The Edmonton Oilers rookies will report for medicals tomorrow and then they will fly to Penticton for the Young Stars Classic. The Oilers rookies will play Vancouver on Friday (8:30 p.m. MT), Calgary on Saturday (8:30 p.m. MT) and Winnipeg next Monday at 12:00 p.m. MT. The Oilers will send 14 forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies, led by Matthew Savoie, Max Wanner, Matvey Petrov and Sam O’Reilly.
The Oilers only have eight drafted players on this year’s roster. Draft picks playing in the NCAA, like Luca Munzenberger, don’t attend, mainly due to NCAA rules, which I think is a tad outdated considering the NIL rules in the NCAA.
Four of the eight draft picks are from the 2024 class. Diehard Oilers fans will get to see Sam O’Reilly, Connor Clattenburg, Dalyn Wakely and William Nicholl for the first time in the Oilers organization this week, so I had a few scouts share their scouting reports on those four. Even though goaltender Eemil Vinni won’t be at camp, I got a report on him as well.
Steven Ellis (DailyFaceoff.com), Craig Button (TSN) and Mark Edwards (Hockey Prospect) shared their views on the Oilers’ top two picks, while Ellis and Button also gave a report on Clattenburg, Wakely and Nicholl.

Sam O’Reilly, F, London (OHL) – First round, 32nd overall

Edmonton Oilers Sam O'Reilly
He is 18 years old who shoots right, and stands 6’1″, 186 pounds.
He had 20 goals and 36 assists in 68 games and added 5-7-12 in 16 playoff games.
Steven Ellis
O’Reilly was one of the biggest movers in the draft rankings due to his play as a smart, two-way center. He had a solid playoff run, too, playing a great secondary role. O’Reilly was playing Jr. B with the London Nationals last year, but it didn’t take him long to get acquainted to the speed and tenacity of the OHL. He put up better numbers than Easton Cowan did last year and just below Denver Barkey, so that’s a good sign. O’Reilly is toolsy, which is important for a player his age. Many scouts considered him to have a higher ceiling than most players taken near the bottom of the first round because they see a player who continued to improve at a rapid pace. I wouldn’t have taken him in the first round if I was a team who had an abundance of picks, but it was definitely worth trading to get the pick for the Oilers to make it happen. Look for him to put up bigger numbers this year with a bigger role in London.
Mark Edwards
O’Reilly is another example of a London Knights forwards pushing their way up the line up, and draft boards, as the season progressed. O’Reilly’s biggest shining moment of his ability to take advantage of the opportunities given to him was during the World Juniors when London forwards Easton Cowan and Kasperi Halttunen were away and representing their country and their ice time became available in London’s top six. During that time Sam O’Reily put up 12 points in 8 games and played some of his best hockey when he was given the most opportunity.
O’Reilly plays a very patient game where he allows the play to develop itself and depending on the zone and what is in front of him, will make a calculated play to best create or prevent opportunities. In addition to his patience, he offers offensive deception to his game off the rush but he primarily creates offense from down low and on the cycle. He leads his teammates into good scoring opportunities and is opportunistic himself in tight and with the puck on his stick coming out of the cycle and pushing to the net.
O’Reilly is a responsible 200-foot player who’s best attribute is his responsibility both with the puck on his stick and without. He has strong positioning and is great at disrupting plays in his own end and being a frustrating penalty killer. He takes away time and space by not overcommitting and staying patient enough to take away shooting and passing lanes and quickly getting the puck out of the zone when it gets on his stick. On the forecheck, O’Reilly works hard and will aggressively finish his checks or work to limit space on the breakout. There is not much hesitation to jump into the dirty areas of the ice for O’Reilly.
The biggest weakness to his game is undoubtably his skating. There is room for improvement in his speed and edgework but with a good frame and the way he plays the game he does not need to develop into a speedster, he just needs to round out his skating which we already saw improvement in as the year went on. As his strength improves so will his skating, and he should be able to keep better balance when pressed physically by opposing defenders and improve his lateral movement coming into the zone to better evade defenders on the rush.
As a trustworthy player who plays in all situations and has some offensive upside, O’Reilly is someone who people should keep their eye on come draft day. Given his consistent playoff performance and his hard-working nature, O’Reilly has the potential to jump into a line-up and become a contributor.
Craig Button of TSN
  • Well-rounded versatile Forward. Can play centre or wing. Excellent sense and feel. Understands the game from a centre perspective and from a winger perspective. He plays those positions with a different kind of initiative depending on which one he is playing.
  • Smart in the middle. Can distribute the puck but has a strong two-way positional awareness and does the full rink work of a centre. On the wing he will drive the net and play strong on the wall. Asserts more physically on the wing, but imposes himself with his size up the middle.
  • Good net front presence and has pretty decent hands in tight. Capable of being a PP presence at net.
  • Skates well and plays with a good pace and with a strong competitive edge where he will push for advantages & make himself a challenge to play against.  Has a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ capability to his game. Lineup & positional flexibility and his type of adaptability is incredibly valuable IMO.
  • Sam’s game has substance, and he has taken significant strides forward this past season and has a lot of room for improvement as he matures.

