With the Canadian Hockey League starting up on September 18, three Edmonton Oilers prospects will watch as their teams play games this weekend. Tommy Lafrenière, David Lewandowski, and William Nicholl will all be attending main training camp with the big club.

All three selections will be back with their junior teams at some point early in the 2025-26 season, as none of them are legitimate candidates to make the opening-night roster, especially Nicholl, as he nurses a shoulder injury to start his campaign. All three had great seasons in 2024-25, and each is expected to make another jump in their development. Here’s what I want to see from each player.

In 2024-25, the London Knights forward saw his point total rise from 20 points in 65 games to 57 points in 66 games, and Nicholl finished the season as a Memorial Cup champion. Due to upper-body surgery, Nicholl won’t be playing regular-season games until the second half. This is a major setback for the 19-year-old, as he was trending up throughout last season. Getting comfortable again in a game setting is the main goal when he gets back up to speed. The Knights look like a strong team again, and the speedy winger will play a big role down the stretch. I don’t think Nicholl will see a big rise in points this season; it will take time to get comfortable after being off for four to six months. For the 2024 seventh-rounder, I want to see him continue to be aggressive when he’s on the ice. His ability to skate away from checks in tight was starting to show up more consistently last year, and refining this will be huge as it helps him buy time against opponents. Only time will tell, but I’m very interested in what Nicholl will look like after the time off.

The first selection of the Oilers’ 2025 draft played his first full WHL season in 2024-25, logging 68 games with an impressive 24 goals and 32 assists. Lafrenière showed off his tenacity on the forecheck, great timing on routes to find quiet ice behind defenders, and his finishing ability during the home-and-home against the Flames rookies. This season, the Kamloops Blazers have some good pieces at the top of the roster in Harrison Brunicke and Nathan Behm, but there are still holes. The 2025 third-rounder will be relied on heavily to provide offence and maybe help on the penalty kill. I expect Lafrenière to be around a point per game this season, and I’m already impressed with the finishing. I’d like to see his passing take a step. The Kamloops winger showed flashes of good playmaking, but often struggled to connect under pressure. This will be a big developmental year, as on paper, he should get a lot of ice in every situation and be relied on to create offence.

Like Lafreniere, Lewandowski played his first full WHL season in 2024-25 after coming over from the DEL in Germany. After gutting their team and loading up on young talent and picks, the Saskatoon Blades didn’t have much in terms of skill. In 52 games, the German import put up 15 goals and 24 assists on a lower-scoring team. Coming into 2025-26, I think Saskatoon will take a step up from how they looked after moving out higher-end players. Lewandowski should maintain the role he had toward the end of the year, working the flank on the top power-play unit and skating on the top line. I think Oilers fans will see a point-per-game jump from the power forward this year, but my eyes will be on whether he can push the pace better and clean up his skating mechanics. An added bonus would be if Lewandowski could threaten the middle more, using the deception and smooth outside-edge work he’s shown in flashes.

After the Sam O’Reilly trade, there are only three CHL prospects to keep an eye on this year. All three have reasons to get excited. When healthy, they’re penciled in to play big roles for their squads. For now, they get to experience an NHL training camp.