{"id":542259,"date":"2026-04-05T15:33:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542259\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:33:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:33:43","slug":"edmonton-oilers-sign-college-forward-owen-michaels-more-signings-appear-imminent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542259\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers sign college forward Owen Michaels, more signings appear imminent"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers scored two quality college free-agent signings last spring. Forward Quinn Hutson and defenceman Damien Carfagna spent 2025-26 playing strong two-way hockey for the AHL Bakersfield Condors. Hutson scored twice Friday night for the Condors, bringing his season\u2019s production to 29 goals and 57 points. Both totals lead AHL rookies<\/a>. Carfagna has also delivered in Bakersfield, the young two-way defenceman impressive with his speed and consistency. He has yet to appear in an NHL game, but it should be on the horizon if he can stay healthy.<\/p>\n

This spring, the Oilers appear even more aggressive in pursuing college players graduating from the NCAA. Right-handed centre Owen Michaels just signed a free agent, entry-level contract with the club this week. It is for the rest of this season, effectively giving Edmonton his playing rights and a second contract window over the offseason.<\/p>\n

Michaels contract<\/p>\n

The signing of Michaels caused quite a buzz in the hockey industry. He was pursued this and last spring heavily, and was expected to sign with an American club. Players born in the U.S. often sign with a team closer to home, but Michaels may have decided on the Oilers due to his connection with Edmonton\u2019s director of player development, Kalle Larsson. Both men were part of the 2022-23 Dubuque Fighting Saints<\/a>: Larsson as general manager and Michaels as one of the team\u2019s key players.<\/p>\n

The contract with the Oilers has some interesting wrinkles. It is just for this season, so the team and player will have to sign another deal before fall. The nature of the contract, made necessary due to Michaels\u2019 age (23), means he is ineligible to play in the AHL this season, via PuckPedia<\/a>. Michaels practised with the Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday. He will wear No. 27<\/a> with the team.<\/p>\n

Scouting report<\/p>\n

Corey Proman at The Athletic included Michaels in his college and European free-agent preview<\/a> in late February. Pronman described Michaels as \u201ca good-sized center who skates well and works hard at both ends. He\u2019s not the most natural scorer you\u2019ll ever see, but he has enough pure skill and sense in his game to have a chance to get points at the next level and provide off-puck value.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are some online sources that suggest Michaels\u2019 foot speed is shy; conflicting reports surrounding speed are normal in the hockey industry. There is a tremendous amount of nuance in assessing an individual\u2019s speed and pace. Pronman is an excellent resource in this area; if anything, he\u2019s often mentioned as being a hard marker. Oilers fans should wait to see him in action, but the scouting reports are mainly positive.<\/p>\n

Michaels scored 31-31-62 in his final 81 college games. That\u2019s solid output, and suggests he should be able to handle a middle-six role in the NHL. The equivalency for his college offence is between 25-30 points, and that\u2019s a productive third-line centre. Combined with his handedness (right-handed centres are unicorns), it\u2019s possible he supplants one of the Oilers\u2019 depth centres as early as this fall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more likely Michaels begins his pro career in earnest with the Condors in October, following in the foot steps of Hutson and Carfagna. Oilers general manager Stan Bowman, with Larsson\u2019s help, is creating an impressive pipeline from the college ranks to the pros in the Oilers system. Most will stop in Bakersfield at the start of their journey.<\/p>\n

Another shoe to drop?<\/p>\n

Spring signing season for the Oilers began with Czechia defenceman Tomas Cibulka and management followed by signing 2024 seventh-round selection William Nicholl from the OHL\u2019s London Knights. The signing of Michaels is most similar to Hutson\u2019s one year ago. Hutson arrived with the Oilers, played in two games with the team, and then resumed his pro career in the AHL last fall.<\/p>\n

Rumours are flying across the hockey industry about college skill forward TJ Hughes. In the same article by Pronman linked above, Hughes is described as \u201ca highly skilled and creative center with legit playmaking abilities. He\u2019s been one of the top offensive players in college hockey the last few years. He\u2019s not super physical, but he competes well and is a competent two-way center who can play in traffic well. The big issue for Hughes at the next level will be his skating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes is an electric player at the college level. In his most recent 75 college games over two seasons with Michigan (Big Ten), his boxcar numbers (36-58-94) indicate he should produce 30-35 points if he lands on a skill line in the NHL. Pronman\u2019s foot speed caveat should be considered as real, but there\u2019s enough talent to project Hughes into a future middle-six role. Based on the numbers, Hughes should be considered a more substantial offensive prospect than Hutson a year ago and Michaels this year. These men won\u2019t be applying for the same jobs.<\/p>\n

Bottom line<\/p>\n

The Oilers are shopping for college talent in better aisles over the two most recent springs. The signings of Hutson and Cargagna out of college one year ago, plus adding Michaels and possibly Hughes this spring, give the organization the most free-agent college talent in the system since the days of Drake Caggiula and Matt Benning (both men signed in 2016\u2019s offseason, fully one decade ago).<\/p>\n

Most college players land in support roles, but the skill level can surprise once players arrive in pro hockey. Michaels is a player who looks at first blush like a checking centre, destined to play roles similar to former Oilers centre Derek Ryan during his career. He might have another offensive gear, and every player who signs with Edmonton has a chance to land on the Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl line at some point in the season.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know about Michaels. He\u2019s 23, has NHL size (6-foot-2, 193 pounds) and was captain of his college team. He is regarded as a reliable two-way centre, and that\u2019s code for penalty kill and blocking shots.<\/p>\n

He could be more than that once he arrives. The added bonus of signing 23-year-olds out of good college programs is most players land as plug-and-play types. Look for Michaels to get an NHL game or two before the end of the regular-season schedule, and perhaps impress this fall in a manner similar to Hutson last October.<\/p>\n

As for Hughes, we wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers scored two quality college free-agent signings last spring. Forward Quinn Hutson and defenceman Damien Carfagna…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-542259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-edmontonoilers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116352830854793502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}