospects that will be playing in Penticton and the Rookie Camp will have more time to marinate at the junior level before making the jump to the pros.

This change of philosophy is crucial in terms of not only allowing prospects to develop but to also have potential value contracts for the big club in the seasons to come. For years, the Oilers would draft a guy in the first round and then plug him right into the roster, and it’s a welcome sign of change that the junior-to-NHL-leap is not likely to happen for anyone this year. From where I blog, that ability to develop young players is a welcome change that is long overdue.

One thing that you’ll notice right from the jump is that the Oilers don’t have many (any?) overly “sexy” prospects at this year’s camp apart from maybe Yamamoto. Even then, our tiny hero is a long shot to make the big club but it will still be interesting to see him perform against the best prospects from the other Western Canadian teams.

The full list:

The highlights:

The Young Stars Classic will be held in Penticton from September 8th-11th as our young stable of hopefuls will face off against the heathens from Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg.* From there, the boys will come back home to play their first game against the MacEwan-NAIT all-stars at Rogers Place on September 13th.

The difference with this year’s tournament is that the Oilers don’t really have anyone playing in the tournament that is expected to make the opening night roster. That said, last year’s team had Matt Benning, Drake Caggiula, and Jesse Puljujarvi representing with all three of them having various levels of contribution at the NHL level, so you never know what is going to happen.

Either way, the Young Stars Classic is another sign that the NHL season is just around the corner and I think that’s something we can all be thankful for. Let me know what you think about this year’s rookie roster in the comments section. Anyone you’re excited about? Let me know.