Edmonton Oilers Top 20 Prospects: #10 - #8
A note about this countdown. To qualify, the player must be 25 or younger as of July 1 and cannot have played more than 50 NHL games. Players like Noah Philp and David Tomasek do not make it due to age. A player like Vasily Podkolzin does not make it due to number of NHL games played.
In our third post on the Oilers top 20 prospects, we enter the top ten. The top ten is where Oiler fans will notice the true impact of trading away draft picks and prospects in prior years. It’s not about having a true game breaking talent. Most of that talent goes to the teams that finish low in the standings. A good organizational top ten will have depth at every position and players who project to playing up the line-up in the near future. The Oilers are not there yet. However, there have been positive signs in the last two seasons at the draft and through trades. In addition, the investment in development programs under Kalle Larsson should have a positive effect on the number of prospects who play NHL games. This coming season, Larsson will get to work with most of this top ten group.
#10: Tommy Lafrenière
D.O.B. - January 16, 2007
Draft: 3rd Round 2025 (EDM)
Shoots: Right
Position: Center
Vitals: 6’0” 174 pounds
2024 Regular Season Statistics - Kamloops (WHL)
24-32-56 in 68 games or 0.82 points per game
Lafrenière was the Oilers first selection in the 2025 draft coming in the third round at #83. The first thing you will notice about Lafrenière is his work ethic. He never gets cheated on any shift, no matter the situation or the zone.
What makes this intriguing is that Lafrenière is an excellent skater. His acceleration and lateral movement is very quick.
Lafrenière skating combined with his work ethic makes him a pain in the ass to play against. He’s a great defender in-zone and he’s an aggressive forechecker on offence.
The area for improvement for Lafrenière comes in his overall offence. His puck skills are good, but not great. In addition, he often slows his attack instead of using his speed as a weapon. What I will be looking for this season is more plays like this example.
I believe this is the key to Lafrenière’s development. His size isn’t great, so playing center will require him to bring pace on the attack. I am not worried about his play away from the puck, but for him to make it as a center professionally, he will need to enhance his offence. His skating skill gives him that opportunity.
#9: Paul Fischer
D.O.B. - January 3, 2005
Draft: 5th Round 2023 (STL)
Shoots: Left
Position: Defence
Vitals: 6’0” 203 pounds
2024 Regular Season Statistics - Notre Dame (NCAA)
2-19-21 in 36 games or 0.58 points per game
Fischer will forever be attached to the offer sheets of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway in the summer of 2024. After some negotiation, Stan Bowman was able to acquire additional draft capital as well as the rights to Paul Fischer in what essentially became a trade with St. Louis. However, Fischer was not an insignificant pick-up. He had already played a full season at Notre Dame and had started to show some interesting development.
Fischer was always a very smooth skater. Not flashy, but powerful.
Fischer uses this easy skating style to get around the ice defending quite well. This really was his calling card in his draft eligible year. However, at Notre Dame, he started to develop some offence. Where it started was off his defensive zone play. Instead of settling for the quick chip or pass out, Fischer started to skate with the puck.
This lead to Fischer starting to join rushes and create opportunities for himself and his teammates.
Fischer’s play offensively became strong enough that Notre Dame had him run the first powerplay this season. While it is not perfect, you can see there is some good thought process to how Fischer runs the powerplay.
The focus on offensive development with Fischer is critical. He’s not tall, but he’s thick and his skating allows him to defend really well. What will determine Fische’sr professional success is his ability to chip in offensively. He projects as a bottom pairing defenceman. To make the grade, he will need to show he can contribute offensively on occasion.
Fischer returns to Notre Dame for his junior season. His team is going to play in an incredibly strong Big Ten league. As a junior, Fischer needs to take a step and command the defence group both defensively and offensively.
#8: William Nicholl
D.O.B. - May 26, 2006
Draft: 7th Round 2024 (EDM)
Shoots: Left
Position: Center
Vitals: 6’0” 184 pounds
2024 Regular Season Statistics - London (OHL)
21-36-57 in 66 games or 0.86 points per game
Each draft, I usually have a favorite pick from the Oilers selections. In 2025, it was David Lewandowski. In 2024, it was the 7th round pick, William Nicholl. Nicholl was an incredibly creative pick by the Edmonton Oilers. In his draft season, Nicholl was buried on a very deep London team and spent a lot of time on the bench. The result was a season where Nicholl recorded 6-14-20 in 65 games. This season with a few players moving on, Nicholl was given an opportunity to take the next step and did he ever. Nicholl’s point total above only tells part of the story. Nicholl was tied for second on London in even strength points with Sam O’Reilly. Both trailed Sam Dickinson. So Nicholl was ahead of Easton Cowan and Denver Barkey. In short, Nicholl developed a scoring touch without seeing a lot of powerplay time.
He showed this strong 5v5 play early on in the Oilers prospect tournament.
This type of play bled right into Nicholl’s season in London. Watch this clip. It might be my favorite Nicholl clip of the year.
His confidence with the puck. His pace. His touch. His finish. William Nicholl has some tools he can use.
Nicholl uses these tools in combination with a really strong commitment to playing responsible hockey. Take a look at these two clips and notice how often the play develops because Nicholl gets above the puck and makes a transition play.
Another impressive element of Nicholl is his willingness to play on the walls and in the middle of the ice. He’s fairly slight at 184 pounds, but he doesn’t have any concerns with working where there is a lot of bodies and a lot of contact.
Nicholl should be a highly counted on player this year in London. As with last season, continued develop of his offence should be the focus. Nicholl’s skating is pro level already. As he grows into his frame, his skating should really development into a weapon for him. Look for Nicholl to take another step this season on one of the CHL’s deepest teams.
That’s all for prospects #10 through #8. Please leave your feedback below. If you have anyone you think might enjoy this post, please do not hesitate to share.
Thanks for this Bruce. I'm wondering how Lafrenière at this point compares to Sam O'Reilly a year ago? Same postal code? Is Lafrenière's ceiling a potential 3C? They sound similar in their respective draft descriptions with Lafrenière a better skater.