For a very long time, the Edmonton Oilers have been looking for right-handed players of certain skill sets: Right-handed defencemen who can play in the top four, right-handed wingers who could play in the top six and right-handed centers who could anchor bottom six lines playing meaningful minutes. So when Jayden Grubbe was traded to the organization, he came at a fortuitous time. The third round pick of the New York Rangers was dealt to the Oilers in May 2023, shortly before the end of his last junior season in Red Deer. His fortunes got even brighter when Noah Philp announced his retirement leaving a slot in the middle with the Bakersfield Condors.

Unfortunately, Grubbe came to a Bakersfield program that has struggled to develop forwards with any consistency and who weren’t first-round picks. Grubbe ended his first year 8-6—14 in 67 games. He struggled to find his role early on, and it was only after the Christmas break that Grubbe finally settled in and looked comfortable in a role.

Grubbe plays a heavy game from the faceoff out. He is hard on the puck and uses his size well to create loose pucks and space. Here is a prototypical shift for him.

Here is another shift of Grubbe using his size to his advantage.

Finally, here is Grubbe using his strength and size to make space for himself to score.

The one area where Grubbe was critiqued in his draft year was his skating. However, there is no question he has worked on this area of his game. His boots used to come up to high on the kick and the pull back to underneath the body was slow. That clearly changed in his first season in Bakersfield. Here are some clips of his improved acceleration from a stop and his higher-end top speed.

More importantly, his defensive zone skills from the faceoff will accelerate his progress in the Oilers system. This is what he needs to do consistently each game.

There is a slot in the bottom six for a big, defensively strong right-shot center with the Edmonton Oilers. There has been for some time and there will be this year once again. Grubbe’s development could fill this hole in the organization.