For many Canadians, the USHL is not a hockey league that gets a lot of attention. Despite it being the US equivalent of the tier-one junior teams in the Canadian Hockey League, there is not a lot of focus on players from the league as NHL prospects. This is modestly surprising given that NHL stars such as Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Brady Tkachuk, Adam Fox and John Gibson all came out of this league. Even furthermore impressive, it is entirely likely the top three for the 2024 NHL draft will come from this league with the most prolific being early consensus first-overall Mack Celebrini of Vancouver, British Columbia. Now that isn’t to say that NHL teams like the Edmonton Oilers have ignored this league. The Oilers actually have three picks from this league in the last six drafts. The first three are fairly well known in Phil Kemp, Skyler Brind’Amour and Matej Blumel (*resists urge to make a crack about how well-known Blumel was after being drafted*). However, there is a fourth player who, while drafted before he played in the USHL, started to make waves when he came to the Youngstown Phantoms. That’s right the son of Scott Lachance who played 14 seasons in the NHL after being selected fourth overall in the 1911 NHL draft. We talk about Lachance, a Russian longshot and more below in this week’s Edmonton Oilers Prospect Report.

There are two things to note right off the bat with Shane Lachance. He’s not a defenceman like his dad, he’s a left winger who plays some center. He is a much larger version of his dad at 6’5″ and 220 pounds. Lachance was a 6th round choice of the Oilers in the 2021 NHL draft. In his draft plus one year at Youngstown, he had 11-12-23 in 55 games. This year he has really exploded with 29-17-46 in 51 games.

The most prolific aspect of Lachance’s game is his shot. No question. His release is very quick and his shot is of the heavy variety that overpowers goaltenders. Here is a clip of several of his goals. The puck comes off his stick very quickly and with minimal backswing.

He also has some excellent hand-eye coordination. He’s scored a number of goals planting himself in front of the net and deflecting the puck home.

The other most impressive aspect of Lachance is his size. He wins puck battles on a routine basis that allows his team to maintain possession. He also appears to be quite willing to defend teammates that he believes have been taken advantage by the opposition.

In terms of where Lachance needs to take some strides to advance his hockey career, it likely begins and ends with his skating. Let’s take a look at a longer clip here and break down his technique.

If we look at the clip there are two very obvious areas for improvement. First, is posture. He’s bent at the hips to a significant degree, which causes some balance issues, but also impacts his ability to generate power in his stride. The second area is the upper body. I believe this relates to his posture. Because he’s bent over and exerting hard to gain speed, he starts to swing his arms and that creates a lot of upper body sway. This sway serves to actually slow Lachance down as he skates.

In terms of the lower body, his skates are in a nice position in terms of being shoulder-width apart. His boots do get pretty high off the ice and are slow to return to center. Now I believe most of this relates to his upper body, so there is a chance it can be resolved by some other changes.  Bottom line is that Lachance’s opportunity to play professional hockey will improve as his skating improves.

For Shane Lachance, he has some time. He’s committed to Boston University next year where he can work on his skating.

Quite possibly the most low-profile Edmonton Oilers draft pick in some time is Nikita Yevseyev. Yes, he is Russian and we all know the political elements around Russian sports. However, this article is just focused on an 18-year-old young man who is pretty good at the game of hockey. Yevseyev was drafted in the sixth round by the Oilers in the 2022 NHL draft. Yevseyev is a 6’1 187-pound left-shot defenceman. He was drafted having played half his season in the Russian junior league, the MHL and the other half in the VHL which is the Russian version of the AHL.

Now there are limited viewings on Yevseyev because he is averaging only 8 minutes per game this year, but it is in the KHL. Remember, this young man does not turn 19 until May of this year. So playing at all in the KHL as a defenceman is an accomplishment. In the limited viewings, this is a prospect that I very much like.

Let’s start with the skating ability of this player. Here is a great clip in the offensive zone of his evasive turn ability and his lateral mobility. His edgework is impressive for a young player. He remains on balance well and maintains his pace or quickly recovers to his prior pace.

It is also clear that despite scoring 5-2-7 in 48 games this year, Yevseyev has very nice offensive instincts.

The other part of Yevseyev’s game that is intriguing is his shot. He seems, again in small sample sizes, to be able to score from distance with both a slap shot and a wrist shot. The shot does not appear to be particularly hard, but it is certainly accurate and the release does appear to be quite quick.

Overall, this is an NHL prospect that is of great interest to me. He clearly can skate the game at a high level and has some legitimate understanding of the offensive aspects of hockey. That he is doing this all at 18 years old in the second toughest league in the world makes Nikita Yevseyev someone to watch and watch closely.

Just a brief note to congratulate Jake Chiasson on signing his entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers Saturday.

I have written on this site about Chiasson previously. I was always convinced this was a player that needed to be signed by the Oilers. He’s got a pro-style buddy at 6’1″ and 185 pounds and plays a very aggressive style of game. He’s molded like a 3rd or 4th line RW at the pro level. However, I don’t want to discount his upside. Chiasson has skill in his game. Here is a clip of the Saskatoon Blades on a powerplay. The Blades run a very good powerplay which is currently 4th in the WHL at almost 28%.  Watch how often Chiasson is involved in the powerplay. He’s comfortable in skill situations and makes reads quickly.

Therefore, I cannot rule out that there is more upside to his game that currently shows up in the counting stats. One last comment regarding where Chiasson plays next season. I have seen commentary that Chiasson may go back to junior next season. I hope this doesn’t happen. I know that Covid and a tough shoulder injury shortened two junior seasons for Chiasson. However, he has played four seasons in the WHL and I do not know what another season would do for him in the WHL so long as his prior shoulder injury is fully healed. Whatever his next team, he’s taken a big step towards his ultimate dream.

That’s it for this week folks. As always, send me feedback here or at @burlock on Twitter. To my @oilersnation colleagues I wish you plenty of hydration and greasy cheeseburgers this fine Sunday. See you all next week.