The Oilers announced they’ve recalled wingers Isaac Howard and Quinn Hutson from AHL Bakersfield. They had two open roster spots after reassigning Max Jones to Bakersfield on Thursday, so no further moves are required.
In doing so, Edmonton gives two of its brightest young forwards their second chance on the active roster this season. Howard, last season’s Hobey Baker Award winner as the NCAA’s top men’s player, broke camp with the Oilers after they acquired his signing rights from the Lightning.
Immediately slotting in as Edmonton’s No. 2 prospect, he never got a crack in their top six and languished in a fourth-line role for several weeks to begin the season. After recording just two goals and an assist in 17 appearances, averaging 9:30 of ice time per game, the Oilers ended the 21-year-old’s initial run of NHL play and assigned him to Bakersfield to give him his first taste of minor-league hockey.
In the month and a half since his demotion, Howard has been among the AHL’s best players. With a 10-13–23 scoring line in 16 contests, he’s tied for the league lead in points per game (1.44). The 5’11” lefty has been especially hot as of late, recording four goals and 10 points – including a trio of three-point efforts – on a four-game point streak.
Hutson, 24, entered the season as more of an unknown. The older brother of Canadiens star Lane and Capitals prospect Cole was never drafted but broke out as a college superstar as a junior for Boston University in 2024-25, racking up 23 goals and 50 points in 38 games. He signed an entry-level deal with Edmonton as a free agent near the end of the year and skated in the Oilers’ final two games of the regular season, although he was ineligible to suit up in the playoffs.
Viewed as a long-shot candidate to make their opening night roster with more established prospects like Howard and Savoie having a leg up, he was sent to Bakersfield to begin the first full season of his pro career. Like Howard, he’s been among the AHL’s most dominant offensive wingers, ranking top-five in the league in both goals (19) and points (32) in 26 appearances.
That emphatic production got Hutson his NHL debut last month, appearing in a three-game stretch for Edmonton in mid-December. Like Howard, his ice time was extremely limited at just 7:34 per game, but that didn’t stop him from scoring his first NHL goal against the Bruins on Dec. 18.
Now, with six goals and eight points in his last four games for Bakersfield, he gets another opportunity to make himself known as an NHL commodity. Whether head coach Kris Knoblauch will give him and Howard a long enough leash to make a tangible impact remains to be seen, but with veterans Mattias Janmark and Andrew Mangiapane struggling to produce in top-nine roles on the wing, it’s becoming near indefensible not to give some of the Oilers’ most promising talent a chance higher up in the lineup.
Enough already these kids should be kept on this team. Make it happen.