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Edmonton Oilers Recall Josh Brown

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The Oilers are adding some extra depth on the back end to their roster as they begin a four-game road trip tonight in Seattle.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Josh Brown from AHL Bakersfield.

The 30-year-old is in his first season with Edmonton after signing a three-year, $3MM contract that hasn’t gone quite as intended thus far.  Originally viewed as a sixth or seventh defender at the time he signed, Brown wound up not making the team out of training camp and cleared waivers back in early October.

Since then, he has been recalled three times but his playing time has been quite limited.  Brown has suited up in just three games, all coming over a four-day stretch in November.  He didn’t record a point while adding five blocked shots and six hits in a little over 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Considering Edmonton has six healthy blueliners at the moment, he might not be adding to his limited totals while up with the big club.

Brown has played in 20 games with the Condors this season, his first taste of action in the minors since the 2018-19 campaign when he was with Springfield.  He has just three assists in those outings while also recording 52 penalty minutes.

Edmonton had two open roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to bring Brown up and with Evander Kane being their only injured player (and not close to returning), there won’t be any pending moves that could force him off the roster in the near future.

Could Emberson Be An Extension Candidate?

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With many players now extension-eligible as of today, it will be interesting to see if any come to terms on a new deal in the coming days.  In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculates that the Oilers might want to take a run at starting talks with defenseman Ty Emberson in the near future.  Acquired in the Cody Ceci trade over the summer, the 24-year-old has settled into a steady third-pairing role, logging just under 15 minutes a night while recording 48 blocks, 53 hits, and five assists in 35 appearances so far.

Making $950K this season, Emberson’s qualifying offer would be just under $1MM if he qualifies for RFA status but he needs to play in 15 more games for that to happen.  Otherwise, he’d be a Group Six unrestricted free agent.  With the role he has, he should be able to add a bit to that qualifier but it shouldn’t be an exorbitant cost for the Oilers to absorb if they can get something done.

Morning Notes: Hughes, Pettersson, Murray, Skinner

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Exactly how much longer the Canucks will remain without stars Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson remains to be seen. The club certainly won’t have their services for this week’s intra-division road trip, though, head coach Rick Tocchet told Jeff Paterson of CanucksArmy.

Pettersson’s return is more imminent than Hughes’, Tocchet said. Pettersson hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s home game against the Predators, but a return on Monday in Montreal seems more likely, with Tocchet saying Pettersson will likely miss another week. Hughes’ timeline is muddier. After missing Saturday’s overtime loss to the Kraken with an undisclosed injury, he’s been labeled week to week and could likely miss another five games at a minimum.

The latter’s absence is an especially tough one to swallow for the Canucks, who have won one out of their last five games and are already missing their No. 2 defenseman, Filip Hronek, for another few weeks. Hughes has easily been their most valuable player this season, leading the club in scoring with 42 points (8 G, 34 A) in 34 games and ranking second among NHL defensemen in points behind the Avalanche’s Cale Makar. He’s averaging 25:08 per game and posting better offensive and defensive possession metrics at even strength than last season’s Norris Trophy-winning campaign.

Hughes missing action wouldn’t be so awful if Vancouver had their second-best offensive producer this season. But they won’t have Pettersson, who has 10 goals and 28 points through 34 appearances, for the time being, either. Like Hughes, the 26-year-old has only missed one game with an undisclosed injury so far.

More from across the league this morning:

