The Edmonton Oilers are doing something this week that NHL development camps have never done before: putting three of the top names in women’s hockey on the ice with their prospects.
Abbey Murphy, Caitlin Kraemer and Chloe Primerano are all part of the Oilers’ camp roster, making this the first time female players have been included in an NHL development camp. Edmonton listed the three invites in its release on Monday, and while the club didn’t offer an official explanation for the move, the decision immediately stands out.
Murphy arrives with a resume that already includes a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics with Team USA. The forward just wrapped up her college career at Minnesota, where she piled up 143 goals and 118 assists in 170 games. She was also the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft by the Seattle torrent.
Kraemer comes in as a 2028 PWHL Draft prospect and has already made her mark on the international stage for Canada. At the U-18 Worlds, she twice scored 10 goals in one tournament, an all-time record for Canada. She is currently playing at Minnesota-Duluth.
Primerano is also part of the 2028 PWHL Draft class. The North Vancouver native was selected in the 2022 WHL Draft, though she never went that route into the male junior ranks. She posted 16 points at the 2024 U-18 Women’s World Championships and has been Murphy’s teammate at Minnesota.
For the players, it’s a chance to skate against NHL talent and sharpen their games in a different environment. For the rest of the group, it’s a chance to watch three of the best athletes in their sport up close. Either way, it’s a rare setup - and a notable one.
In Other News...
Oilers Just Got Linked To A Cap Crunch Gamble Up Front
The Oilers are again being mentioned as a team that could take a swing up front, this time with Jesperi Kotkaniemi surfacing as a possible offseason target as Carolina looks to reshape its roster and clear room under the cap. Edmontons interest makes sense on paper because the club has been searching for more help at forward while also living with its own cap pressures, which makes any potential addition a balancing act from the start.
A move like this would almost certainly need Carolina to absorb a chunk of the contract to make the math work, and that kind of arrangement is exactly why these talks tend to stay complicated until late in the process. For Edmonton, the appeal is obvious enough, but the real question is whether the price and the retained salary line up well enough for a team that has to be careful with every bit of flexibility it has left. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Have A Drew Doughty Question Worth Asking
A Drew Doughty conversation is suddenly worth having again, and for Edmonton it starts with the simple reality that the Kings veteran is not locked in the way marquee defensemen usually are. Elliotte Friedmans reporting has opened the door just enough to make the idea linger, especially with Doughty carrying a seven-team trade list and the Oilers always looking at ways to reshape the blue line around their window.
Darnell Nurse adds the other half of the equation, because his contract situation gives Edmonton a rare bit of flexibility if the right hockey trade ever surfaced. Nothing is confirmed and the whole thing remains speculative, but when a deal can be framed around two established defensemen and meaningful cap consequences, it is the kind of possibility that gets teams, and fans, wondering how far it might realistically go. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Face A Tough Free Agency Call On Familiar Pest
Mason Marchment has spent the better part of his career carving out the same kind of niche that tends to draw interest in Edmonton: a winger who can score, get under opponents skin and make life uncomfortable in the hard areas of the ice. For the Oilers, that combination is easy to understand. He brings a track record of finishing chances and an edge that can fit alongside skilled forwards, which is why he keeps coming up as a plausible offseason target.
The harder part is sorting out the cost of adding that kind of player, because Marchments game has always carried some baggage with it. He moves around the league with a reputation as a pest, and the concerns are not about whether he can bother opponents - it is whether his penalties and defensive impact outweigh the offense when the games tighten up. Edmonton can use more scoring support, but deciding whether Marchment is the right kind of it is exactly the kind of free agency question that lingers into summer. [Read more 🡒]