Eemil Vinni, G, Jokipojat (Mestis)- Second round, 64th overall

Edmonton Oilers goalie prospect Eemil Vinni
He is 18 years old, catches with his left hand, stands 6’2″ and 182 pounds.
He had a record of 17-9-10 record with a 2.72 goals-against-average and .891 save percentage in 37 games.
Mark Edwards
One of the difficulties when evaluating Vinni is that he had an accelerated development curve. Very few goalies play full time in U20-Liiga at the age of 15, and it’s the first time we’ve ever had to scout a first-year eligible goalie in Finland who is playing as a full-time starter in Mestis. To compound matters, Mestis is a slower league and there were a lot of games where he received a low shot volume, which makes our job even harder than it already is.
Vinni was a goalie who excelled at a young age due to his phenomenal quickness. He’s one of the fastest and most explosive goalies in this class. Some goalies look like they are wearing weighted vests out on the ice at times, especially first year eligible goalies who lack strength and conditioning, but Vinni is the exact opposite, he looks like he’s going to take off on a rocket.
Typically, the more gifted the athlete, the more time needed for them to use it as a strength as opposed to allowing it to become a tool that’s used against them. With Vinni’s case, he fell into the camp much like Askarov has in the past, and Cossa for that matter, where he was his own worst enemy and essentially beating himself on the first shot as opposed to letting the shot come to him.
Having better crease containment is essential for Eemil’s translation because he’s a goalie that can fail to track property at the rate that’s required at this stage in his development, when there’s traffic. There’s a concern with his tracking from a consistency perspective. We emphasize the word consistently because he certainly can read advanced plays and track them still or we wouldn’t be talking about him. In-fact he’s been impressive at reading point blank redirect plays and back door plays throughout the season. The game-to-game consistency has been the issue.
Despite the above concerns, this season he still showed much better scanning ability than last year and part of that can be attributed to learning when he can scan the ice when pucks are at dead angles relative to him. In-fact, you could make the argument that he looks to scan the ice and keep his head on a swivel constantly. It’s good that’s he’s learning when he can evaluate the options presented on the ice at dead angles or when a player is rotating with the puck away from him so he can time his scans, but he’s scanning so often in some games, that it leads us to believe that he just doesn’t have a good “feel” or maybe the better word could be instinct for where the opposing players are positioned within his blind spots which is why he’s looking around at options as often as he does.
He falls into the Devon Levi, Dustin Wolf, and Juuse Saros issue of not being very long, which puts him at a severe disadvantage when facing current net front monsters like Tom Wilson, past forwards like Wayne Simmonds, and future forwards such as Elmer Soderblom. The difference between the goalies mentioned above though, when contrasting them with Vinni, is that they are far more mentally dialed in and consistent on a game-to-game basis and that’s really the biggest issue for us when projecting him.
He absolutely looks like a full-time starter on any given save or game, but the mental consistency has never been there, and that’s where his curve gets dangerous since that’s been the case for the past three seasons now. When Vinni is dialed in and locked in on the play in-front of him, he can stand on his head, but once that first goal gets by him, the flood gates can sometimes open.
Due to this danger, we feel he’s under the mark needed to declare him a starter, but there’s potential for a 1B split goalie if things go really well. He’s competitive, he’s a fantastic athlete, and he can skate, and that’s a heck of a base, but mentally he’s not at the starting level for us.
Steven Ellis
This is the pick I was most excited about for Edmonton, because many scouts think he was the best goaltender in the draft. Nabbing Vinni late in the second round was definitely a solid pickup, in my opinion. At 6-foot-2, he has decent size and, fortunately, he isn’t overcommitting on shots as much as he was a year ago. Vinni will need a lot of seasoning before becoming an NHLer, but I see potential in how he commands himself in the crease. I expect him to challenge for Finland’s starting job at the World Juniors, and after a few years in Liiga — where I expect him to be a top goaltender in no time — I believe he’ll be a serious contender to become Edmonton’s starter. There’s still a way to go, but I like him.
Craig Button
  • He may be very similar to Stuart Skinner at the same age.
  • Good size and presence in the net.
  • Awareness and sense of pending danger is very good.
  • Skill level is solid. Like a lot of young goalies, reading the play and then moving accordingly gives you a strong sense of ‘economy of movement.’ This is developmental for Eemil.
  • Moves well with his footwork and his lateral movements are solid.
  • Technical base is good.
  • Needs time to ‘pull the strings tighter’ in his game but has good potential to be an NHL goaltender.

