Connor Clattenburg already knows what it looks like to get a call from the Edmonton Oilers, step into the NHL, and try to make his game fit.
That matters now, because the 21-year-old is back in the picture with another training camp coming and Edmonton already working through injuries. After a short run with the big club last season, Clattenburg has a chance to push his way back into the lineup.
Last season, he made his mark in a very specific way. Clattenburg scored his first NHL goal, delivered 17 hits in just over 36 minutes of ice time, and showed the physical style that helped make him a fifth-round pick in 2024. He said Saturday that the five games he played in Edmonton gave him something useful to bring back to Bakersfield.
“It was good to carry the experience from when I played the few games up here,” Clattenburg said. “You know, it's a quicker game, and it was good to kind of go down there and have that speed up, and just learning from the guys up there was pretty cool. And I just took it back and did what I could no more.”
The season after that call-up did not go smoothly. Once he went back to the AHL, injuries cut his Bakersfield season down to 32 games. He finished with two goals and four points, which made it harder to get a clean read on how much he had really progressed.
“I mean it was kind of tough. Few injuries when I went back down,” Clattenburg said. “But yeah, it was definitely some parts of the game where I felt a little better and a little more confident in, and just got to carry it into this year.”
What still stands out with Clattenburg is the part of his game that travels: the physical edge. That has long been part of his identity, and it was on display during his NHL stint. It also lines up with what Mike Babcock has been asking for since taking over behind the Oilers bench.
Babcock has emphasized accountability, work and identity. For Clattenburg, that creates a straightforward path: forecheck hard, play physically, skate well in the bottom of the lineup and make himself dependable.
“Definitely I feel way more confident myself and what my skill set is, and I just kind of know where I stand with this organization,” Clattenburg said. “And you know it's helped made me feel comfortable, and I can just be myself.”
The opening at camp is real. Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark are already expected will miss an unclear amount of time, which leaves Edmonton without two forwards who were supposed to be in the lineup when camp began.
Clattenburg pointed to that kind of situation as part of the mindset inside the room.
“They're in one mode now, and they're just looking for the next guy up,” Clattenburg said. “You never know what that injury could be, and it's a very high energetic team right now, so it's just keeping the energy around and just play hard.”
Edmonton’s top of the lineup will still run through Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, with Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vasily Podkolzin, and Isaac Howard beside them. But the rest of the forward group is still up for grabs, and Babcock has options to sort through.
Clattenburg’s case is pretty clear. He can hit, forecheck and bring energy to a fourth line. He has already played NHL games for the Oilers, and the staff has at least some sense of what they’ll get from him when he’s inserted.
The issue right now is that he can’t fully show it.
“I'm still recovering from injury, so I'm non-contact,” Clattenburg said when asked why he was wearing a different jersey. “So that's what they gave me.”
That means the next step is less about what he proved last season and more about whether he can get healthy in time for main camp. Even so, those five NHL games gave him something valuable: familiarity. He has been in the dressing room, skated with regulars and gone through the call-up process from Bakersfield.
When he went back to the AHL, he had a better sense of what Edmonton wanted from him. Now, with camp approaching again, that understanding could matter all over again.
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