Oil Kings in rebuild mode after losing half last year's squad to draft, NCAA

In the ever-changing world of major junior hockey, where players time out because they’re too old and now a conga line of kids bolt for NCAA scholarships, the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings are not even a reasonable facsimile of last year’s 95-point squad.

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“I think we’ve got 13 new faces,” said GM Michael Chan.

“Yes it is, we’re on the high end of total players lost along with Everett and Kamloops,” said Chan, who is good with math as he welcomes an old face, circa 2014, Memorial Cup champion goalie Tristan Jarry, but only for an autograph session Sunday as his 2026-27 team kicks off their retool with their WHL home-opener Sunday against the Red Deer Rebels.

The very early scouting report says the rest of the league will be seriously chasing the Medicine Hat Tigers this season because they have back the Ruck Twins, winger Liam and Markus, who were both drafted by Pittsburgh in the top 39, and aren’t going the NCAA route, yet.

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They also have a strong supporting cast, but the much different Oil Kings will soldier on, after losing most of their high-end forwards and a chunk of their back-end.

Their only visible plus? The Oil Kings still have one of the league’s best tag-teams in net, Parker Snell, at Columbus camp as a fifth-round draft pick and Ethan Simcoe, starting his third WHL season. They may need to win a lot of 3-2 games.

“Their return is huge … they’re going to be the backbone of our team,” said Chan.

The Oil Kings, who won’t have Snell, returning Winnipeg Jets seventh-round draft pick D Noa Ta’Amu, and newcomer centre K.J. Sauer a Flyers’ fifth-rounder, for this weekend, but maybe all three will show up early next week. On top of Leafs draft pick Miroslav Holink, Blues prospect Adam Jecho, Gavin Hodnett of University of Nebraska-Omaha, Lukas Sawchyn with Arizona State, Andrew O’Neill at University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Landon Hanson at Sacred Heart all leaving — graduating or going the college path — Chan has returning kids Cage Smith, Matt Williams and Kanjyu Gojsic dealing with injuries, out week to week.

“Big turnover, losing the amount of scoring we had … when you have the liberty to look at teams over the last 15 years that had 45 wins, we know what that looks like,” said Chan.

The 17-year-old Kayden Stroeder, who was terrific for Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky, so much so he might now be a late 2027 first-round pick and the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Sauer, 18, whose rights were acquired in a trade with Penticton at least for a year before he heads off to University of Minnesota Duluth, will give them two strong pegs in the middle, along with returnee Aaron Obofaifo.

Stroeder, who has committed to Notre Dame in the NCAA for the 2028-29 college season, played farther down the lineup last season with 32 points, but he won’t this year. He should be double that or more this season.

“Stroeder showed at the U-17 World Challenge last November he was one of the best 2009 forwards. I wouldn’t say I was surprised at how he played at the Hlinka, but I was happy he got the opportunity to showcase his ability,” said Chan, who watched Stroeder dazzle with Jaakko Wycisk and Ben Veitch.

This isn’t a big rebuild like the Oil Kings suffered through after getting to the Memorial Cup in 2022, more a change on the fly. But, getting 95 points like last season looks like a stretch, unless they find some of their lost offence.

“If you take the middle third, those teams are losing four to six players out of their lineup from a year ago. We’re at the high end, teams like Medicine Hat, Calgary and Portland, which made a conscious effort last season to go with a younger lineup, are on the lower end of things with players gone. Teams now are in a three-year window with lineups, whereas it was a five-year run in the past,” said Chan.

The Oil Kings lost Holinka, Jecho and Max Curran as their Euro imports after this past season but drafted two Czechs — defenceman Luklas Kachlir and centre Jonas Vanicek, who both played in Hlinka-Gretzky, and Finnish winger Olli Wahlroos, who was at the Oilers rookie camp.

The puck-moving Kachlir remains in Czechia playing in their Elite League as a 17-year-old. But if his ice-time gets cut — Penguins draft pick Tomas Galvas is the same type of offensive defenceman and will be returning from Pittsburgh’s camp — Kachlir may join the Oil Kings where he’ll likely run their power play. It’s his draft year and he needs the exposure.

They took Kachlir, who could be a top-three round NHL draft pick in 2027, even if small at 150 pounds. They knew he wasn’t a given to report to North America because he’s getting paid pro money, but he also wants to play.

“It was a calculated decision by us. He’s a talented player. We got him later in the draft but, yes, there were risks,” said Chan, comfortable with the dialogue he had with Kachlir’s representatives. “It’s status quo right now. It’s still a process to where he fits in his lineup back there.”

Vanicek, 17, had an average Hlinka but he’ll probably be a 2027 draft pick, too.

“We’re in the process of figuring out where he fits. He’s had a productive pre-season, putting up lots of points but it’s a process where he’ll play with the more congested time and space. Wahlroos is older, already 18, but he’s played on their Finnish national teams for a number of years. He’s got size for us at 185 pounds. The Oiler staff thought he played well at their rookie camp,” said Chan.

“Internally we want to block out the external noise as to where we should finish. We should know in two and a half months where we stand,” said Chan.

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