How impressed the lesions of Edmonton Oilers Prospect Beau Akey?

Beau Akey and Eilers of Edmonton should be a perfect correspondence.

He is a brilliant skater, has a pedigree project and is a positional unicorn (a right defender) who also embodies many of the skills associated with the defense of playing in this era of the NHL.

Recently winter of 2023, it was the N. 2 player classified in the entire system. At the time, I wrote “Akey’s Improvement defensively, together with his offensive ability (15-41-56 in his 80 most recent OHL games) and his impressive speed projects him as a possible defender of the first four in the NHL in the years to come.”

Akey suffered a serious shoulder injury in November 2023. Both shoulders They were repaired in an attempt to make it completely healthy, although the rest of the 2023-24 season was completely lost.

It remained one of the best perspectives (No. 4 in the system Winter 2024) mainly due to offensive talents and extraordinary skating capacity.

However, in order for a teenage hockey player to lose what is equivalent to an entire development season can have an impact.

Now we are at the point where Akey played an entire season after the injury. He did not spend the season as the only Power-Play quarterback with his Ohl (Barrie Colts) team, therefore his offensive numbers do not go to Tower during his last healthy season (2022-23) before the derailment of the injury.

What do Oilers have in Akey?

Offense

Since we are dealing with a player with much less game opportunities in 2024-25, it is difficult to compare the seasons in this sector. However, we could see any progress by displaying its numbers divided into all states of the game. Here is a look at his career, using points per game:

Points per game, via chl.ca

This is an encouraging look at the progression of Akey’s career.

For the force, he has offended a constant crime in the last three seasons. The Colts, like any Ohl team, have delivered a series of offensive seasons (from 234 to 284) over the years Akey was regular. His individual statistics showed good production in the best and worst offensive seasons of the team.

In the Power Play, Akey has not enjoyed an entire season as the best defender of power for the club. This means that we do not know his offensive ceiling with the advantage of man. Also, the men who played in front of him (Brandt Clarke, Kashawin “Kash” is Aitches) are exceptional talents. Akey’s skills are impressive, but losing the game time for the choices of the first round (and in the case of Clarke, a top-10 choice) does not indicate bankruptcy.

It is not fair to evaluate the defenders purely on the offensive side, but it is an important part of the Akey game. These numbers suggest that it has not lost much (if nothing else) in the uniform offense and that the total game of power are lower because of the opportunities.

The director of Oilers Scouting Rick Pracey was mentioned last summer saying: “He is an excellent skater, so we think it will be just a matter of time before he returns to speed inside his environment and go”.

Those words proved prophetic, at least offensively. Akey is signed for an NHL agreement and is suitable for becoming a professional in the autumn. If he does, his ability to move, the speed, the uniform offense and the power game potential should not be in doubt based on his junior curriculum.

Defense

In the season that led to his draft of the summer (2022-23), Akey was shy in the exciting of a uniform resistance for the Colts. His percentage of goal on ice (49 percent) followed the total of Barrie’s team (58 percent) when he was out of the ice.

The colts were better with rest Akey. The information available from the OHL is less than the ideal, but we can conclude that the reputation of the “chaos” for Akey has been well earned in its 17 -year -old season.

What do I wait for those numbers this season?

Akey wasted some time for the World Junior championships (he played a limited role for the Canada team), but it was an effective outscorere for the uniform strength of the OHL throughout the season.

He delivered a goal share of 58 % with the Colts, which were 50.2 percent when Akey was out of the ice. The numbers overturned from his draft year. The pre-Christmas race was the most successful, Barrie dominating the strength and the opponents obsolete regularly overall.

Akey earns a lot of credit for a highly improved goal of goals. However, there are some realities that must be recognized.

He was an inexperienced seventeen in his year of draft, who was hit by older players who had been in the championship for two seasons. Last season, Akey was the oldest player and dominating the younger talents meant that he was probably pushing the river in all areas.

Is this progress or strength of man?

What we can say is that if this is his last season Ohl, and this is probable, Akey leaves the championship in a high -level point offensively and as an outscorere.

The future

The first seasons of Akey’s professional hockey will probably have spent in Bakersfield with Ahl Condors. The organization will want to make sure you can face the penalties of the physical style in the championship. The technical staff of Bakersfield will facilitate it in the game time, as it is an area that should be able to help once used to the new level of competition.

Akey’s exceptional skating will give him an AHL level in time. His ability to recover in games should be an initial feature of his game.

Offensively, there is no real evidence that the injury has influenced progress. His maturation represented a little of the impressive increase in the offsoque, but it is right to give a little credit to the player to improve in this sector.

As for the Power-Play time, we have never seen AKEY with a complete season of Ohl in the role of Top QB from the point. It could be an area that presents itself in a positive way with Bakersfield next season.

As in the case of all the defenders who move the disc, the Pro level will be an education on winning battles against the largest and older players and take care of the disc.

The injury and subsequent pedestrian boxcar numbers in 2024-25 eliminated all the buzz from the projection of Akey as a perspective. If he shows himself well in Bakersfield this autumn, the organization will trumpest his successes and mature it as the next first flight perspective for the right side of Edmonton’s future defense.

It is a big year before for Akey and Oilers.

(Photo: Perry Nelson / USA TODAY)