Former Oilers Prospect Developing Into Stud Defenceman in Utah

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Liam McCormick
October 19, 2024 (11:44)

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It looks like the Edmonton Oilers made a costly mistake in a deal at the 2023 Trade Deadline.

Heading into the playoffs that year, General Manager Ken Holland traded to acquire centreman Nick Bjugstad from the Arizona Coyotes. The Oilers sent back a third round draft pick, and defenceman prospect Michael Kesselring.

Kesselring was a 6th round draft pick of the Oilers in 2018, and many fans may have written him off as a career minor leaguer. However, Kesselring took a major step forward last year with 65 games played on the Coyotes, and this season he's playing top pairing minutes on the Utah Hockey Club with Mikhail Sergachev.

In 5 games this season, Kesselring has scored a goal and two assists and is looking like a breakout star candidate. His first goal of the season showed his offensive ability to jump up into the play, and a rocket of a shot.

The former Oiler is also 6'4 and 215 pounds, and uses his size with his physical play as well. Already this year, Kesselring was involved in a heavy fight against former Oiler Sam Carrick. Kesselring is a right-hand shot too, a premium position for defenceman in the NHL.

He's certainly had a fantastic start to the season in an elevated role, and if Kesselring can keep up this level of play, he'll become a star-level defenceman in the NHL - and the Oilers will seriously regret that trade in 2023. With the departures of a few veteran defenceman last offseason, it would've been nice to have another prospect like Kesselring making a big push for NHL minutes.

Nick Bjugstad was a good contributor to the Oilers in his time with the team, but he only played 19 games in Edmonton. There's a risk anytime you trade prospects, but it's certainly looking like 19 games of Bjugstad wasn't worth several years of control on Michael Kesselring. To make matters worse for Edmonton, Bjugstad just returned to sign with the Coyotes the following season.

Ken Holland made some decent trades in his time with the Oilers, including another at the 2023 deadline that brought Ekholm to Edmonton - but fans may be looking back at this trade for a long time with regret over losing Michael Kesselring.