2024 Edmonton Oilers prospects
#11 D Phil Kemp
By IRA COOPER, Cult of Hockey special correspondent
Phil Kemp is going into his fifth professional season in the Oilers’ organization and, to this point, he has played a total of two minutes and two seconds in the NHL and exactly zero seconds at his natural position as a defenseman.
Congratulations to Phil Kemp for being called up to the Oilers (and earning an NHL pay-check for practicing with the team and watching a number of games) and making his NHL debut, which is not a regular occurrence for a 7th-round draft selection.
For all the criticism previous Oilers’ management has received and continues to receive for their drafting, the one area they have done extremely well is finding value in the later rounds of the draft, in particular with defenseman and tall/big and/or rangy defencemen.
From John Marino in round 6 (2015), to Vincent Desharnais in round 7 (in his third year of eligibility) (2016), to Phil Kemp in round 7 (2017) to Michael Kesselring in round 6 (2018), to Maximus Wanner in the round 7 (2021) and even Nikita Yevseyev in the round 6 (2022).
All the players listed above have started NHL careers or have shown real potential to form NHL careers.
This writer has been a fan of Phil Kemp since watching a few games of his at Yale post-draft but, mostly as an avid watcher of the Bakersfield Condors where Kemp has developed his game year over year for the past four seasons (with a small stopover in Sweden during the Covid-season where he played, along with Condors teammate Raphael Lavoie, 30 plus games for Vasby in the second tier professional league).
After two seasons with the US National Teams (U-17 and then U-18), followed by three seasons at Yale (which included serving as captain in his final season and playing all 7 games for Team USA at the World Juniors in 2018) and, most recently four seasons with the Bakersfield Condors, Phil Kemp is as ready for the NHL as he is ever going to be.
Subject to one possible prohibitive deficiency (which we will talk about), Kemp has the skills and work ethic to make it as a stay-at-home 3rd pairing right shot d-man.
The question is: will he have an opportunity to do so with the Edmonton Oilers?
The Oilers will head into the 2024/25 season without three defencemen who played significant roles on the right side of their defense last season (Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais and Philip Broberg) and, to this point, only two external additions in Ty Emberson and Joshua Brown.
After having moved on from the three incumbents just noted (and previously Michael Kesselring), the door seems like it should be wide open for Kemp to push for a spot on the NHL roster and into the NHL lineup, however, his name is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the conversation.
The Oilers re-signed Troy Stecher (to a fantastic 2 X $787,500 contract) and the general consensus is that Stecher and Emberson will battle for the 2RD/3RD positions and Josh Brown will be the extra 7D and 4RD.
Phil Kemp has the ability to pass Josh Brown on the depth chart if he is afforded a real opportunity, but the organization has essentially blocked this prospect with veterans in front of him, the team working to create veteran depth in their quest to win a Stanley Cup.
As an aside, it’s interesting how the Oilers just lost a very promising and high ceiling left-shot d-man due to blocking him with established veterans on the left side in a yearly effort to use veterans in a quest to win a Stanley Cup.
While Kemp’s game in no way resembles Philip Broberg’s game, and his ceiling is well below Broberg’s (and the veterans blocking Kemp are of lower quality overall than those that blocked Broberg, save Evan Bouchard), I can see similarities in how this likely plays out. While Broberg was lost to an offer sheet, despite being an RFA at the end of this season, unless Kemp plays 79 NHL games this season, he will be a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. With Max Wanner and Beau Akey pressing from below, I would imagine Kemp would be moving on to another organization for the 2025/26 season.
Phil Kemp is what is known as a shut-down d-man who is not known to bring a lot of offence but the man can certainly defend. Kemp is relied upon by the Condors to play all high-leverage defensive minutes against the toughest opponents and on the top penalty-killing unit.
Kemp isn’t overly physical/filthy in the Adam Larsson mold, however, he is a rugged defenseman who is as positionally sound a d-man as you will see in the AHL. He has exceptional angles, is adept at getting in shooting lanes and blocking shots and is far from fun for opponents to deal with along the boards or in front of the net, something most of the Oilers’ current defense group are not known for.
Kemp is also known as an exceptional teammate who will drop the gloves in defense of a teammate done wrong with no hesitation (four fights last season). Both Coach Colin Chaulk, and Jay Woodcroft before him, have labeled Kemp as a main leader on and off the ice and, with the retirement of Brad Malone, I would be surprised if Kemp is not named Condors captain this season.
The reader may notice that this article has not even listed the counting stats for Kemp and that is intentional. Kemp does have a sneaky good shot and, in my opinion, is an underrated passer and mover of the puck, however, offensive production is a non-factor in Kemp’s projection to make it to the NHL. Kemps’ potential insertion on to the Oilers’ roster and in to the lineup will be in the name of solid and rugged defending.
Kemp is a perfect stylistic fit for the Oilers’ third pairing – a tough and hard-nosed defender who can also help move the puck out of the zone. The reader likely asks why he’s never really in the conversation and the answer is easy and obvious, one word, skating.
Skating has never been Kemp’s strong suit and has rightfully been considered quite poor, since his pre-draft days through to today. Of course, Kemp has improved his skating year over year but it remains far from a strength. There are real questions regarding whether he can move laterally enough, edge and pivot to defend rushes and defend in-zone against quick and mobile forwards at the NHL level. If he can, I think this player can be a strong 3RD. If he can’t, well, sail on Phil Kemp.
Expectations for 2024-25: There is little doubt, subject to injuries piling up, that the Oilers will start the season with some combination of Emberson, Stecher, Brown and a PTO covering off the 2RD, 3RD and 7D positions. My hope, and expectation, is that Josh Brown will start the season in the AHL along with Phil Kemp and the organization will call up the player that is earning it on merit and not solely based on NHL experience.
The following may seem harsh, however, notwithstanding hundreds of games of experience in the NHL, we know what Josh Brown is, a replacement level 7D-8D who’s top skill may be the ability to punch faces. On the other hand, we don’t know what Kemp can be at the NHL level, we don’t know if he can skate well enough at the NHL level to use his fantastic defensive IQ and abilities. At the same time, we also don’t know that he can’t. I am hopeful management and the coaching staff will provide a real opportunity to find out.
I’m rooting for Kemp to get an opportunity to show his abilities at the NHL level for the Edmonton Oilers. This is likely the last chance in the Oilers organization.
Cult of Hockey Prospect Series
#12, Have Oilers identified power forward who can ride shotgun with skill?
#13, Oilers prospect hopes to buck troubling trend
#14, Will Mr. Excitement make a difference in Oilers nets one day?
#15, Young Russian d-man on Oilers radar but is he sinking or rising?
#16-20: Late bloomers galore, but will they flower for Oilers?
#21-25: Short on skill maybe, but high on aggression