At centre, James Hamblin appeared in 31 games for Edmonton last season, Lane Pederson was the top pivot for AHL Bakersfield and Noah Philp made huge inroads with the organization in 2022-23 before setting away for a year for personal reasons.

The Edmonton Oilers opened training camp with the news that veteran forward Evander Kane will miss the start of the upcoming season because of surgery needed for hernias, abdominal tears and other injuries.

The shortest off-season in Edmonton Oilers history is over and the NHL pre-season is upon us. That means it’s time to hunker down for training camp ahead of the franchise’s 45th year in the NHL, and 52nd year in existence.

Edmonton also has Olivier Rodrigue, another draft pick who has been developing in the minors over the past several years. He will battle free-agent pickup Collin Delia for the first recall job, and it’s possible the Oilers will employ two goaltenders from the system at some point this season.