Today marks the official brand launch of The Roil Line on the Shotgun Sports Network family. We are your new home for fan driven Edmonton Oil Kings focused content, providing opinions, analysis, and unique perspectives. A brand new destination for deep dives, prospect profiles, and insight into the player’s shaping tomorrow’s game. Built on the stories, struggles, and triumphs of rising stars, The Roil Line takes fans beyond the scoreboards and into the junior player’s journey.
From the Canadian Junior ranks deep inside Rogers Place all the way to the NHL Draft Stage and beyond, we are singularly focused on the players who pull on the Oil Kings jersey and their stories before, during, and after their time in Edmonton.
Why “The Roil Line”
When looking to brand ourselves, we wanted something uniquely recognizable as our own while still paying homage to the team we love and will be covering. The name has two meanings, It’s a nod to the royalty of the Oil Kings, but intentionally spelled as Roil for the Oil identity. Our primary focus in our early days will be written articles, on a page, in lines. Thus, The Roil Line was born.
To roil also means “to stir up or churn,” such as the roiling current of a sea, and we wish to stir up and churn conversation about junior hockey in the Edmonton area. We want to bring constant movement, intensity, and the push-and pull that makes hockey unpredictable and compelling. The name reflects what the journey through junior hockey is, unpredictable, turbulent, and constantly shifting. For prospects, the path to the pros is rarely smooth. It’s full of highs, lows, and moments that define careers. The Roil Line is here to chart that journey, and give fans a front-row seat to the ride.
What to Expect
- Roil Reserves - Detailed scouting reports and breakdowns of future Oil Kings players. Monitoring and updating profiles on CHL drafted prospects that are playing their U16 season in AAA leagues across the country. Want to know who is coming on the horizon for Edmonton, then keep it tuned to these prospect spotlights.
- Roil Watchlist - in-depth looks at Edmonton Oil Kings players chasing the NHL dream. Draft positioning, development paths, NHL readiness, and where they could project to fit in NHL teams’ depth charts.
- Return to the Throne? - Our offseason projection series where we look at NHL signed or NHL drafted Oil Kings, and review their situation alongside the team who has their NHL rights to determine if we believe that player will be making their NHL debut, returning for another season with the Oil Kings, or (if possible) moving to another option.
- Roil Recollection - Quick, engaging looks back at the club’s modern-day history.
- Dramatic Storytelling - Every article will be fueled by the intensity of the game. Big picture narratives highlighting the human side of development, imports adjusting to life in Canada, late bloomers fighting for recognition, and the superstars chasing sky high expectations. Personalities, work ethics, and stories will be in the spotlight as we provide perspectives designed to spark discussion and debate while remaining true to the fan spirit of junior hockey. Most of these players are still just kids, with families and loved ones who are fans just like the rest of us, and we want to embody the types of fans who understand this and view all of the players as humans chasing a dream, remaining encouraging in all discussions on player performance and development.
- Roil Facts - Follow us on social media for recurring trivia tidbits about the Oil Kings, from player countdowns, to scoring stats, and “did you know” pieces from every corner of the Oil Kings recent history.
- And so much more yet to come...
Stay in the loop, Follow us Here:
Who We Are
First and foremost, we are fans just like all of you. We watch because we love the game, and we now write and share our opinions because we are passionate about this team. Shotgun Sports Network celebrates fans and groups that create content for their favourite sports leagues and teams, and we felt like it was the perfect place to bring our vision to life. The Roil Line is excited to be the first CHL representation on the site.
Behind The Roil Line is Cody Defoe, a follower of junior hockey since the 2007 return of the Edmonton Oil Kings and a storyteller with a background in the business of sport, paired with writing experience covering the Minnesota Wild in 2018. His passion for scouting, data-analysis, and detail-oriented evaluation sets the direction of The Roil Line’s vision. His approach blends statistics with the passion of a longtime fan to position each article to inform, entertain, and connect with the audience.
Alongside Cody is Len Nunes, who has been contributing Oil Kings content to the Shotgun Sports Network for years without a true brand of his own. What started for Len as organizing fan bus trips to Calgary for the Edmonton Rush quickly grew into a role working with the team itself. That experience sparked a commitment to giving back, leading to a dozen years of volunteering with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL and then BCHL, as well as being a season ticket holder with all of the Elks, Stingers, and Oil Kings. He carries with him the same excitement and sense of connection that first drew him into the business, a passion and commitment to community, and now into helping build The Roil Line as a space for Edmonton Oil Kings fans to come together.
Cody and Len first crossed paths on that Edmonton Rush fan bus, Cody as a season seat holder, Len as the organizer and team employee keeping it all running. Since then, their love of Edmonton sports has seen their paths intertwine time and again. Now, they’ve come together with a shared passion and a simple goal of bringing fans closer to the stories, the data, and the moments that make the Edmonton Oil Kings an exciting team to follow.
Built for Hockey Fans by Hockey Fans
At its core, The Roil Line is about giving fans more than statistics on paper, more than the headlines, and more than the quick recaps. We aim to peel back the layers of the junior hockey world, to follow the threads that link Edmonton junior hockey into the wider game around the world, and to ask the questions that fans care about.
Whether it's a sixth round NHL draft pick chasing a future opportunity to shine on the big stage, or a future first round draft pick chasing a WHL Championship or Memorial Cup, we care about them all and want to tell their stories from a fan’s viewpoint.
You may have already been following and reading our articles during our soft launch, and if you have, we thank you for being here from the beginning. Your support is greatly appreciated. If you have just found us now, then welcome to the site. We hope you’ll stick around for this season and the future, as we grow and evolve alongside the juniors talent we are discussing.
As The Roil Line is officially launched, fans can expect content to start pumping out towards through the Oil Kings preseason games on the way to the start of the regular season. Who is rising, who is falling, and who could break through this season? We will be watching and covering it all.