In the cyclical nature of junior hockey world, where players time out when they cease to be teenagers, where teams throw in all their chips to try to win a championship and then have to start over, hope tends to be mercurial.
The Edmonton Oil Kings went through it, got to the 2022 Memorial Cup, hit rock bottom, and now they are very much on their way back. They lost in Game 7 of the first playoff round to the Prince Albert Raiders last spring, squandering a 3-1 series lead. But now they look like one of the better WHL teams for the 2025-2026 campaign.
So change that to faith springs eternal for teams like them.
Case in point, the Oil Kings begin the season at No. 6 nationally in Canadian Hockey League’s rankings, the second best Western Hockey League team on the list after Brad Lauer’s Spokane Chiefs (No. 3). That means the Oil Kings, the last WHL team to win a Memorial Cup back in 2014 — current Oiler Curtis Lazar was on that team — have outside boosters, too.
“On paper, as management, we’re extremely optimistic about the group. Getting playoff experience last year was very important,” said general manager Kirt Hill, whose team convincingly beat the Red Deer Rebels 4-2 and 4-1 this past weekend to start the season.
It’s also noteworthy that the team, which drew almost 7,000 for their season opener Saturday, easily won those first two games under new head coach Jason Smith without four players at NHL camps — defenceman Blake Fiddler (Seattle Kraken), defenceman Parker Alcos (Vancouver Canucks), and Czech forwards Adam Jecho (St. Louis Blues) and Miroslav Holinka (Toronto Maple Leafs).
They were also without two of their top three centres, Max Curran (Colorado Avalanche) and Kayden Stroeder, both injured. Curran was hurt at the Avalanche rookie camp (possibly day-to-day) and Stroeder, 16, (two to three weeks) in Oil Kings pre-season when he crashed into the boards.
Joe Iginla was taken by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round (12th overall) of the Western Hockey League prospects draft in 2024.
Lost key pieces
The Oil Kings did lose some key pieces after last season due to graduations — goalie Alex Worthington (Manitoba Moose), defenceman Josh Mori (UMass Lowell), and forwards Gracyn Sawchyn (Charlotte Checkers), Marshall Finnie (Niagara University), Cole Miller (Canisius College) and Rylen Roersma (University of Alaska, Fairbanks). They also traded forward Roan Woodward, 19, to Victoria.
But they’ve returned all but Mori on defence. Goalie Ethan Simcoe, Worthington’s regular-season backup last year, played the last five playoff games against Prince Albert, getting his feet wet. And they are very strong at forward, with Jarome Iginla’s son, Joe, a 2026 draft eligible player, maybe ready to break out.
Even with Curran and Stroeder hurt, they didn’t miss a beat against the overmatched Rebels, who took a major hit just before the season started when their captain Ollie Josephson decided he was going to the University of North Dakota.
“We’re pretty deep at centre, we’re comfortable with where we’re at, even with the two players hurt. (Captain) Gavin Hodnett can play centre, (Lukas) Sawchyn, (Landon) Hanson,” said Hill, who also has Andrew O’Neill, who was an invite to Oilers rookie camp after joining the Oil Kings from the U.S. development team program.
While some of their graduating players are in the NCAA, they didn’t lose any of their current roster to U.S. college, unlike, say, the Victoria Royals, who had four players head south, along with the Medicine Hat Tigers’ Gavin McKenna, who is touted to be the first overall pick at next year’s NHL draft.
“To say there was no worry for us over the summer wouldn’t be true. Players were being approached,” said Hill, who managed to keep Fiddler, who was born in Nashville, and grew up in the Dallas suburbs.
“I never really had concerns with him leaving. He’s a dual citizen, he’s spent a lot of time in Kelowna, he’s pretty committed to our league with his dad (Vern) playing in it.”
Fiddler, 18, should be the lead dog on the back end.
“It’s his third year, with all the stress of the draft and all the interviews you go through and the rankings and such,” said Hill. “He looked great in camp with us and he’s been the same in Seattle. We expect him to take a big step this season.”
Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman Blake Fiddler.
Expected returns
Hill also doesn’t have to worry about Fiddler, Jecho, Holinka or Alcos not returning from pro camps.
“I would assume they’re all coming back but if one of them has a great NHL camp and they don’t, then good for them,” said Hill.
Gracyn Sawchyn (78 points in 54 games last year), who is only 165 pounds but has a big motor, would still be eligible as a WHL overager at age 20. But Hill said he’s had conversations with Florida and “all indications are he’s going to start in the American League.”
“He’s a slighter player but I think he’ll have success there,” said Hill.
While there was some thought that the WHL would automatically become younger because of the new eligibility rules for transferring between the CHL and U.S. college, Hill dismisses that theory.
“To tell you the truth, I think we may be a little bit older, a lot fewer 16-year-olds this season. Lots of teams in our league are signing 18 and 19-year-old rookies who weren’t coming before because you couldn’t play in our league and go to U.S. college,” he said.
“They’re coming here from the USHL and Tier 2, the guys who were already committed to going to U.S. college.”
This ‘n that: It’s interesting that Smith is now coaching rookie defenceman Mattheas Hejda. Smith was a teammate of Mattheas’s dad Jan on the 2006-2007 Oilers.
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