  • The Maple Leafs have continued to shuffle NHL backup options in the absence of emergent No. 1 Anthony Stolarz. Veteran Matt Murray has been returned to AHL Toronto with Dennis Hildeby coming up to take his place for the time being, the team announced. Murray, 30, has allowed seven goals on 58 shots faced in two starts this month while sitting behind Joseph Woll on the depth chart, his first NHL action since the end of the 2022-23 regular season. In a small sample size, that tracks as a career-worst .879 SV% and 3.54 GAA for the two-time Stanley Cup champion. Hildeby’s NHL numbers this season haven’t been any better with a .875 SV% in three starts, but he does have a .916 SV% in his last four minor-league contests. It’s unclear if this is a paper move to extend Murray’s waiver-exempt period or if the Leafs intend on rostering Hildeby for tomorrow’s matinee game against the Islanders.
  • Oilers winger Jeff Skinner sat in the press box while healthy for the first time in a while yesterday as Edmonton was upset 5-3 by the Ducks. It was a foreseeable result, writes Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. Skinner had no points and a -4 rating in his five most recent outings, and the 32-year-old has been an overall disappointment with only six goals and 12 points in 35 games after signing a one-year, $3MM pact with the Oilers following a buyout by the Sabres. He’s now averaging 12:58 per game on the year, the lowest usage of his 15-year NHL career, and his 48.6% shot-attempt share at 5-on-5 is also a career low.

Oilers Sign Connor Clattenburg To Entry-Level Deal

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Oilers left wing prospect Connor Clattenburg has put pen to paper on a three-year entry-level contract, his agent, Gold Star Hockey’s Dan Milstein, relayed today. The contract carries an $855K cap hit and will pay him $775K in the NHL and $82.5K in the minors, with an $80K signing bonus each season, per PuckPedia.

The Oilers just picked up Clattenburg, who stands at 6’2″ and 205 lbs, in the fifth round of this year’s draft. The 19-year-old had been passed over in the 2023 draft, but after posting 13 goals, 16 assists and 29 points in 60 Ontario Hockey League games split between the Soo Greyhounds and Flint Firebirds last season, he generated interest from Edmonton.

A bang-and-crash winger in the truest sense of the description, Clattenburg has improved his game offensively this season with 10 goals and 18 points in 22 games with Flint. He serves as the Firebirds’ captain and leads the team with 57 PIMs.

Clattenburg won’t play in the NHL this season and will remain on loan to Flint, so his freshly-signed ELC will slide to the 2025-26 campaign and expire in the summer of 2028. His $80K signing bonus for this season will be paid out regardless, though, lowering his cap hit slightly when his deal does go into effect.

He didn’t check in as a top-15 prospect in the Edmonton system in McKeen’s Hockey’s preseason ranking, nor did he crack the top-20 in Allan Mitchell of The Athletic’s offseason look at the Oilers’ prospects. His ceiling is that of a fourth-line piece, although a fringe recall option is a far more likely projection. Clattenburg will be eligible to suit up for AHL Bakersfield next season or return to the OHL for an overage campaign.

Nugent-Hopkins Scratched Due To Illness

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  • Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was scratched tonight due to illness, notes Bob Stauffer of 880 CHED (Twitter link). The veteran had played in all 33 games before this one but is having a quiet year offensively, tallying six goals and a dozen assists.  For comparison, Nugent-Hopkins had 18 goals and 49 helpers in 80 games just last season.

Oilers Activate Viktor Arvidsson From Injured Reserve

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The Oilers announced that winger Viktor Arvidsson has been reinstated from injured reserve and will play in tonight’s contest against the Bruins. The active roster already had a vacancy with defenseman Travis Dermott being claimed off waivers by the Wild last week, but the roster is now full with this move.

Arvidsson, 31, sustained an undisclosed injury against the Islanders on Nov. 12 and was initially ruled out day-to-day, but a lengthier-than-expected recovery period means he ended up sitting out of action for over a month. He missed 15 games, during which time Edmonton went 10-4-1 and now sits third in the Pacific Division after a rocky start to the year.

Arvidsson, who the Oilers signed to a two-year, $8MM contract over the summer, started the year in a second-line role with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. It didn’t go as planned. The two-time 30-goal scorer was limited to two goals and five points in 16 appearances before exiting with injury, averaging 15:41 per game. Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Skinner have all found themselves in Arvidsson’s spot in his absence. None of them have had particularly good results, although Brown has the most production with 13 points through 31 games.

The Swedish winger hit free agency after an injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign that limited him to 18 appearances with the Kings, although he was far more productive when healthy with six goals and 15 points. Dating back to his days as a developing forward in Nashville, Arvidsson has averaged 26 goals and 54 points per 82 games throughout his career. He’s projected to slot into a more conservative third-line role with Brown and Adam Henrique in his return tonight, per multiple reports.

