The Oilers have spent a lot of time this year finding help in places other teams overlook, and Owen Michaels is the latest name forcing his way into the picture.
Edmonton signed the former Western Michigan captain expecting organizational depth, not an immediate NHL role. But six games into the season, Michaels has turned into one of the more interesting stories on the roster. He has two goals, has appeared in every game, and has already won enough trust from Mike Babcock to get deployed in late-game situations while the Oilers were protecting a lead against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
That meant key faceoffs and penalty-kill work in high-pressure moments, including helping Edmonton survive both a 6-on-4 and a 6-on-3. For a player who wasn’t supposed to begin the year in anything close to that role, it’s been a rapid rise.
His ice time has reflected that trust, too. Michaels is averaging 13:25 per game, and he logged a career-high 16:50 against the Los Angeles Kings. The faceoff results have swung wildly from game to game - he won 10 of 12 against San Jose before dropping just one of 11 against Los Angeles - but the workload keeps growing.
Babcock has been clear about why he keeps leaning on him. “They have been avoiding our big line with their best players, so we have been using Mike to follow them.
So he’s in a situation where he’s playing against really good players every single night and he still seems to be competitive and doing well. Now, sometimes on the shot clock people say ‘whoa that doesn’t add up,’ it adds up with what I’m watching.
They give up no chances and get chances so to me, they got a good situation going.”
That’s the part of Michaels’ story that makes the numbers harder to ignore. His current 33.8 percent expected goals share suggests Edmonton is getting tilted badly when he’s on the ice, and his PDO sits well above normal, a sign that some of the good fortune around him may not hold up over time.
At the same time, the deployment tells its own story. Just 21.9 percent of his shifts have started in the offensive zone, which shows how often he’s been asked to handle tough minutes. He’s also been facing stronger competition than anyone projected when the season began, and with Edmonton dealing with injuries, he’s essentially filled third-line duties.
Once the roster gets healthier, that role should ease. Michaels is more likely to settle into a fourth-line spot, where the matchup pressure should be lighter.
That’s where his value becomes easier to see. Even with the warning signs in the analytics, Michaels has become one of Edmonton’s most reliable faceoff men and a regular on the penalty kill. Those are two areas the Oilers have been trying to solve for a long time.
He can win draws, kill penalties, and play center from the right side - a combination that isn’t easy to find inside the organization. That’s a big part of why Babcock keeps trusting him.
The bigger question is whether those strengths are enough to keep him locked into the lineup if the possession numbers don’t improve. If the expected-goals trend keeps heading the wrong way and the results stop breaking Edmonton’s way, the coaching staff may have to take another look at his role.
For now, though, Michaels is giving the Oilers something they badly needed. He’s taken advantage of injuries, earned Babcock’s confidence, and carved out a place in the lineup through real, tangible value.
As Babcock often says, “The players decide, not me. I just watch.”
Right now, Michaels is making that decision tough. The underlying numbers call for caution, but the faceoff work, the penalty killing, and the trust he’s earned say he belongs here. If he can keep those strengths while improving the possession side in a more sheltered role, Bowman may have found another useful piece in an unexpected spot.
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