On Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers head to Washington State to face off against the Seattle Kraken.
Despite sharing the Pacific Division, these teams have little history between them — no trades, no playoff battles, and no marquee matchups. The Kraken and Oilers have six common players. Five of those players, Jordan Eberle, Adam Larsson, Justin Schultz, Devin Shore, and Kailer Yamamoto, all played for the Kraken as recently as 2023-24, while Riley Sheahan played for the Oilers in 2019-20 and the Kraken in 2021-22.
However, their connection with Seattle deeper than it seems, thanks to shared players and an intriguing link to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Let’s explore these ties in this week’s Throwback Thursday.
Calvin Pickard
Calvin Pickard is one of two Thunderbird players who have played for the Oilers this season. The netminder spent four seasons in the Western Hockey League, all with the Thunderbirds. His rookie season in 2008-09 saw him post an .896 save percentage and 3.05 goals against average in 47 games. The following season, he had a .914 save percentage and 3.09 goals against average, with the Colorado Avalanche drafting him 49th overall the same season.
In 2010-11, Pickard had a .916 save percentage and 3.36 goals against in 68 games played of the 72 games the Thunderbirds played that season. His final season with the Thunderbirds was in 2011-12, where Pickard had a .906 save percentage and 3.59 goals against average in 64 games.
After spending parts of four seasons in the American Hockey League, Pickard made his National Hockey League debut in 2014-15. He bounced around organizations playing in both the AHL and NHL before landing on the Oilers in 2022-23. After spending the entirety of the season with the Bakersfield Condors in 2022-23, Pickard was called up after four games in 2023-24 due to poor performance by Jack Campbell.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Noah Philp
Noah Philp is the Oilers’ next fourth-line, right-shot centre. The Canmore, Alberta native played two seasons with the Thunderbirds in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Overall, he scored 40 goals and 125 points in 127 games after getting a larger role than he did with the Kootenay Ice (now the Wenatchee Wild).
Philp wasn’t drafted, instead playing two games with the Stockton Heat to end the 2018-19 season before spending two seasons at the University of Alberta. He eventually signed with the Oilers organization, scoring 19 goals and 37 points in 70 games with the team in 2022-23. Philp missed all of the 2023-24 season due to personal reasons, but returned in 2024-25 where he has 13 goals and 25 points in 47 games.
Moreover, the 26-year-old has played 12 NHL games, where he has two assists. We’ll see him again with the Oilers in the future.
Ethan Bear
While the Oilers passed on drafting Mathew Barzal in 2015, they did select Ethan Bear, a Thunderbirds standout, in the 5th round. Bear excelled in junior hockey, culminating in a 70-point season and an Ed Chynoweth Cup championship in 2017. He transitioned to the NHL in 2019-20, forming a solid pairing with Darnell Nurse. Despite setbacks like injuries and a trade to Carolina in 2021, Bear remains a skilled defenseman, now performing at a high level in the AHL. His journey underscores the Oilers’ knack for finding late-round gems.
Lane Pederson
Pederson spent two seasons with the Thunderbirds, tallying eight goals and 20 points in 2014-15. While he’s logged 71 NHL games, his recent success has come with the Bakersfield Condors, where he’s amassed 27 goals and 64 points across two seasons. A call-up to the Oilers could still be in his future.
Reid Schaefer
The Oilers selected Reid Schaefer in the first round of the 2022 draft, making him the third Thunderbird drafted by the organization. However, Schaefer’s tenure with the Oilers ended before it began, as he was traded to Nashville in the deal for Mattias Ekholm.
Rob Klinkhammer
When I think of Olympian hockey players, I think of Rob Klinkhammer. Yes, fourth-line grinder Rob Klinkhammer is an Olympian, having represented Canada in 2018, but Connor McDavid isn’t (yet).
Klinkhammer played parts of two seasons with the Thunderbirds, scoring three goals and eight points in 33 games in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Most of his WHL career was spent with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but he also played for the Portland Winter Hawks and Brandon Wheat Kings, playing for three teams in one season.
The Lethbridge, Alberta native went undrafted and played his first four professional seasons in the American Hockey League. He made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010-11, before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2011-12 where he played 15 games.
Klinkhammer became a regular with the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, playing three seasons there including the 2013-14 season where he scored a career-high 11 goals and 20 points. The Penguins acquired Klinkhammer in Dec. 2014, before trading him less than a month later along with the 16th-overall pick for David Perron.
Quick side note: that 16th-round pick was in the deep 2015 draft. The Oilers traded it and the 33rd overall pick for Griffin Reinhart (the worst trade in Oilers history) and the Islanders selected Mathew Barzal, who played for — yes, you guessed it! — the Thunderbirds.
Anyway, Klinkhammer played 54 games with the Oilers in two seasons, scoring two goals and four points. In 2015-16 with the Bakersfield Condors, he scored 14 goals and 24 points in 27 games, but never played another game in North America after that season.
Nowadays, Klinkhammer serves as an assistant coach for the Rockford IceHogs, one of the first professional teams he played for. Maybe he’ll coach the Oilers one day.
Matt Berlin
If Matt Berlin’s name sounds familiar, that makes sense. He’s not a part of the Oilers organization, and in fact, the 27-year-old’s most recent action came with the University of Alberta in 2023-24.
Before that, though, Berlin played parts of two seasons with the Thunderbirds. In 2016-17, he had a .902 save percentage and 2.82 goals against average in 13 games with a 7-2-0 record. The following season, he had an .893 save percentage and 3.40 goals against average in 24 games with a 12-7-1 record.
Berlin’s junior career ended in 2018-19, and he began to play for the University of Alberta Golden Bears in 2019-20. Still with the Golden Bears in 2022-23, Berlin was signed to an amateur tryout contract after Stuart Skinner was set to miss the Jan. 28, 2023, game with an illness.
In a 7-3 game with Edmonton well ahead, the Oilers pulled Jack Campbell and allowed Berlin to play the final few minutes. That was a pretty cool moment.
Retired Thunderbirds with ties to the Oilers…
Petr Nedvěd: Drafted second overall in 1990, Nedvěd played one prolific WHL season with the Thunderbirds, scoring 145 points in 71 games. His NHL career included a stint with the Oilers in 2003-04, where he contributed 15 points in 16 games. He returned briefly in 2006-07 before finishing his career in Europe.
Chris Joseph: A former fifth overall pick, Joseph played three seasons with the Thunderbirds before joining the Oilers in 1987-88. While he had flashes of success in Edmonton, much of his career was spent in the AHL and with other NHL teams.
Trevor Sim: The first Thunderbird ever drafted by the Oilers (53rd overall in 1988), Sim played just three NHL games, spending most of his career in the minors.
Brad Zavisha: Zavisha played three WHL seasons with Seattle before the Oilers acquired him in 1992. While he only played two NHL games, he enjoyed a lengthy career in the AHL, Europe, and the ECHL.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
