Folks, hockey is back.

While it may not be the likes of the NHL’s superstars, there are more than enough interesting players and storylines to follow heading into the Young Stars tournament kicking off in Penticton this weekend.

Game one of three kicks off for the Oilers kicks off tonight with a 5:00 p.m. MST puck drop and it can be watched either on Oilers+, or through the Winnipeg Jets’ YouTube channel.

For the Edmonton Oilers, all their big-name rookies are there. Up front, players to watch will be Xavier Bourgault, Tyler Tulio, Carter Savoie, Jake Chiasson and Matvey Petrov, all draft picks by the team over recent years, and all players who appeared on Oilersnation’s top 20 prospects countdown, which concluded earlier today.

On the backend, Oilers draftees are lesser with the only two being Beau Akey and Max Wanner, while in net Nathan Day represents the only Oilers pick.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t other interesting names in the mix. In the forward group, former NCAA free agent Carl Berglund and the recently acquired Jayden Grubbe will showcase their talents ahead of main training camp.

Forward Ethan De Jong will be another player to watch as someone who signed with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors this past offseason, as well as defencemen Xavier Bernard and Jake Johnson.

Over on Twitter earlier today, our prospect guru Bruce Curlock dove into the upcoming weekend and what the keys to look for will be. Day will be a player to watch in net, with Curlock noting that rebound control for him.

The big defencemen to watch, to nobody’s surprise, will be both Akey and Wanner. Akey will step into a bigger role in the OHL this season, while Wanner is turning pro to play with the Bakersfield Condors this upcoming season.

Bourgault will need to ramp up his offence, Curlock noted, and this would be a great spot for it to start. He came in at number two on the prospect countdown. Others like Petrov, Chiasson and Savoie will need to make name for themselves in terms of driving play, while Curlock wrote that Grubbe has a chance to make a name for himself quickly.

All in all, I’m just looking forward to being able to watch hockey again.

Carter Savoie – Carl Berglund – Xavier Bourgault
Matvey Petrov – Jayden Grubbe – Tyler Tullio
Brady Stonehouse – Ture Linden – Jake Chiasson
Cameron Wright – Jake Sloan – Ethan De Jong / Preston Lounsbury

Xavier Bernard – Max Wanner
Jake Johnson – Beau Akey
Noah Ganske – Nate Misskey / Josh Van Mulligen

Nathan Day
Zachary Bowen

Here’s what the Edmonton Oilers have listed for their projected lineups for tonight. As mentioned above, this is a great chance for Bourgault to drive some offence and he’s going to draw in on the first line to do so. Wanner on the top pairing is notable, too.

I like the build of these lines. The Oilers’ top six features all the key players that the team is looking for the most out of, so why not jam them all together up there and let it ride?

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.