November 2, 2023 by Spencer Pomoty

The Edmonton Oil Kings announced that 20-year-old Aidan Litke would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery for an injury on October 20. Then, the Oil Kings announced that they had acquired 20-year-old Skyler Bruce from the Vancouver Giants. Bruce put up 15 goals and 46 points last season split between the Winnipeg Ice and the Giants. The newest Oil King will help the teams forward depth, which has been plagued by injuries this season.

The Seattle Thunderbirds came to town on October 22 and walked out with a 6-2 win, extending their losing streak to seven games. Special teams continued to torch the Oil Kings, as their power-play is a league-low at 8.3% (only team under 10%), their penalty kill is third-worst at 71.9%, and they have taken the sixth-most penalties. That is the recipe for a seven-game skid. The Portland Winterhawks were next to visit Rogers Place, and were just ranked number one in the CHL in the week three power rankings.

In their first nine games, the Winterhawks won eight of them and put themselves at the top spot for point percentage in the WHL. Over the past few seasons, I started to notice a common occurrence that really stuck out last year. Portland’s defencemen are always active in the rush and the offensive zone, and they give their defencemen the rope to make plays in the zone and their forwards fill in accordingly. This creates a ton of mismatches up top for the forwards if they puck is cycled back to them. They play a 3-2 system in the offensive zone and it led to an outstanding plus-36 goal differential in nine games, they rarely chase for pucks because every defenceman is capable of making a tricky pass or skate out of pressure.

2024 NHL draft prospect Diego Buttazzoni, who is 5-foot-9 and 183-pounds, has been very entertaining to watch early on this season. In 56 games last season, Buttazzoni put up six goals and 15 points as a WHL rookie. He came out of the gate with a team-leading eight goals and 13 points in his first nine games . The former Medicine Hat Tigers second-round pick has an excellent shot. The pure velocity he gets behind a one-timer is incredible, but also on the move he can shoot in stride and get great power behind it. The way he explodes in and out of scoring areas is the key right now, great timing routes, getting lost behind the defence, allows him to hide till its too late for the other team. It’s the start of the season, but I’ll keep my eyes on how Buttazzoni progresses throughout the season.

Despite facing the best team in junior hockey, the Oil Kings jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and scored four unanswered goals in the second period en route to a 5-4 win at Rogers Place on October 28. The Oil Kings not only snapped their extended losing streak, but beating a team like the Winterhawks should give them a great boost of confidence going forward.

The Oil Kings will be back on the ice on Friday night, when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors and look to win back-to-back games for the first time since October 1 and 3.