The Edmonton Oilers have shedded one of their depth defenseman off the active roster. According to a team announcement, the Oilers have reassigned Riley Stillman to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
Stillman, 27, has been with Edmonton for nearly a month. He was recalled on December 12th, and has been enjoying his time as the team’s seventh defenseman since. Despite being on the team for that long, he has only appeared in four games, scoring zero points while averaging just over 12 minutes of ice time per game.
He’ll return to a Condors club where he’s already registered 22 games on the season. Still, it’s been a fairly disappointing first year with the team, scoring two goals and seven points with a -8 rating. Still, if he continues on his current pace when he returns to the lineup, he’ll reach double-digit point totals for the second time in his AHL career.
It’s been some time since Stillman was a consistent player in the NHL. During the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, Stillman skated in 102 games between the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and Buffalo Sabres, scoring three goals and 20 points with a -21 rating, averaging 14:51 of ice time per night.
Since the Oilers didn’t make a corresponding roster move, it gives credibility to the idea that Jake Walman will return to the team soon. Mark Spector of Sportsnet hinted as much today, indicating that Walman is expected back in the near future.
Walman, who is one year away from beginning his seven-year, $49MM extension in Edmonton, hasn’t appeared in a game since November 20th when he went down with a lower-body injury. He skated in 17 games before the injury, scoring three goals and 10 points in 17 games with a -3 rating, with a 49.0% CorsiFor% at even strength.