Pacific Notes: Arvidsson, Hyman, Warsofsky, Barbashev

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The Edmonton Oilers received a flurry of injury updates on Tuesday, captured Oilers TV host Tony Brar. Most notably, winger Viktor Arvidsson is expected to return to the lineup sometime this weekend, with Thursday’s matchup against Boston a real possibility. Arvidsson has missed Edmonton’s last 15 games with an undisclosed injury. He landed on injured reserve on November 21st, and could be activated at any point with Edmonton carrying plenty of lineup and cap flexibility.

Arvidsson signed a two-year, $8MM contract with the Oilers this summer, but only managed two goals and five points in 16 games before sustaining his injury. The near month-long absence continues Arvidsson’s nagging bout with injuries. He missed all but 18 games of last season with a lower-body injury, and hasn’t played 80 games in a season since 2016-17. Arvidsson has usually been able to curb routine absences with promising scoring – scoring 52 goals and 123 points in 161 games with the Los Angeles Kings over the last three seasons – but that production hasn’t carried up North just yet.

While Arvidsson hopes to return to the lineup, and the scoresheet, fellow winger Zach Hyman will also be facing injury. Brar reports that Hyman sustained a broken nose, but isn’t expected to miss any playing time. Hyman has 10 goals and 15 points in 26 games this year. He’s a fixture of Edmonton’s top line and power-play unit – a role he stamped with 54 goals and 77 points in 80 games last season.

Other notes from out West:

  • San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky has received a $25,000 fine for inappropriate conduct during Saturday’s game against Utah, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. Warsofsky took exception with multiple missed calls throughout the game. Most egregious was a second-period hit to Macklin Celebrini from Utah’s Kevin Stenlund that appeared to be a clear boarding penalty, though refs left it uncalled. Celebrini didn’t suffer any injuries on the hit. Warsofsky will now turn towards the future with slightly lighter pockets, looking to pull San Jose into the win column after a 5-5-0 record in their last 10 games.
  • Vegas Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev missed Tuesday’s practice with an upper-body injury, head coach Bruce Cassidy shared with Jesse Granger of The Athletic. Cassidy designated Barbashev as day-to-day. The Russian winger has continued to be a force in the Golden Knight roster, with 30 points – split evenly – in 31 games. The near point-per-game scoring is far-and-away the highest of Barbashev’s nine-year career in the NHL. His current career-high in scoring came in 2021-22, when Barbashev posted 26 goals and 60 points with the St. Louis Blues.

Josh Brown Recalled From Bakersfield

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  • The Oilers announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Josh Brown has been recalled from AHL Bakersfield. The 30-year-old inked a three-year, $3MM deal with Edmonton over the summer but wound up clearing waivers and has spent most of the year with the Condors, picking up three assists and 50 penalty minutes in 16 games while playing just three times with Edmonton so far.  With Alec Regula not with the team yet, it’s possible that Brown’s promotion is merely a short-term one.

Justin Schultz Announces Retirement

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Right-shot defenseman Justin Schultz has terminated his contract with Switzerland’s HC Lugano and “ended his career with immediate effect for strictly personal reasons,” the club said in a statement Friday.

“Mine is a strictly personal choice,” Schultz said through the team. “I discussed it with my family, and I made the decision to end my career here and return to Canada. I thank Hockey Club Lugano for the professionalism shown and for respecting my choice, and I wish the club and the team to find the path to success again.”

Schultz, now 34, had signed with Lugano in late October after not landing any NHL offers as an unrestricted free agent over the summer. Before retiring, he made eight appearances for the National League club, posting six assists and a -3 rating.

The British Columbia native was selected by the Ducks in the second round of the 2008 draft out of the British Columbia Hockey League’s Westside Warriors. He played one more season of junior ’A’ before jumping to the University of Wisconsin, where he racked up 113 points in 121 games in three seasons, twice being named to the NCAA West First All-American Team. But coming out of school in the 2012 offseason, he didn’t come to an agreement with Anaheim on an entry-level contract and instead landed one with the Oilers after reaching free agency.

