EDMONTON — After Noah Philp sat out last season, conventional wisdom said that — no matter how well he showed at this Edmonton Oilers camp — he’d need some extended time in AHL Bakersfield to rediscover his game.
“My thoughts exactly,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
Yeah… So much for conventional wisdom.
Philp had another standout game Saturday in a 5-4 Oilers win over the Seattle Kraken, scoring a nifty goal in tight and winning nine of the 11 faceoffs he took. He’s changing Knoblauch’s mind, as one former University of Alberta Golden Bear considers keeping another Golden Bear grad on his NHL roster.
“Here’s a guy that hasn’t played for 17, 18, months, and to come to an NHL camp and to make the team right away would have been almost ridiculous to think about. But he’s played really well,” Knoblauch said. “He’s showed us that he is ready, and he didn’t have as much rust as what you’d think.”
Philp is battling for the 13th forward job, a right-shot centreman who could help give Corey Perry and Derek Ryan the odd night off in a long season.
What does the 26-year-old Canmore native think of the aforementioned narrative? Not surprisingly, he sees value in remaining with the big club.
“When you’re playing with the quality of players that are here — even if you’re not getting minutes — just being around them and learning can be incredibly beneficial,” Philp said. “That said, tons of (ice) time in Bakersfield, it can be great too. So I’ll just I’ll just play it as it goes.”
He’s been by far the most noticeable of the three centremen vying for the 13th forward job, out-duelling James Hamblin and Lane Pederson thus far. The final three games of pre-season will be big for that group, with one of them almost certain to stay with the NHL team.
Liking The Viking
Mattias Ekholm nursed an injury through camp a year ago, and it wasn’t until late November that he felt like his game was where he wanted it to be. This season, he’s healthy and finding his form, with a goal and two assists in 25:29 of ice time against Seattle.
This is his 15th NHL camp, and he’s got 819 regular-season games and two Stanley Cup Finals under his belt. Training camp is a process that he is more than familiar with.
“When you go through this a number of years you know what to expect,” Ekholm said. “It’s a grind, but at the same time it’s kind of fun. You kind of build the team together. Even though we have a lot of returning players, we have some new faces to get to know. Trying to make them fit in as well as we can is huge.”
He’s a big leader on this team and a giant presence at six-foot-four and 215 pounds. The young kids who come here will return to junior and tell their teammates they met the big Swede, and he’s aware of the impression a veteran can make on the Sam O’Reillys of the world.
What does he want those young kids to remember about the first time they the bog Viking?
“That I’m not an (expletive)?” Ekholm joked. “I want to be somebody who includes guys. Even though they know that, most likely, they’re going back to junior, the American League or wherever they’re going, to feel like they’re part of something here.
“Hopefully I conduct myself in a way that they can see it takes more than just the 60 minutes on the ice to prepare yourself. To do the workouts, do the little things that make you successful,” he continued. “I’ve got three kids to raise, so it’s hard to take the full Dad role here. But hopefully they think I’m a nice guy who does a lot of the things right.”
Sam I Am
In what is likely his last pre-season game before returning to junior in London, Sam O’Reilly centred a line with Vasily Podkolzin and London Knights legend Corey Perry, whose No. 94 was retired by the Knights in 2011.
Perry, 39, left the Knights to turn pro in 2005. O’Reilly was born in Toronto in 2006.
O’Reilly showed well here, and he looks (so far) like he’ll be a player one day. He’s not flashy, but solid.
“Just being reliable is a big thing. Building trust with the coaches and the staff here,” O’Reilly said. “It’s my first camp, so that’s what I’m coming here to do: build trust with them, and that starts with a good defensive mindset and playing a 200-foot game. It’s reliable, it’s trustworthy, and that’s what they want here so I’ll keep on doing it.”
“He’s been just getting better and better every day,” Knoblauch said. “It’s a pretty big jump to go from junior to a National Hockey League camp for his first time, and he’s held himself really well. We’ve given him a lot of responsibilities.”
Game Notes
Goalie Calvin Pickard left the game 12 minutes into the first period when he was run into his goal frame by a back-checking Philp, who was tied up with a Seattle forward. He did not return. Olivier Rodrigue went the rest of the way, and Pickard is being evaluated, likely for a concussion … Sherwood Park native Brandon Biro had a pair of assists and showed well. He signed with the Kraken as a free agent on July 1 … Raphael Lavoie manufactured the game-winner, taking a puck off the wall, weaving through three Kraken defenders and slipping a puck through Philipp Grubauer’s legs … Seen in the press box, a long hug followed by a lengthy conversation between Leon Draisaitl and Kraken defenceman Adam Larsson, whose wife had their first child (a girl) six months ago.