EDMONTON, Alta. Isaac Howard and Josh Samanski report to Edmonton Oilers training camp this week with a clearer path to opening-night roster spots than either could have counted on in July, after injuries to two forwards ahead of them on the depth chart.
The Oilers announced on Aug. 26 that forwards Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark, defenceman Alec Regula and goaltender Frederik Andersen were not expected to take part in camp. According to the team’s statement, Janmark and Regula are recovering from medical procedures performed last season and shortly after it ended, while Savoie and Andersen are rehabilitating injuries sustained during off-season training. The club said updates would be provided when appropriate and did not specify the injuries.
That has left a top-six opening Howard intends to claim.
“I think I definitely can and I don’t have to overthink it or do anything like that,” Howard told NHL.com on the opening weekend of rookie camp. “I just have to come ready, play hard, compete hard and just showcase myself.”
Howard, 22, had 50 points (24 goals, 26 assists) in 47 games with Bakersfield of the American Hockey League last season and five points (two goals, three assists) in 29 games with Edmonton. He won the Hobey Baker Award in 2025 as the top player in U.S. college hockey after a 52-point season (26 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games at Michigan State University. Tampa Bay selected him 31st overall in the 2022 NHL Draft and traded him to Edmonton for forward Sam O’Reilly on July 8, 2025.
He had hoped to step straight into the NHL a year ago. Instead he played 17 games in Edmonton, was assigned to Bakersfield, and was recalled on Jan. 3 for an 11-game stint.
“I think to my standards, last season wasn’t what I wanted, but I think there was a lot of great lessons I took from it and helped me grow as a player,” Howard said. “I’ve come back better for this camp, more prepared and better overall.”
Samanski’s route was different. The 24-year-old German centre was recalled from Bakersfield on Jan. 26 and finished the season in Edmonton, posting four points (two goals, two assists) in 24 NHL games and 31 points (eight goals, 23 assists) in 45 games in the AHL. He added a goal and an assist in five Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Between those stints he played for Germany at the Winter Olympics, skating on the top line alongside Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
“That definitely gave me a little confidence boost playing with and against the best players in the world,” Samanski said. “I was lucky enough that not only there, but here I was able to learn a lot from the older guys and the veteran players, and it made me feel really comfortable.”
Samanski said the difference this September is knowing what the season demands. “Last year was new for me and I didn’t know what was coming,” he said. “I think the difference for me this year is that I know what’s coming.” He is expected to compete for a job centring a checking line, the role Janmark has filled in the bottom six.
Both players came through the club’s rookie camp, which opened Friday, Sept. 11 with medicals and a first on-ice session at the Downtown Community Arena. The Oilers’ rookie roster numbers 25 players, 14 forwards, seven defencemen and four goaltenders, and is run by the Bakersfield Condors coaching staff. Forwards Connor Clattenburg and Quinn Hutson, who also saw NHL time last season, are in the group, along with 2026 draft selections Rudolfs Berzkalns, Andrew Robinson, Caden Harvey and Ryan Cameron.
The rookies close that stretch Monday night against the Calgary Flames rookies at Scotiabank Saddledome, a 6 p.m. MT start streamed on Oilers+.
The main camp follows, and it will be the first under head coach Mike Babcock, who took over behind the Edmonton bench for 2026-27. The Oilers hold their annual Fan Day at Rogers Place and Ice District on Saturday, Sept. 19, and open the regular season at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the first half of a home-and-home that continues in Vancouver on Oct. 1.
Neither Howard nor Samanski has been promised anything. What the injuries have given them is a camp in which the competition for two lineup spots is thinner than it was a month ago.
Quotes and statistics in this article are from NHL.com reporting by Derek Van Diest, published Sept. 13, 2026, and from Edmonton Oilers team releases dated Aug. 26 and Sept. 10, 2026.
Photo: Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
