Friday September 5th will officially mark the start of the Edmonton Oil Kings preseason, as they are headed to Hinton, AB for a set of back-to-back games against the Prince George Cougars. The Roil Briefing will be your one-stop shop for all things Oil Kings pre-game primer throughout the season. But why wait for the regular season, when we can get started with these pre-season games and give you a look at what to expect.
On The Throne
Those players that are considered to be trending upwards, on a hot streak, or otherwise impressing will be seen as being On The Throne. Coming out of training camp, the only real measure we have to base anything on is the performances in the Bob McGill Cup inter-squad game. Since Team Red and Team White are still all Oil Kings, it’s going to be a lot for our first look.
Blake Fiddler - Coming off an early 2nd round draft position, and his first NHL Development Camp, Fiddler looked like a new player on the ice. He was active in all 3 zones, and looked faster, crisper, and overall more motivated than anybody else on the ice. He may be on his way to Seattle for NHL Training camp, and might miss the later part of the WHL Preseason and even the start of the regular season. The Kraken will be participating in the 2025 NHL Prospects Game next weekend against Vancouver, and I suspect Blake will be involved and headed down there soon.
Goal Scorers - Niko Tsakumis, Brady Craik, Miroslav Holinka, Jensen Marsh, Andrew O’Neill, Ezekiel Kaebel, and Landon Hanson each scored a goal in the McGill Cup. It may only be an inter-squad preseason game, but it’s always a nice start to get one on the board. Of these scorers, only Holinka currently looks to be headed to an NHL Prospect Tournament. He will likely represent Toronto at the 2025 Prospect Showdown in Montreal next week.
Parker Snell - In a game of rotating goaltenders, sometimes it can be hard to stand out. For Team Red, they ran 3 goalies and swapped after each period. Team White ran 2 goalies, and swapped midway through the game. Parker Snell got to play the first 30+ minutes for Team White, but from my vantage point in the stands he stole the show of the 5 netminders. After Tsakumis beat him on a rebound 4 minutes into the game, Snell shut it down for the remainder of his time in the net for Team White. Rebound control got better with each shot he faced, first shot positioning was on point from the start, and the team in front of him made sure to give him the best chances to succeed. The rookie enters this season with a high ceiling, and I expect him to seize the Oil Kings starting job sooner rather than later.
Rookies - The Oil Kings have an astounding 13 rookies that will be participating in their preseason schedule. Among them, Top draft picks Holden Wouters, Cole Landreville, and Christopher Kokkoris will look to learn from the opportunity before heading back for another AAA season. Kayden Stroeder got 16 games last season and looks for a full year this time around. Cage Smith, Matt Williams, Ryan Gower, and Jensen Marsh all got brief opportunities last season and are chomping to claim a roster spot. Newcomers Dylan Dean, Andrew O'Neill, Matheas Hejda, and Poul Anderson will all be putting up a fight as they look to seize the opportunity to make the opening night roster as well.
Off The Throne
Players that are struggling through a rough patch, on a cold streak, or possibly battling the puck at times will be viewed as being Off The Throne. Since we’re only just getting started on the year, and training camp is not a place to look for cold streaks, there won’t be too much here until the regular season starts.
Training Camp Invitees - Unfortunately, none of this year's camp invites managed to crack a spot into the lineup. Many of them showed some potential in the camp scrimmage games, but the already signed and drafted players held firm and did not open any opportunity for the invites to land a full time roster spot.
NHL Prospect Invitees - At the time of writing, there are no less than 7 Edmonton Oil Kings already confirmed to be invited to participate in different Prospect Tournaments around the NHL over the coming week. While the Oil Kings are playing through their 4 preseason games around Alberta, these players will be off with the respective NHL teams participating in NHL preseason activities. Expect to see them all get into one or both games this weekend, as they all will be likely away for the games next weekend.
- Blake Fiddler: As mentioned above, he’ll be heading to Seattle’s tournament game against Vancouver in Everett, WA.
- Parker Alcos: Teammates turned rival, for one game only, Alcos will likely be a member of the Canucks roster playing against Fiddler.
- Miroslav Holinka: Also mentioned above, he’ll be heading to Montreal to represent Toronto in the tournament between the 3 Eastern Canadian teams.
- Max Curran: The new Oil Kings offseason addition has been confirmed as a member of the Colorado Avalanche roster in Highlands Ranch, CO for the Rookie Showcase against Vegas and Utah.
- Adam Jecho: Will be playing for St.Louis in the Tom Kurvers Showcase in St.Paul, MN against the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks.
