The Edmonton Oilers 2025-26 No. 8 ranked prospect is Finnish forward, Roby Jarventie.
Jarventie was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators at the 2020 NHL Draft, being selected 33rd overall. The Oilers acquired the winger in a mid-summer trade with the Senators last year, sending prospects Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson the other way for Jarventie and a 2025 pick.
The 23 year old has been a highly touted prospect for a number of years standing out for Finland at various international tournaments and in the professional leagues in his home country, dominating the second tier Mestis and top tier Liiga before making his way to North America.
He played mainly with the Belleville Senators, Ottawa's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate. There he played three full seasons scoring 38 goals and 48 assists for 86 points in 136 games played. His play earned him a shot with in the NHL suiting up for seven games in 2023-24 notching a single assist.
Unfortunately the past couple seasons have been very rough for Jarventie, who has faced serious injury struggles. Suffering various knee injuries and undergoing multiple surgeries, he was held to only two games with the Oilers AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, netting two assists in that time before re-injuring his knee.
Future outlook
There were rumours that Jarventie was eyeing a return to his home country Finland to join Tampere Tappara of Liiga but those seem to be unfounded as he is not listed on the team's roster and was instead named to the Oilers rookie camp roster.
As of now, it is expected that he will be sent down to start the year in the AHL with the Condors where he will likely be given top six minutes and a good opportunity to produce at a high rate, which he has shown capable of for the past few seasons. If he can stay healthy, he will likely be a call-up candidate and should be given the opportunity to work his way up into the lineup later in the season or at training camp next year.
Last month, I listed Jarventie as a prospect primed to breakout and take another step and I still believe that to be the case. Jarventie has shown to be a very capable hockey player when he has been healthy, able to produce at a high level in what is arguably the second best hockey league in the world, the AHL.
Oilers senior director of hockey operations, Kalle Larsson said about Jarventie "When we traded for him, we were really excited because he was one of the top prospects in the world" which is incredible praise from a person in such a high position.
NHL potential
It is tough to speak about Jarventie's NHL potential without first addressing his very real injury concerns. Sometimes, players hit stretches of bad luck -- which is definitely this case -- but unfortunately, certain injuries are very hard to bounce back from. The knees are an incredibly important mechanical part of a hockey player and we have seen knee injuries ruin players careers.
Hopefully, this is not the case for Jarventie who is only 23 years old because without the knee injuries, he has looked to have some legitimate potential at the next level. His ceiling was and likely still is that of a second line or top six winger. He possess incredible size at 6'3 and 209lbs as well as high end skills with the puck on his stick and incredible on-ice vision, allowing him to score goals as well as set up teammates.
If he can hit his potential, the Finnish forward could be a menace on the Oilers offence, playing alongside of elite talent who are capable of elevating and feeding their linemates with 'Grade A' scoring chances.
Hopefully for his sake, Jarventie's injury struggles are behind him and he can hit his potential as a top six or middle six scoring winger. If he can, the league should watch out for the Oilers forward core.