Connor Clattenburg, F, Flint (OHL) – Fifth round, 160th overall

Edmonton Oilers Connor Clattenburg
He is 19, shoots left, stands 6’2″ and 197 pounds.
He tallied 20 goals, 36 assists in 68 games and added 1-1-2 in four playoff games.
Steven Ellis
I’m not sure Clattenburg will ever play a game in the NHL, but as a fifth rounder, it was interesting. He’s a pain in the ass to play against because he goes out there to cause pure violence. He’s also a decent goal-scorer, although that’s not going to be his game in the NHL. If he makes it, it’s to be as an energy forward who can maybe put up seven to 10 goals in a season.
Craig Button
  • Prototypical ‘energy’ player
  • Initiates physical contact & can be a catalyst for good board and corner play. Skates pretty good and can get on top of defenders well & create a sense of discomfort for them.
  • Offense is not a calling card.

Dalyn Wakely, F, North Bay (OHL) – Sixth round, 192nd overall

Dalyn Wakely Prospect
He is 20 years old, shoots right, stands 6’0″ and 197 pounds.
He scored 39 goals and 65 assists in 66 games and then added 13-10-23 in 16 playoff games
Craig Button
  • Massive improvement over the past season.
  • More mature in all regards. Increased confidence. Increased productivity and that never subsided over the course of the season.
  • Smart with and without the puck. Knows where to go, where to be and gets there at the right times to take advantage.
  • Can make plays or finish plays. Knows how to play with good players and how to take their attributes and make it work for himself and for the team.
  • Competes and is always in the fight and battle.
  • Has to work on improving his quickness and pace. Has a quick mind but improving is skating will give him the opportunity to challenge for a spot at the NHL level in time. This is the area of development and what he needs to work on.
Steven Ellis
Wakely was one of the most dominant offensive threats in the OHL as a 20-year-old, nearly playing at an assist-per-night. His hockey sense is high-end, he’s clearly a stout playmaker and he’s also a better play driver than I remember from watching him in his original draft year. As an older player, he’s someone who could step into the AHL immediately and look to make an impact. He’s got a decent frame, but I feel like he needs to play with a bit more force. But as a late-round pick, I like it.

William Nicholl, F, London (OHL) – Seventh round, 196th overall

Edmonton Oilers William Nicholl
He is 18, shoots left, stands 6’0″ and is 184 pounds.
He scored six goals and 14 assists in 65 games and added 1-7-8 in 18 playoff games.
Craig Button
  • Not a lot on him from my perspective.
  • Plays with energy and a spirit.
  • Has a good awareness of his role and how he can be effective in the game.
  • Next steps for him is to see how he can build upon his game, become more productive and influential higher up the lineup.
Steven Ellis
Could Nicholl be a steal? I could see it. He’s very quick and does a good job outthinking his opponents in 1-on-1 situations. He doesn’t get a ton of ice time, but he plays with pace and energy. I hope to see him play up further in the lineup because I think there’s good budding potential here.

CAMP THOUGHTS

Vinni along with Albin Sundin (6th round, 183rd), D, Vastra Frolunda Jr. and Bauer Berry (7th round, 218th), D, Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) won’t participate in the rookie tournament, which isn’t a surprise considering where they play.
Matt Savoie is probably the only player participating who might play a game for the Oilers this season. Wanner could play if the Oilers have a string of injuries, but realistically he needs another year of development in the AHL, which is fine. The Oilers are in the midst of challenging for the Stanley Cup and having teenagers or first-year pros cracking their lineup is a thing of the past. They need Savoie, Wanner and one, or both, of Raphael Lavoie and Roby Jarventie to crack this roster in the future. They will need some youth, even lower down the lineup in the coming years to add some youthful exuberance and low AAV contracts.
From 2007 to 2023 the Oilers added many young players to the lineup, many of whom were high picks with lots of expectations. That won’t be the case for the foreseeable future. The Oilers don’t need youth to carry the team, which is a positive. Savoie won’t have he same type of pressure that players like Sam Gagner, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid had when they entered the organization. Savoie was the ninth-overall pick and he has loads of potential, but the Oilers have proven superstars and when he makes the lineup he will be looked at to be a good complementary player to start, rather than someone to lead. It is a better situation.
However, because the Oilers are a legitimate Cup contender, and should be for the coming years, young players won’t have the luxury of getting to make loads of mistakes and continue to get large minutes. There are pros and cons of being a young player on an established and competitive team. The Oilers don’t have to rush players to the NHL like they did for most of the salary cap era, and if they are developed properly and work hard in the AHL, then it should benefit those who are good enough to crack the lineup.
The 25 players heading to Penticton will use this weekend as an opportunity to get noticed and make a strong impression, more for the down the road than the present.

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