- Ethan MacKenzie: Was recently announced as a Camp Invite of the Minnesota Wild, he’ll also be participating across from Jecho in the Tom Kurvers Showcase
- Gracyn Sawchyn: The Oil Kings star may not be returning to the WHL at all this season, but I felt it wouldn’t be right to ignore his participation in the prospect tournaments. He’ll be representing Florida in the Prospect Tourrnament happening in Wesley Chapel, FL.
At the Gate
Who is the man standing between the pipes, the soldier standing between the opponent’s hopes and dreams? The man in the mask, and heavy padding, is the the man At the Gate. This is our section where we will look at the starting goaltenders. I don’t expect the Oil Kings to be announcing full rosters for the preseason, so this section will be mostly held in reserve for the start of the Regular season.
The Oil Kings have 5 Goaltenders who participated in the Bob McGill Cup, but only 3 were named to appear in some preseason action. Along with the previously mentioned Parker Snell, the Oil Kings will be bringing returning veteran Ethan Simcoe, and 2024 draft pick Rail Schollar along to these games. Both teams have now shared their respective pre-season rosters on their official pages.
The Roil Ledger
How well do the Oil Kings match up with their opponents? How have they fared against them in recent seasons? Is there a lot of red in that ledger, or have the results been more positive? We’ll take a look at recent history and notable stats between the two teams.
The Oil Kings and the Cougars only played one time in the 2024-25 season on November 30th and it was a very one-sided game. Parker Snell earned his first WHL win and completed his first WHL shutout in his WHL debut. He stopped 29 shots, including 12 in the 3rd period, on the way to a 5-0 Oil Kings victory. Jecho, Fiddler, Gracyn Sawchyn, Gavin Hodnett and Cole Miller all scored for the Oil Kings.
Last year’s preseason saw these 2 face off in a similar back-to-back fashion in Edson, AB, and saw the Oil Kings come out as dominant victors with a 6-3 and then 6-2 victory over the 2 game weekend. With Prince George being in the West, and Edmonton in the East, these teams only play one regular season game per season, with Edmonton currently holding a 2-0-1 record over the 3 seasons since the world returned to normal.
The Threats Beyond the Wall
What awaits the Oil Kings on the other side of the ice? Who should they be keeping an eye on? How has the opponent stacked up around the league? We’ll be looking at the players to watch, those high on prospect draft boards, and the ones already drafted by NHL teams. The team’s place in the standings, win or loss streaks, and other important information to prime everyone to be ready for the opposition.
This will be the first pre-season action of the year for both teams. Edmonton and Prince George are both coming off of heartbreaking 7-game first round playoff series. The Cougars battled back from a 3-1 series deficit, and 2 thrilling overtime battles, to force a game 7 at home in Prince George, but were eliminated by the Portland Winterhawks.
Prince George has not been hit with the same string of NCAA losses that many other CHL teams faced this year, and would be able to return largely the same roster as last season. Though they are facing the struggle of some of their best players reaching the end of their time in the WHL. Last season’s leading scorer, Riley Heidt, is a top prospect for the Minnesota Wild and expected to start the year with the Iowa Wild.
Second leading scorer Terik Parascak will be returning and looking to be the top guy this year. The 2024 first round pick of the Washington Capitals put up 82 points in 59 games last season, following his outstanding 105 points in the 2023-24 season. He added 10 points in 7 playoff games, including the Overtime winner in a highly entertaining 7-6 victory in Game 1 of the series.
The remaining 3 players in their top 5, Borya Valis, Viliam Kmec, and Koehn Zimmer, were all over-age players last season, and are all gone this year.
With all the players heading to new places, it would be easy to look at the Cougars and think they could be in a rebuild, but they still have talent throughout the lineup. Defenseman Carson Carels is a projected Top 10 pick in next year’s NHL draft. TSN director of scouting, Craig Button, says Carels has “IQ off the charts. He just makes the game look easy.” He finished last season with 35 points in 60 games, and added another 4 points in 7 playoff games.
Starting goaltender, and San Jose Sharks first round pick, Joshua Ravensbergen will be leading the way in net again. He posted 33 wins in 51 games last season, and can steal the show at times for the Cougars. He is a 6'5” monster between the pipes who can be very imposing to opposing shooters staring him down.
This is all preseason after all, so it will provide an opportunity to see who Prince George has waiting to step up and fill in for all of that lost point production. In their intersquad pre-season game, Jackson DeGraves, Jaxen Smyth, and Townes Kozicky scored the goals in a tight 2-1 game and should be watched as potential offensive threats for the Cougars.
If you are heading to Hinton this weekend, or already are there, hopefully you can get out to cheer on the boys and get in some early September hockey. It should be a fun weekend of hockey and a great opportunity to see what’s coming down the line for both teams. Make sure you’re following us here at The Roil Line on you preferred Social media accounts for all future Roil Briefings!