Oilers top D-prospect looks to make an impression at training camp
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Edmonton's 56th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft is hoping to make the cut in 2025-26, despite a major shoulder injury that set his development back almost a full year.
Fourteen games his 2023-24 season with the OHL's Barrie Colts, Beau Akey, an Edmonton Oilers defense-prospect, was injured. He required surgery on each shoulder and missed the rest of the year as a result.
When Akey returned to the lineup, he quickly assumed a leadership role with Barrie and posted 32 points (6G, 26A) in 52 games played, finishing 3rd among his team's D-men.
"I'm 100 percent now,» Akey said during Oilers development camp in July. «I'm looking to make the step to professional hockey [this season], so I'm looking to show the Oilers that at training camp. I want to give my all to try and make the Oilers and try to prove to them I can make an NHL roster.»
Beau Akey is a talented prospect who can play in all situations, and has the mobility which allows him to keep pace with, and shadow his forwards. Yet, though Edmonton's staff is impressed with the young defenseman, they'd like to see him raise his game in the defensive zone.
«A healthy Beau Akey is an elite skater, he can break the puck out well and he has offense,» Oilers senior director of player development Kalle Larsson said. «In junior hockey he was a two-way defenseman, leaning a little bit more towards offense. I think in pro, he'll be a two-way defenseman that will need to be more reliable defensively.»
It's an area of his game that Beau has been steadily developing. Akey played on a Barrie team that had an abundance of defenseman who could score, and so had to focus on the defensive side, and develop his 200-foot game, an area that will help the Oilers in long-term.
Though he will likely start in the AHL with Bakersfield, Beau Akey is expected to get a good look at training camp. Despite the injury set-back, he is still considered one of the team's top d-prospects.
«I expect him to have every opportunity to be a good player in Bakersfield,» Larsson said. «It will be up to him if he does that or not.»
| POLL | ||
AOUT 7 | 288 ANSWERS Oilers top D-prospect looks to make an impression at training camp Should Beau Akey play his final year in junior, or develop in the AHL? | ||
| Junior with OHL's Barrie | 76 | 26.4 % |
| AHL's Bakersfield | 212 | 73.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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