While the Oilers are getting things rolling with their pre-season, the leagues in Europe are already underway. Let’s go through how Edmonton’s prospects overseas performed last week.

The 2024 sixth-rounder played another three games this week. So far, Sundin is playing over 20 minutes per game, and a healthy chunk of that is at 5-on-5, as he’s barely used on the power play. He provides useful minutes on penalty kills. Unfortunately, Sundin hasn’t registered a point yet, but he has shown some great flashes offensively, using his lateral movement mixed with a bit of deception. As you will see below, it’s John Klingberg-esque.

Sundin has impressed me with his play with the puck. In the clips below, you’ll see the confidence the right-shot defenceman has with the puck on his stick, and even with a ton of pressure, he’s finding the right guys.

Overall, the 21-year-old defenceman has had a good start to his season in my eyes. The main attribute Sundin needs to work on is his skating ability and defending in transition, as he can get his feet caught up easily.

The points are starting to fall for the Russian power forward. After starting his season with zero points in the first three games, Beryozkin has three assists in his last three games. However, he is still waiting for that ever-elusive first goal of the season.

As always, the 2020 fifth-rounder has been around the puck on most shifts. The only thing that has changed about Beryozkin’s game is that he is starting to get on the scoresheet now. Below are clips of his two assists this week.

In the first one, Beryozkin makes an excellent play off the boards for the secondary assist, and in the second clip, you sometimes get lucky.

Points aren’t everything, especially when you’re constantly creating opportunities for yourself and your teammates. Sometimes the puck just doesn’t go in, and right now the puck is starting to find the back of the net when Beryozkin is on the ice.

Getting that first goal will be a big moment in the season, as I think it’s starting to affect him a little bit. In the clip below, you will see he has a wide-open lane to the net, but… drop-passes it? Now, the highly skilled forward may have thought that was the best play to make, but I bet Beryozkin shoots that puck if he has a couple of goals on the year.

The drop pass has been the only moment where I have questioned what the winger was seeing; however, after six games of the KHL season, I have been extremely impressed with Maxim Beryozkin and remain excited about him as a prospect.

After having points in three straight games, the young blueliner is now going on two games without one. But as we discussed, points don’t always matter, and for Nikita Yevseyev to have three points in six games to open his season is nothing short of a great start. The 2022 sixth-rounder went from averaging under 10 minutes of ice time in the 2024-25 season to being his team’s leader in ice time, averaging 22:39 a game.

Yevseyev has been playing in every situation you can think of: 5-on-5, penalty kill, power play, down a goal, up a goal, etc. He plays it all.

The main attribute the Russian defenceman will have to work on is his decision-making with the puck, which is very 50/50. Below are some of his bad plays in the past week.

In the last update, I talked about how I wanted to see Yevseyev activate more offensively, and he is starting to do that. In the clip below, he draws a penalty after getting involved in transition and filling a lane.

In the same game, Yevseyev activates down the wall and makes a great small pass to the middle for a chance.

All in all, it was an excellent week for Nikita Yevseyev. The two-way defenceman has already shown progress in his confidence, as he is starting to join the rush and make more complicated plays with the puck. In the first two games, Yevseyev relied on simple passes and rims to survive on the ice. Now he’s trying to make his mark.

Making his debut in the updates is 2025 sixth-rounder Daniel Salonen. The right-catching goalie is currently in the top Finnish pro league, where he has appeared in three games (starting two). On September 19th, Salonen collected his first shutout of the season, stopping all 23 shots. The Finnish netminder now has a 2.86 goals-against average and a .870 save percentage in his three appearances this season. Salonen seems to have won over his coaches’ trust, as he has split the work with former NHL goalie Antti Raanta.

Come back for the mid-week update, as we will have some viewings of prospects in NHL games by that point. Ike Howard and Matt Savoie look to cement their names among the top-nine forward options, and one of them is likely to start in a top-six role come October. Hockey is starting to feel like it’s back.