The 2024-25 Bakersfield Condors are officially open for business, their training camp (which officially opens on Monday) having been seeded with a dozen pros identified in the past 18 or so hours. The parent club Edmonton Oilers identified nine players on Wednesday evening, then a further three on Thursday morning who had played in the NHL squad’s 6-1 loss at Winnipeg last night. Though officially two sets of moves, it makes sense to think of them as a coordinated effort.
Not quite the first set of cuts, as the squad had previously reassigned four youngsters back to their junior clubs on Tuesday. The more recent moves involve players under contract, including six NHL-class pacts, five minor-league deals and one player under PTO. The collection includes a very symmetrical six forwards, four defencemen and two goaltenders, including 3-2-1 splits of those with NHL class contracts and those without.
NHL contracted players
All six players in this category are exempt from waivers, five of them on their Entry Level Contract and one player on his second pact. Let’s start with that “exceptional” case:
D Noel Hoefenmayer
The bruising defender has four seasons and over 200 games of minor league experience under his belt, but the first three of those were on an AHL deal. He signed a one-year ELC with the Oilers in 2023, then a one-year, two-way extension this past summer. He remains exempt from waivers due to having just one season on an NHL-class pact — the same exemption that will apply to Noah Philp should the Oilers decide to send him down at some point. Hoefenmayer was among those who played in Winnipeg last night, in fact he led the squad in ice time and earned the primary assist on the lone goal. But it was a fairly chaotic night overall:
- #81 Noel Hoefenmayer — Led the Oilers in both ice time (20:52) and shot attempts (7) in a high-event game. Missed a wide-open outlet pass by 5 feet that cost Edmonton a possession, then later on that shift coughed the puck up deep in Oilers territory leading to trouble. Unable to tie up his man who won the net drive for a dangerous rebound. Took a crosschecking penalty defending the rush a little too exuberantly. Let fly an excellent one-timer on the PP but Kakkonen had the answer. But fired a couple other high hard ones that were off target including one that nailed Brown. Eventually it was his outside blast that was tipped home by Brown.
Edmonton’s #25 prospect by our recent Cult of Hockey rankings, Hoefenmayer remains a solid AHLer who should help the Condors in the season to come. But the fact that eleven pro d-men remain in Oilers camp indicates the size of the mountain he must scale to get NHL games this season.
D Maximus Wanner
A seventh-round pick who has greatly exceeded expectations to this point, the 21-year-old Wanner has a nice combination of size, aggressiveness, and reasonable skill. But he always projected as a multi-year project at the professional level. He played a pair of preseason games, with plenty of evidence of both his promise and his current deficiencies. This from his most recent game, at Winnipeg:
- #88 Max Wanner — Among those younger pros who got schooled at times about the pace of play at hockey’s highest level. Misjudged Nino Niederreiter’s wide speed and was beaten for a decent shot on net. In the right spot but a split-second late on the first goal. Had more success dispossessing Rasmus Kupari on a fast rush, then sheltering the puck and tapping it to an open teammate to walk it out. But was unable to contain Ehlers’ outside-inside move at high speed that led to a wicked shot on net.
Bakersfield is the right place for this young player, where he established himself in 2023-24 with a solid rookie campaign, especially its second half. Expect Edmonton’s #4 prospect to receive plenty of opportunity to grow his game.
C Jayden Grubbe
The big right-shot pivot was among the most noticeable Oilers in Penticton, and played in a pair of preseason contests with the big club, the most recent of those in Calgary on Monday.
- Jayden Grubbe. Holding call late in the First. Good feed to a breaking Henrique at the end of a PK. But is challenged with the pace.
Colleague Kurt Leavins identified his biggest challenge in that last statement. The Oilers’ #10 prospect is tough, strong on faceoffs, positionally sound and defensively responsible. But there were a few occasions where he was second man to the puck against a quicker opponent. He too is just 21 and has two more ELC years to fine-tune his game, but some of that improvement must come in the first-step quickness that is essential at the top level.
W Matvey Petrov
Some down arrows for Edmonton’s #13 ranked prospect, who had an uneventful split-squad game vs. the Flames (the one played in Edmonton) after a very quiet rookie tournament in Penticton. Our sample game report comes from the final game of that event:
- W Matvey Petrov — Flashed a good defensive stick a time or two. Made a couple of slick passes, especially a centring pass to Grubbe for a close-in shot, and looked confident with the puck on his stick. It just didn’t seem to land there a whole lot.
