One of the things I’m most looking forward to when the Edmonton Oilers training camp starts is the battle for the bottom six, with several Oilers competing for jobs, including Mathieu Joseph.

The Oilers signed Joseph on the first day of free agency to a one-year deal worth $1 million average annual value (AAV), and he’s an eight-year NHL veteran who brings speed and experience on the penalty kill. With that in mind, here are five little-known facts you may not know about the Oilers’ new forward.

Joseph played four seasons of junior hockey with the Saint John Sea Dogs, and put together an impressive fourth and final season in the QMJHL.

He finished with 80 points (36 goals, 44 assists) in 54 games that season and, in the process, set a Sea Dogs franchise record with a 28-game point streak that spanned from Oct. 26 to Feb. 10, 2017.

That said, it was an eventful year for him. Before his point streak took off, Joseph signed his entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 24, 2016, and then left to join Team Canada for the 2017 World Juniors.

When he returned to Saint John, he was locked in down the playoff stretch and into the postseason, where he was a difference-maker for his club. “It’s a fun record, but hopefully it helps the team win,” said Joseph, then 19 years old, a little foreshadowing at the time. “That’s all that matters.”

Overall, Joseph’s 28-game point streak ranks tied for 43rd all-time in QMJHL history, while Mario Lemieux holds the top spot with a magnificent 61-game streak during the 1983-84 season.

The Sea Dogs were dominant during the 2017 playoff run. They swept Rimouski and Val-d’Or, defeated Chicoutimi 4-2 in the semifinal, and then met Blainville-Boisbriand in the President’s Cup Final, with Joseph carrying his hot streak from the regular season well into that playoff run.

In the opening week of the final, Joseph was named CHL Player of the Week after recording five points in the first two games against Blainville-Boisbriand.

In Game 4, he recorded four assists in the Sea Dogs’ 5-1 win, helping his team win the President’s Cup. He finished with 32 points in 18 playoff games, averaging 1.78 points per game (P/G), which led the entire QMJHL.

That said, winning the President’s Cup sent Saint John to the 2017 Memorial Cup in Windsor, where they went 1-2 in the round robin and were eliminated by the Erie Otters. Nevertheless, Joseph’s 32 playoff points are the third-highest total in Sea Dogs single-season playoff history.

Mathieu Joseph and his brother, Pierre-Olivier, grew up in Laval, Quebec, where their father played and coached hockey and was highly competitive in his youth, and that competitive drive carried over to both of his sons.

Growing up, the Joseph brothers were competitive in everything they did, from playing ping pong and mini sticks to, especially, hockey.

Mathieu is about two and a half years older than Pierre-Olivier, but they faced each other in the QMJHL for two seasons, with Mathieu playing for the Sea Dogs and Pierre-Olivier playing for the Charlottetown Islanders, with both teams in the same division.

That competitiveness was still amped up while they played each other in junior, but their mom had one rule: they weren’t allowed to fight each other.

“The first game we played, we had a double-minor at the end of the game,” Pierre-Olivier said in a 2020 interview with Taylor Haase. “He was on top of me, I grabbed his leg, and then he punched me in the face.”

Then, Mathieu was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the fourth round in 2015, playing for the Lightning for three seasons and later the Ottawa Senators, while Pierre-Olivier was drafted in the first round by the Arizona Coyotes in 2017 and traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2019, where he played for four seasons.

The Joseph brothers had always dreamed of one day playing with each other, thinking it might happen later in their careers, maybe in Europe, but that dream came true during the 2024-25 season.

On July 2, 2024, Mathieu was traded to the St. Louis Blues, along with a third-round draft pick, for future considerations. Then, Pierre-Olivier signed with the team as a free agent on a one-year, $950,000 deal, joining his brother in St. Louis.

The Joseph brothers combined for one goal during the 2024-25 season, and they did it at an opportune time in October 2024, with their parents in attendance. Pierre-Olivier assisted on Mathieu’s goal to tie the game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Their parents fist-pumped with big smiles on their faces, as they cheered on their sons, who became the seventh set of brothers to suit up for the Blues.

One of the strengths I’m most excited to see Joseph bring to the Oilers is his speed.

His speed is also an important part of his defensive game, helping him close in on opponents and create takeaways.

Since the 2023-24 season, according to Natural Stat Trick, among forwards who have played a minimum of 200 minutes, Joseph ranks 12th among all NHL forwards in takeaways per 60 minutes at 2.36. Joseph also led the Senators with 69 takeaways during the 2023-24 season and has recorded 99 takeaways in 183 regular-season games.

That said, with the forward’s quickness and tenacity, it seems like he could be a good fit under head coach Mike Babcock’s system, which emphasizes a hard forecheck and a tenacious playing style.

As mentioned, he won the QMJHL’s President’s Cup in 2017, and in the middle of his hot streak during the regular season, he left to represent Team Canada at the World Juniors. He tallied five points (one goal, four assists) in seven games, which included scoring a goal in the gold medal game, but Canada lost to Team USA in a shootout, earning the silver medal.

Joseph represented Team Canada once again at the 2019 World Hockey Championship, falling to Team Finland in the gold medal game, with Joseph once again taking home a silver medal while representing his nation.

Most notably, Joseph is also a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

He was part of the Lightning’s 2019-20 roster when they won the Stanley Cup. Though he didn’t play in any playoff games, he played in 37 regular-season games, recording seven points (four goals, three assists). Because the regular season was shortened that season, he qualified to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup and received a Cup ring despite not playing in the postseason.

The following season with the Lightning, Joseph played in 58 regular-season games and had a bigger role when the playoffs rolled around. He played in six playoff games, including four in the Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal Canadiens, where he tallied two assists, winning his second Stanley Cup.

During his day with the Cup in the summer of 2021, he took the Stanley Cup back home to Quebec and proudly ate poutine out of it, enjoying one of the province’s most iconic foods.