By Ira Cooper, Cult of Hockey correspondentCult of Hockey prospect series 2025: #12, Roby Jarventie
23 years old, 6’2″, 185 lbs., drafted #33rd overall in 2020.
Two! That is the number of games that Roby Jarventie played last season. It’s also the number of games it took for me to be convinced that the Oilers have an NHL level player here and one that is all but NHL ready right now.
Jeff Jackson made the trade last July to acquire Jarventie in exchange for infamous 2021 first round pick Xavrier Bourgault (and Jake Chiasson, a 4th round pick, also in 2021, who was a reach at that spot and continued to be a “non-prospect” at this point).
Bourgault was a “famous name” among Oilers fans as the player the organization traded down to draft and, in the process, trading out of the spot Jesper Wallstedt was drafted and passing on Wyatt Johnston, currently a star forward for rival Dallas.
At the time of the trade, the first thought was “floundering prospect” for “floundering prospect”, however, in reality, while Bourgault was indeed a floundering prospect( who struggled with being pushed out of games in his rookie AHL season and did not improve really in any area year over year during the course of his second year), Jarventie had increasing and solid production in his young AHL career with 16 goals and 30 points in 40 games in his sophomore season and close to a point per game the following season (9 goals and 20 points in 22 games).
The reason the Senators were willing to make the trade, in addition to draft pedigree of Bourgault (being higher Jarventie, who was drafted at the very beginning of the 2nd round in 2020, 33rd overall), was likely that, despite solid and increasing on-ice production, Jarventie had developed an increasing and disturbing history knee injuries. Jarventie was limited to half a season in 2022/23 (although he did make his NHL debut for the Senators, playing 7 games) and only 22 games in 2023/24.
As it turns out, at the time of the trade to the Oilers organization, Jarventie was far from fully healthy as he was not able to participate in training rookie camp, NHL training camp or AHL training camp and missed the first month of the season due to his prior knee injuries.
Finally, Jarventie returned to the lineup in early November 2024 and, wow, did he ever return.
Jarventie was hands down the best player on either team in the Friday night game. He was consistently hanging on to pucks and making very smart and accurate passes, including a wonderful play where after a one-time snap shot off a won offensive zone draw was blocked, he recovered the puck, skated to open ice, pulled two defenders with him and passed the puck cross-ice against the flow to an activated Matthew Savoie who buried it. He is a high end passer. While there are varying accounts of Jarventie’s height and weight (ranging from 6’2/185 to 6’3/209), it is clear that he is a sizeable man and is strong – he uses his frame in puck protection and battles in the hard area of the offensive zone. Jarventie is a smart and polished offensive player, very good with the puck on his stick.
After playing well over 20 minutes in his first game in essentially a year, Jarventie was right back in action the next night playing big minutes and, while he was not as dominant as he was the prior game (one would think stamina and conditioning issues were at play) he was once again a substantial offensive force showing good transition skating, high end passing and offensive intelligence throughout the game.
Jarventie finished the weekend with two assists in two games and hasn’t played since.
As it turns out, Jarventie felt something off after the Friday night game, didn’t tell anyone, played Saturday night and fully re-injured his knee(s), eventually requiring additional surgery and he was done for the year after those two games. A very disappointing outcome after such a heartening on-ice performance for the weekend.
The news for Oiler fans worsened when reports came out in March that Jarventie had agree to play next season in Finland, for his hometown team, Tappara Tampere – a very disappointing outcome for Oilers fans and a presumed end to his tenure with in the organization and closure to the “2021 first round pick saga”.
Much to the surprise of most Oilers fans (and the great joy of the writer of this piece), in early June, while the Oilers were in the midst of their second straight run to the Stanley Cup finals, the Oilers announced the re-signing of the restricted free agent to a one-year, two-way contract extension. We learned recently that Jarventie only signed back home with Tappara as he didn’t think the Oilers were going to offer him a contract and Jarventie has expressed that he is 100% committed to developing in to an NHL player.
I have soft (read: unofficial) accounts that Jarventie really enjoyed his time with the Condors and the organization and is in-fact fully recovered from the most recent surgery and able to hockey-train this off-season. I will believe it when I see him on the ice for NHL camp (potentially rookie camp as well) as a full participant but the arrows are currently pointing up in this regard.
Based on my views of Jarventie in the AHL, as limited as they are, I have full confidence that a healthy Jarventie is an NHL player today and can help the Oilers this season. I believe that, if injury and health were not an issue, Jarventie is the Oilers #3 prospect (behind Savoie and Howard), perhaps tied with Berezkin, and is NHL ready today
Expectation for 2025-26. My expectation for Jarventie is, presuming fully healthy and recovered from in-season knee surgery with the ability to hockey train this off-season, Jarventie is a point per game player in the AHL and is the first forward call-up from the Oilers.
(Ira Cooper is a Calgary corporate lawyer and a contributor to the Cult of Hockey and Oilers on-line discussions)
At the Cult of Hockey
Cult of Hockey prospect series 2025
Forwards: Maxim Berezkin (3rd), William Nicholl (8th), Viljami Marjala (12th), Connor Clattenburg (13th), Tommy Lafreniere (14th). David Lewandowski (15th)
Dmen: Paul Fischer (16th), Nikita Yevseyev (18th), Asher Barnett (19th)
Goalies: Nathaniel Day (17th), Eemil Vinni (20th)