One Oilers draft pick who really met his expectations this past season was Shane Lachance, a sixth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2021. He came off a very strong year with Youngstown in the USHL. As a rookie, Lachance totalled 13-14—27 in 40 games playing in the very difficult Hockey East Conference. Lachance bounced from the second line down to the fourth line before settling on the top line with fellow rookie Macklin Celebrini. The duo helped the Terriers go all the way to the National Championship final before losing to the Denver Pioneers.

The big, rugged forward started slowly last season, but by year’s end, was a force on almost every shift. His sheer size and understanding on how to do it created scoring chances. Watch this clip here where he used both his size and his length to create a goal for his team.

Here is another example of the challenge opposition teams face when they play Lachance. He is a mountain of a man to move and he has great hands to take advantage of the space he creates.

And again.

Not to be outdone, Lachance can shoot the puck. His release finishes a little slow, but the puck comes off his stick hard and accurate. Scoring from a distance is probably not his ticket to the NHL, but it is an excellent skill to have.

Coming into his sophomore season, there are two keys to focus on with Lachance. The first is continued improvement in his skating. Lachance was a sixth-round pick for one reason only: his skating. He remains very hunched over from a posture side and it leads to a lack of balance, but also less power. He will never be Connor McDavid for certain, but he will need to figure out some mechanical improvements so that he can get to the puck in the professional game when he’s done at Boston University.

The other issue is what does Lachance’s game look like without Macklin Celebrini. There is no question he benefitted from being on his line and playing on the first powerplay. However, there was enough tell in his game last year that he can generate chances on his own. It will be critical to his development to prove that Celebrini was not the reason for his successful freshman year.

Lachance is almost the perfect prototype winger for the talented Oiler offensive group if he continues to grow and, the big one, he signs with the Oilers. The Oilers have a checkered past in this area. However, first things first, Lachance needs to progress in his sophomore year.