That last statement was a tell for Petrov’s overall showing. He’s a skilled winger who needs to take command of the puck to impact the game. Still just 21, he is contracted for two more years, but will need to show measurable progress in Bako in 2024-25.
W James Stefan
Signed as am undrafted free agent last spring after an outstanding over-age season in the WHL, Stefan is a skilled winger with an excellent shot. Ranked as Edmonton’s #16 prospect in his first year on the list, he had his moments in Penticton, then got two preseason games to show his stuff, with excellent shot shares though no joy on the scoresheet. This from the first Winnipeg game:
- #70 James Stefan – Largely on the fringes of the action. Got loose for a decent shot off the wing late in the second. His d-zone turnover led to an Edmonton penalty.
Recently turned 21, Stefan is at the very start of a three-year ELC. The son of former #1 overall Patrik Stefan was always projected to start his pro career at the minor league level, be it Bakersfield or Fort Wayne. He’ll likely get the chance to show his wares at the former, given the departures of several wingers from last year’s Condors.
G Connor Ungar
He too was signed as an undrafted free agent last spring, having delivered an excellent season (.932) at Brock University after parts of 5 seasons (combined .917) in the Dub. At 22, his ELC was mandated to be two years
Ungar played the middle game in Penticton and delivered a strong performance, holding a much strong Flames club to just 2 goals in what was officially a 3-1 defeat after a last-second empty netter. For whatever reason he was the only one of the seven goaltenders in main camp who didn’t see any game action among the four early preseason contests.
Edmonton’s #21 prospect is expected to make his professional debut in the ECHL, a standard approach in this organization for first-year stoppers from Devan Dubnyk to Stuart Skinner. In Fort Wayne it’s anticipated he will compete/share the load with Brett Brochu.
AHL/ECHL contracted players
- G Brett Brochu just turned 22 and is a contemporary of Ungar, with whom he is expected to share the crease in Fort Wayne. The former London Knight had a solid first pro campaign (.920 in 20 games with Fort Wayne), showed well in his one game in Penticton (a 2-0 loss to Winnipeg), and got his first taste of NHL preseason action playing the back half of the home game vs. the Flames.
- D Connor Corcoran is a four-year vet in the minor leagues, where he has played 30 games in the AHL and 149 in the ECHL which tells a tale. He joined the Oilers system a year ago, playing 45 contests in Fort Wayne (8-15-23, -5), and 5 on a recall basis with Bakersfield (0-0-0, -6). He did get the home split-squad game vs. Calgary, which I did not watch so have zero impression. He was a certainty to be in the first round of pro cuts, and projects to be in Fort Wayne this season.
- D Alex Kannok-Leipert played in that same split-squad game as Corcoran, indeed they were partners. Both were lit up for 3 GA in about a dozen minutes of action. The 24-year-old has played three seasons in the AHL in ther Canucks organization, amassing 123 games with just a single goal. He’ll be in tough to earn a spot in a deep group in Bakersfield.
- F Cameron Wright is 26 now, having turned pro after five seasons in NCAA. After a year in the ECHL in the Colorado org, he spent most of last season in Bakersfield and showed well with 12-9-21, +9 in 48 games. After getting his first NHL preseason game, the right-shot forward will likely start the season with the Condors where he projects in the bottom six.
- F Ethan de Jong is another older player with extensive NCAA pedigree. The grinding forward turned pro a season ago, playing 41 games in Fort Wayne and 14 in Bakersfield. He got a game in Oilers silks last night, but will be doing well if he can stick in Bakersfield in the upcoming season.
- F Jasper Weatherby is unique among the reassigned players, being the only one with NHL experience (50 GP, 5-6-11, -14 with the Sharks in 2021-22). He’s also the only one without a contract, being a late invite to camp on a PTO to balance the numbers after depth centre Carl Berglund was sidelined with an injury suffered in Penticton. If Weatherby shows well in Condors camp, the big left shot forward will be a candidate for an AHL-class pact.
The combined cuts leave the Oilers with 41 players in camp, including 4 goalies, 13 defencemen and 24 forwards as per Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now. Five players are injured, including Evander Kane, Beau Akey, Roby Jarventie,Brady Stonehouse and Berglund, while Raphael Lavoie is day-to-day.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
McCURDY: Review of the dreaded “Winnipeg game”
STAPLES: Oilers defence is both terrific and terrible
McCURDY: No surprises as 4 youngsters cut and returned to OHL
STAPLES: Review of Oilers-Flames split-squad game at Edmonton
LEAVINS: Review of Oilers-Flames split-squad game at Calgary
McCURDY: Review of Oilers-Jets preseason opener
Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy