peThe Edmonton Oilers’ 2022 first-round pick Reid Schaefer impressed during the early days of training camp. At the Young Stars tournament, he played a physical game and had some looks offensively and showed off a terrific release and a heavy shot.
At main camp, he didn’t deliver much with the puck and was not close to equal physically against older players, but showed a great deal of heart in his two games. He looked exactly like the player who had been drafted in the summer and played well enough to get a game or two in the NHL preseason.
His NHL story is still to come. Is it possible to project him into the league next season? Two years from now?
Comparable players
The first step in finding a possible future for Schaefer is to find comparable players. He has some unique qualities. He has a power forward’s size (6-foot-4, 219 pounds) and is a volume shooter (3.47 shots per game last year) with a goal scorer’s touch.
His shooting percentage (14 percent) in his draft year suggests he’ll be a successful scorer in the NHL if the rest of his game continues to develop. That’s a better shooting percentage than 2022 draft pick Conor Geekie (11.9 percent), who was chosen 21 spots before Schaefer. The two men have some similarities, and their progress will be worth following.
Schaefer was an older player (18 years, nine months, 16 days) on the day he was drafted, so that’s another consideration in finding a comparable player for projection.
All three of these men are natural size and style comparable to Schaefer, and the ages are in the range. I did use Austin Wagner’s draft-plus-one season, it fits better in terms of age and the numbers are similar when placed together. Per 82 games in the NHL, Wagner has scored 11-8-19 during his career. He is not a volume shooter in pro hockey.
.