Schultz got some AHL action at the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign due to the lockout that cost the league nearly half the season. However, after posting 48 points in just 34 games, he was named to Edmonton’s opening night roster and never touched minor-league ice again. The offensively gifted yet defensively challenged Schultz spent parts of four seasons in Alberta, logging top-four minutes on a rebuilding Oilers defense. After posting 101 points in 248 games, logging a -78 rating and averaging north of 22 minutes per game, Edmonton shipped him east to the Penguins before the 2016 trade deadline.

Schultz flourished in Pittsburgh, winning two Stanley Cup rings in his first two seasons with the franchise. He was used sparingly in their 2016 run to the championship, averaging 14:14 per game down the stretch and even less than that in the playoffs. But in 2016-17, his first entire season in Pennsylvania, he erupted for a career-high 12 goals, 39 assists, 51 points, and a +27 rating in 78 regular-season appearances, gaining additional ice time with No. 1 option Kris Letang missing half the season with injuries. He finished 10th in Norris Trophy voting and kept the momentum rolling in the playoffs, quarterbacking the team’s top power-play unit and leading their blue line in scoring with 13 points in 21 contests as the Penguins became the first team since the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998.

The 6’2″ righty continued to be a serviceable top-four option with the Pens over the next few years, but his point pace and defensive play both began to falter as time passed. A lower left-leg fracture cost him most of the 2018-19 campaign, and after more lower-body injuries limited him to 12 points in 46 games the following year, Pittsburgh let him hit unrestricted free agency.

Schultz landed a two-year, $8MM pact with the rival Capitals. His tenure in D.C. was solid but unremarkable, totaling 50 points in 120 games with a -3 rating. By the end of his two-year deal, he’d firmly established himself as a power-play specialist, averaging a career-low 16:55 per game in his second season.

Once again a free agent, Schultz opted to join the second-year Kraken on a two-year, $6MM deal. In year one, he recorded 34 points in 73 games – his highest total since his career-best 2016-17 campaign – and helped Seattle to its first playoff appearance in franchise history. Once again, he carried his upward momentum into the postseason, tying for third on the Kraken with 10 points in 14 games as they advanced to Game 7 of the Second Round.

Schultz saw his ice time further reduced to a new career-low 16:28 in Seattle last season, posting 26 points in 70 games – 10 of which came on the power play. His -23 rating ranked last on the team, although the Kraken still largely controlled the quality of possession while he was on the ice at even strength. Nonetheless, no team viewed him as an everyday option anymore, and he ended up making a brief go of things in Switzerland after not landing an NHL contract or tryout.

He ends his 12-year NHL career with 71 goals, 253 assists, 324 points, and a -57 rating in 745 games. Seventeen of his career goals – nearly 24% – were game-winners. We at PHR congratulate him on a lengthy career and wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Oilers Place Travis Dermott On Waivers

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The Oilers have placed defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers and will assign him to AHL Bakersfield if he clears, per a club announcement Thursday.

A second-round pick of the Maple Leafs back in 2015, Dermott became an unrestricted free agent last summer after additional stops with the Canucks and Coyotes in the past few seasons. After posting seven points and a -14 rating in 50 appearances in Arizona last season, though, there wasn’t notable interest on the open market, and he had to wait until late in the summer to ink a tryout agreement with Edmonton. He was at least able to parlay a strong training camp into a contract, inking a two-way deal ($775K/$500K) on the opening day of the regular season.

While he played in the Oilers’ first three games of the season, he’s failed to establish himself as a regular in the lineup. He has no points and a -3 rating in 10 appearances this season and has been a scratch in eight straight outings dating back to Nov. 19. After the Oilers claimed the younger Alec Regula off waivers from the Bruins yesterday, it was apparent that Dermott’s job as the No. 7 option on Edmonton’s back end might be in jeopardy.

As a player on a two-way deal without a deal past this season, there might be some interest in Dermott’s 339 games of NHL experience on the waiver wire. If not, though, he’ll head to Bakersfield for his first non-conditioning AHL assignment in six years.

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