Oilers trade Klim Kostin and Yamo

At the end of May Holland pulled off another sneaky trade to increase the Oiler’s prospect pool by trading away a fifth-round pick in this recent draft in exchange for the signing rights to right-shooting center Jayden Grubbe.

Initially a third-round pick of the Rangers, Grubbe informed the Rangers he would not be signing a contract with them, and Holland somehow got wind of this and offered the Rangers a fifth-round pick before they would lose Grubbe for nothing, which they accepted.

Holland immediately signed Grubbe to a two-way, three-year contract with the Oilers that’s worth $867,500 at the NHL level with the potential for another $57,500 if he hits his performance bonuses – but don’t count on him achieving those because he’d have to jump straight away from junior to the NHL, which nine times out of 10 only the Connor Mcdavids and Taylor Halls of the prospect pool can pull off.

Grubbe is an intriguing prospect not just because he’s a right shot, but because he spent his junior career with the Red Deer Rebels and absolutely lit the Rebels on fire as he put up 18 goals and 67 points in 64 games Red Deer, and improving to a sparkling +10 in the process, all of which are far and way career highs for Grubbe in his junior career.

This is the Rangers finding a prospect who is looking like a diamond in the rough, and Holland taking advantage of a bad situation after Grubbe backed the Rangers into a corner.

Grubbe is 20 years old, so he’s old enough that he can make the jump to Bakersfield now (CHL rules state you must be 20 years old to play in the AHL, so any 18 or 19-year-old prospects have to either be reassigned back to their junior team or play in the NHL with a nine-game tryout option for the NHL team if they think the guy can handle it without burning a year off the player’s contract, although 18 or 19-year-olds are free to play in the AHL if they haven’t played in the CHL the year prior).

Expect Grubbe to start his pro career in Bakersfield next season with an outside chance he goes back to junior as an overager if he struggles big time in training camp as he still technically has one more year of junior eligibility.

Fantastic find by Holland, and if he can translate his offence from junior to the AHL in short order, expect him to get his first NHL call-up sooner rather than later. I suspect Holland sees Grubbe as a potential fourth-line center, maybe as soon as the latter half of next season, at least to start his career anyway. Where he goes from there is up to him.