Oilers acquire underrated prospect who has history with Coach Knoblauch

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Liam McCormick
August 19, 2024 (8:57)

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Late last night, the Edmonton Oilers made a necessary move to send Cody Ceci to the San Jose Sharks in a trade to free up salary cap space.

The Oilers cleared Ceci's $3.25M salary off the books, and didn't have to attach additional draft picks to persuade a team to take him like initial reports suggested. Instead, the Oilers surprisingly acquired a young player with promise, who already has a history with Coach Knoblauch. Ty Emberson could be a third pairing defence option for the Oilers.

Many NHL pundits and scouting experts are delivering positive reports about Ty Emberson. The 24 year old right shot defenceman was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the third round of 2018, and played 6 seasons between college hockey and the AHL before breaking onto the Sharks roster last year. In 30 games Emberson scored 10 points, but he's primarily known as being a mobile and smart defender. Prominent hockey analytics contributor Dom Luszczyszyn called Emberson an under the radar pickup for the Oilers based on his observations.

Emberson has a history of success with Coach Knoblauch too. Both were with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2022-23, Emberson won the AHL's award for Best Defensive Defenceman in the Eastern Conference. His defensive success has translated to the NHL level too, as Emberson was only a -4 last season on a brutal San Jose Sharks team.

There's actually a solid argument to be made that Emberson may be better than Cody Ceci already. Many times Ceci clearly struggled in top four minutes with the Oilers, and formed a pairing with Darnell Nurse that was tough to watch at times. In a way, this trade could even be an addition by subtraction.

Considering his success in the NHL last season and history with Coach Knoblauch, it's very possible that Emberson sees some time with the Oilers this year. Also with the trade, it's possible that the Oilers match the offer sheet for Philip Broberg. In total now, Vincent Desharnais and Cody Ceci are leaving the team, with Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher, and Josh Brown competing for the last defence spot on the roster.

In a trade where the Oilers were expected to pay a premium to offload salary cap space, it's yet another great move from Jeff Jackson's front office to acquire an under the radar prospect. With moves like this, the Oilers roster will keep improving and only get deeper.