Josh Samanski made his regular season NHL debut for the Edmonton Oilers on January 26th, 2026. In such a short period of time, he has seemingly solidified his spot as a regular on the Oilers roster, carving out a role in the team's bottom-six.
Just last year the 24 year old was breaking out in the German DEL, leading all U-23 players leaguewide in scoring. He signed a two-year entry-level contract in the summer and has been able to work his way up the ranks through their American Hockey League affiliate the Bakersfield Condors to a permanent role with the Oilers.
On his current line, Samanski is logging over 10 minutes a game and playing a defensive shutdown role with trade deadline acquisition Jason Dickinson on the third line. It is a hard spot for a rookie to be thrust into but it seems as though Samanski is being primed and developed to take over that role in the future.
Samanski has fit well with the Oilers
Samanski has been billed as a two-way forward for a long time, using his large frame and hockey sense to be an impactful 200-foot player. He has also been one of the Oilers' best players defensively since he joined the team.
Using evolving-hockey.com, he ranks first on the Oilers in corsi against per 60 minutes and second in expected goals against per 60 minutes all at 5-on-5. Of course, it should be noted that it is a small sample size but the early returns and given his body of work, it sparks a lot of optimism about his career trajectory.
He has also shown the ability to play on the wing and down the middle, allowing him to be used in a variety of ways within the Oilers bottom-six. On top of his defensive ability, one of the Oilers' most productive lines using underlying statistics was Samanski playing alongside Jack Roslovic and Matt Savoie.
Samanski is the future
This off-season, the newly acquired rental Dickinson will become an unrestricted free agent at 31 years old. Although he likely does not command his current caphit of $4.25 million per season and the Oilers could do well to re-sign him.
However, if general manager Stan Bowman opts to allocate his salary cap in a different way, he may choose to not re-sign him. This would make Samanski the best bet to take over as the defensive shutdown centre with the team.