(Arlington, Va.) The Edmonton Oilers don’t need to score more goals. Last season, no attack came close to that of the Albertans, who relied on 3 of 11 members of the NHL’s 100-point club.
How, in this context, can a young striker manage to break through the formation at the next training camp, or even after? Simply by providing a different service offering.
This is where Xavier Bourgault comes into the discussion.
In 2021-2022, in his last campaign in the QMJHL, he was among the most productive players on the circuit. His profile left no ambiguity. His professional debut in the American League, however, was more subdued: 34 points in 62 games in 2022-2023. This did not prevent the Athletic site from placing him, earlier this summer, at the forefront of the hopes of the Oilers, the team which drafted him in the first round (22nd overall) in 2021.
His modest production is obviously underlined, but the analysis mentions above all the versatility of the one who scored five power play goals, second in the Bakersfield Condors, and two shorthanded goals, a peak.
Bourgault is not fooled: he knows perfectly well that it is this versatility that may earn him a job in Edmonton. And if he can also become an offensive contributor, so much the better.
“It was a learning year,” he summed up Tuesday during a media scrum in Arlington, Va., where the NHL Rookie Showcase, an event hosted by the Players Association, was taking place. and hockey card maker Upper Deck.
Born in October, the Quebecer has always been one of the youngest players in his cohort. Arrived in the American League at 19, he relived what he had gone through at 15, in his debut in the QMJHL.
“The first year is difficult,” he admits. You make a lot of mistakes. You are younger than the others, so you have to work harder, smarter. It’s been beneficial in the past, and I think it will be in the future. »
Spontaneously, the one who “really focused on being better defensively” mentions his pride in having played shorthanded.
“I think it will serve me well if I want to make the big club in Edmonton. »
A man’s short game “is really fun” for a player like him. Jonathan Huberdeau had made the same observation, in his last year with the Florida Panthers.
“Being an offensive guy, you’re able to anticipate what other people are going to do, because it’s a play you would have made yourself,” Bourgault said. It happened a few times last season. I predicted what the guy was going to do and extended my stick at the last moment. I was able to cut play and create a scoring chance. It allows you to improvise. »
It is also under this identity that he wants to present himself at the camp of the Oilers, in a few days. That of a “deep” striker, “who can create momentum in the offensive zone” without embarrassing his team. An obvious asset within a team which, defensively, is rather in the middle of the pack.
Humbly, he says he wants “a good camp” above all else, better than last year, anyway. Though he knows he’s grown since then, he’s under no illusions that there will be no rewards for anyone in a roster where “Connor and Leon take up a lot of space” – McDavid and Draisaitl, respectively, if anyone was wondering.
“If I want to make the team, I have to push and make my place,” added the man who realistically expects to start the season in the American League. However, he wants to position himself as an essential candidate for a possible recall, in order to play his first games in the NHL.
“I think the organization has a lot of expectations of me,” he concludes. They drafted me for a reason. It puts a little pressure on me to perform, to prove to them that they made the right choice. At the same time, it really motivates me to invest the necessary effort and make the team as soon as possible. »