Noah Philp has changed Oilers roster plans with his play in preseason
Photo credit: Youtube
This year's Oilers training camp has had a welcome surprise as Noah Philp has made Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch's decisions a little more difficult.
Philp had been away from the game of hockey for one year as he felt he needed 1time away before rediscovering the urge to play the game again. Prior to his sabbatical, he was third in scoring for the Bakersfield condors and was poised to make the Oilers.
He has now returned and was awarded a contract and has made a name for himself and has stood out dramatically as a potential player who will remain with the team. As mentioned, the team has an abundance of bottom 6 players who could push him out of a roster spot even though he has proven that he can play at an NHL level.
The Oilers do hold a card they may play as Philp is waiver exempt which means the team can send him to Bakersfield at anytime and not have to worry about waivers.
The 26-year-old center who stands at 6 foot 3 and 198 lbs played 70 games in 2022-2023 great he scored nineteen goals with 18 assists for 37 points and had 61 penalty minutes and was a + 4. He has taken in what the coaching staff has asked of him, and he is performing at a level that should keep him in the lineup at least for the first few weeks of the season.
Depending on how Coach Knoblauch would like to deploy his team, I do feel that he will keep Philp on the Oilers in the short term to see how he faces NHL stars and reserve the right to send him back to Bakersfield if he fades or if another player outperforms him.
No matter the outcome, this is great news for the Oilers depth chart.
Source: Eliteprospects.com
Latest 10 stories
