After the season of 2022-23 was over, Ken Holland made an innocuous little move: he qualified the rights of Noah Philp.

It was odd then because Philp had announced his retirement from hockey, stating a desire to focus on his personal well-being. So that Holland would take such a step didn’t seem to make a lot of sense at the time. Of course, Holland has now moved on, but he left behind a gift in the opportunity for the Edmonton Oilers to sign Noah Philp. Instead of being a free agent, the Oilers had his rights and signed him on July 1, 2024, to a one-year two-way contract worth $775k. I have not agreed with a lot of Ken Holland’s work with young players, but there is no denying this savvy move back in the early summer of 2023 may yield benefits for the current Edmonton Oilers team.

Philp and a cast of young players and AHL vets with a sprinkling of NHLers made their annual journey to Winnipeg yesterday to face a very NHL-laden Jets team for their fourth exhibition game of the season. While the result of 6-1 represented the game fairly in terms of play, a couple of prospects made their case to Oilers management.

None more so then, Noah Philp.

Without any commentary, I want you to watch this clip with a focus on Noah Philp. Follow him for the whole shift.

Noah Philp had lots of clips of good play last night, but the coaches might only need to see this one. Philp’s understanding of the defensive game is elite-level. He stays with his mark, engages players early in puck battles, and uses his body and stick to remove the attack. When a teammate gets into trouble, he is a half step ahead in transitioning back to his zone to defend. He is calm when he wins the battle and puts the puck to a teammate in a safe spot. This shift was brilliant. It’s a coach’s dream.

Here is another shift against Mark Scheifele and the number one line of Winnipeg. Look at how Philp is able to use his size and strength against one of the best puck-protection forwards in the NHL. Yes, he got tagged with a slash at the end, but that one-on-one defending against one of the elite NHL centers was strong.

There is no question the idea going into Winnipeg was to stress Philp. He started with linemates Drake Cagguila and Matthew Savoie and the line was matched against the Scheifele-Connor-Vilardi a fair amount. Philp held up very well, and it should give the coaches confidence in his ability against these top units of other teams.

Even more noticeable than Philp’s defensive game was his pace. Here is a clip of his play from early in his Bakersfield career. Notice the wobble on the crossover and how high the skates come off the ground. Also, notice the upper body swaying from side to side. Once he gets going, it is ok, but there is a lot of energy waste here.

Now, watch this clip from last night.

He’s much more compact in his posture. The skates are lower to the ice, and there is more crossover work now. Also, notice how quiet the upper body is in his stride. This has led to a noticeable improvement in his stride in terms of explosiveness and overall speed. He’s at a point where his skating is NHL average and that is all he needs.

Philp is waivers exempt this season. So, the Oilers have options with him that they do not with others. However, Philp is making it very hard on the organization in terms of decisions and that is a very positive development.

All James Hamblin does is play sound fundamental hockey. He’s not spectacular and wil certainly never score a lot, but he can be counted on defensively and on the penalty kill. Last night was another example of that. Hamblin, who was paired with Derek Ryan and Mike Hoffman, had a strong night.

In a game where the Oilers were outshot 30-20 at 5v5, Hamblin’s shot metrics were 10-1. He led the team in this metric by a wide margin. The notable part here is that Hamblin didn’t get soft opposition. He had most of a second line of the Jets, including Nikolaj Ehlers. When he wasn’t playing that group, he was up against the Scheifele line.

Here is a clip of what James Hamblin did all night. The puck started out in the defensive zone and it almost always ended up in the offensive zone.

I am not sure where Hamblin fits on this team. I made the case that he could be the 13th forward, no question, playing 30-40 games a season. He can win face-offs and play the penalty kill. He’s undersized, but looks stronger this year while his speed remains very good. For my money, I like these types of players in the bottom six of a forward group. Whether the Oilers agree is yet to be determined.

O’Reilly’s stay at Oilers training camp likely ends this week, however, the young man has made his mark, and last night was no exception. The coaching staff did him a solid playing him with two vets in Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown for a good portion of the game. That certainly helped especially since O’Reilly got the Winnipeg #1 line for over five minutes at five-on-five. O’Reilly struggled under the pressure of what was essentially an NHL team. However, he still displayed his trademark 200-foot game. Here is a great clip of what O’Reilly brings to the table every night.

For O’Reilly, the defensive game comes very naturally. What will be the focus for this coming season is his offensive game. That is where the work needs to be focused on because that is what will take him from a bottom six center to a center that can play in the middle of the line-up.

Wanner’s time may also be coming to an end at training camp. He is destined for a 1RD role in Bakersfield to work on his game further, sent down to join the Condors on Thursday morning. Last night was a classic game for those focused on prospect development. Wanner had some very tough moments where he clearly needs more time.

Take a look at this clip here. You can see that the play is still coming too fast for Wanner. Here, he is aware of the player to his right, but he doesn’t recognize the danger of a pass getting to this player. The Jet is already on Wanner’s hip, which means Wanner is beat if the pass gets through. It does.

Wanner either needed to retreat into the path of the Jets player or make a high-risk play on the pass. He was too late to recognize the situation and the Jets got a chance.

Here is another clip that shows this same type of play. It starts badly with the Oilers getting three forwards caught low on a great change of sides play by Winnipeg. It is a long 3v2. Wanner and his partner retreat properly, and he tries to defend his side by playing the lane with a slight lean to the middle. That’s fine. However, when the puck gets through, he needs to turn and attack that player and leave the Jets slot player to Philp. He also needed to turn outside so his stick could get to the puck carrier’s stick quicker with hopes of defending the play. Instead, he turned inside and stayed high.

What Wanner should take away from this is how small the margins for error are in the NHL. He needs more reps to develop, so the right plays come naturally to him.

However, that doesn’t mean it was all bad. Wanner was actually ok on the night. Wanner got a healthy dose of the Jets first line and he held up well. Watch this play that emphasizes what he does really well.

He has a great reach and uses it well to defend. He also engages players physically with success quite often. Wanner is also very strong on his stick. What I liked most here was his calmness in the face of pressure and helped get the puck out of the zone. There is a player here. He just needs more time and reps.

Savoie had a fairly quiet evening last night. His game is quite mature despite his age and his offensive skillsets. Savoie was bounced around a couple of lines last night. He had Noah Philp and Sam O’Reilly as his center in various parts of the night. He didn’t do anything egregious defensively, but he really didn’t have a lot of flair offensively.

There was one moment later in the game that was encouraging. Here, Savoie shows his puck skills and ability to change directions quickly. He rings the puck off the bar, but the entire attack was very creative.

Savoie needs time in Bakersfield in my opinion. He needs to dominant at the AHL level as a right winger as this will be his position in the NHL. He also needs to develop a bit more of an ability to create on his own. He is a little bit reliant on others to create spots for him. The play above should be the norm and not the exception when he gets to the AHL. Savoie as a play driver would be a very welcome development for his NHL career.

The Oilers released a few players yesterday to Bakersfield. The big one was Matvey Petrov who did not show nearly enough in his time in camp. This is a critical year for Petrov, and he needs to work on his consistent and mental side of the game. Jayden Grubbe, James Stefan, and Connor Ungar were also sent down. Ungar likely goes to the ECHL to play 50 games this season. Grubbe will need to work on his offensive game, but his defensive game is very strong. James Stefan will be dipping his toes into the professional ranks this year. Speed and strength improvements will need to be his focus.

That’s it for Game 4 of the exhibition. Game 5 will be very interesting in terms of line-up and deployment.

See you at the rink.