Another week, another William Nicholl update.

No player in the history of doing this piece has gotten more time in half a season than Nicholl has. It isn’t because he’s the only prospect of the Oilers. Nor is it because he’s a long-lost relative of mine. It’s because William Nicholl does good things every game and does them on a level that wasn’t there for most of last season.

His play in the first half of the season has been of such high calibre that his draft value has exceeded that of every other Oiler prospect. To have a very young 7th-round pick show in the top 40 of OHL scoring, the top 15 in plus/minus while doing this all playing mostly third-line center or wing is astounding. It’s likely to get even better when a few of his teammates head off to the World Juniors shortly. Oilers management will get to see more of what happened this week. Let’s dig into the video.

More on Nicholl, the Luca Munzenberger breakout season, and all your Oiler prospect news and notes right here free of charge.

When Denver Barkey, Easton Cowan and, Kasper Halttunen head off to their respective World Junior training camps, I will be fascinated to see what happens to the line combinations in London. There is a legitimate chance that William Nicholl might be the top center on this team for a month. At worst, I would expect him to play on the second line in some role, whether center or wing.

It’s pretty clear that head coach Dale Hunter counts on this player. Hunter gets Nicholl out in every situation, including the high-leverage ones. Often he’s out ahead of players whose pedigree is much more well developed than Nicholl’s. His play has merited this boost in his role on this team.

This week was just another example of what he does for this team. In three games this week, Nicholl was 1-3-4 with a plus-four rating. He showed off a little bit of everything this week. This first clip is all about his ability to accelerate to top gear quicker than most others. I’ve slowed down the video so you can see the footwork more clearly. Look at the number of explosive steps he takes in a short distance to get himself into space. Then watch the fantastic saucer pass to his teammate for the goal.

Those crossover hops are art to someone like me who watches skating mechanics all the time. Quick, strong and technically sound.

The next clip shows his skating again, but it also shows his hockey sense. I commented earlier this week on this goal that some people would call it luck. I am not a big believer in puck luck. Most players who seem to be “lucky” also seem to have an innate sense of where to be and it is usually pretty close to the puck. Nicholl’s skating helps him a lot with this, but he also is like a dog on a bone out on the ice. He is persistent. Combine these two traits with an understanding of where to be and it leads to puck luck.

The last clip I want to show emphasizes this hockey sense. This is a defensive zone face-off. Nicholl is in the play right away and he tries to work the puck out of the zone. When it goes loose to an opposition player, watch what Nicholl does. He knows as the center he controls the slot area between his two defencemen in this situation. Hh recognizes that there’s danger behind him and quickly transitions to get a stick into the play. It wasn’t perfect by Nicholl, but it was very good. His recognition happened quickly and he recovered.

This next month will be very interesting for William Nicholl. He will get even more time on ice and more important roles. How he handles it will give us clues about his ability to drive an OHL forward group.

Munzenberger’s year could be seen in one of two ways. It could be seen as a college senior who should be playing above other players and this is to be expected. Or it could be seen as a player having a breakout season. To be fair, it’s more likely some of each.

Munzenberger should be accomplishing more than his other years, but he is still doing it on a very poor team. For example, Vermont is -11 in even-strength goal situations. There are only five players on the team who have a positive goal share at even strength. Munzenberger is second at a plus-three. He is also up to 3-5-8 in 13 games this year. These are career highs for Munzenberger at Vermont. He’s counted on heavily in high-leverage minutes and also against the other team’s top competition. It is plays like this that are the reason.

This clip is quite long, but I want you to watch Munzenberger for the whole of this 4v6 shift. Watch his footwork, his reach and how strong he is on other players with his body and stick.

Remember collegiate hockey is not junior hockey. For the most part, these are fully grown men. It is not easy to play physically against college players. Munzenberger does it well.

Munzenberger is also a very smart player. Every game he gives you something that shows how well he thinks the game. Watch this set play on a short-handed face-off. Notice the ice scan by Munzenberger assessing the options.  Then watch him wait patiently for his man to get out into space. The pass was good, but a little lucky as well. However, it was relatively risk-free since at worst it would be a clear. Instead, it leads to a goal.

What gets me most intrigued about this player is the potential for offence. The big German has very good footwork. I am not talking about his strong skating ability. It’s very good. I am talking about his lateral footwork. It has contributed to some of point total increases this year. Watch this goal. Pay attention to his feet and how he works to create a lane for a shot. When he gets it, he quickly stops and gets off the shot. His release from the point is incredibly quick and strong.

I’ve said for a few weeks, but the Oilers would be very smart to sign this player because of his size, skating ability and tenacity. If Munzenberger can add some offence, the Oilers have someone who can fill a very empty part of the roster which is left-shot defence.

For those who read my work routinely, you know I have been lobbying for the London coaching staff to play Sam O’Reilly at center. Without going into a long and drawn-out explanation, O’Reilly was a defenceman until a couple of years ago when he switched to forward. Playing him at centre makes sense because he thinks the game like a defenceman.

Instead, O’Reilly has been bounced around from center to right wing and even played some games at left wing. The results have been very uneven. However, in the last two weeks, O’Reilly has been back at center. He moves up and down the lineup, but that is less of a concern for me. Playing center is the most important part. Keep him a in role he knows better. It will be more comfortable and it will lead to better play. As it did this week. In the three games this week, O’Reilly was 3-2-5 and had seven shots on net. He looked very comfortable and it translated on the scoresheet.

Those who know me will get this clip. I love center goals that start on their own goal line. That means you have a player supporting his defence properly. It also means you have a player who has the skating ability to get up the ice in a hurry to contribute. That is exactly what happened here.

My second favourite goal play is the center face-off win in his own zone that leads to an attack. There is nothing more demoralizing to a team that has just created an offensive zone face-off than losing the face-off and having the goal light go off eight seconds later in their own zone. Watch O’Reilly here.

The nice part of both these clips is the skating of O’Reilly. One of the reasons he fell in the draft was the lack of an explosive stride. No question, he doesn’t have that quick burst, but his skating is getting better. His pace is not a concern at all. What needs to improve is his take-off. That looks better three months into the season.

Like William Nicholl, Sam O’Reilly is going to see a lot of time on ice here for the next month. It really is an opportunity for O’Reilly to take the next step in his development. So long as Dale Hunter keeps playing him at center that step should happen.

Beau Akey was selected to the World Junior training camp roster for Team Canada this week. For Akey, this is a tremendous accomplishment given he missed almost all of last season. He started slow this year but is really starting to play well in Barrie.

Edmonton’s top pick pick from the 2023 draft will be in very tough to make Team Canada, but he does have some skills that the team could use. Have a look at this play from a game this week by Akey.

Again, it would be a surprise if Akey made the team, but frankly just getting selected is a massive accomplishment for a player who missed almost his entire draft plus one season.

Paul Fischer was also selected to his first World Junior camp with the United States. There are people I respect who suggest he is a strong possibility to make the team. I am a little more skeptical, but would be happy to be wrong.

Finally, Eemil Vinni was selected as one of the three goalies for Team Finland’s U20 team. Vinni has some work to do in order to play games. He only started playing late in October after having surgery in the off-season. His play has been ok, but I wonder whether the team would want to put him in a high-pressure situation given his age and the fact he’s only played a handful of games this season.

That is all for this week in Oiler Prospectville. As always, please leave your feedback right here or send me a note to @bcurlock on the X or on the Bluesky. Have a great week.