EDMONTON — Beau Akey feels he is back on track in his professional hockey quest after overcoming a major shoulder injury two seasons ago.

Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round (No. 56) of the 2023 NHL Draft, the 20-year-old defenseman had a solid fourth season with Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League and is hoping to use it as a springboard to play in the pros this season.

“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.”

Akey sustained his injury in a collision 14 games into the 2023-24 season, which required surgery on each shoulder to fully repair. He missed the rest of that season, but returned last season and took on a leadership role with Barrie, with 32 points (six goals, 26 assists) and a plus-10 rating in 52 games, and five assists in 16 OHL playoff games. He was third among Barrie defensemen in scoring and played in all situations.

“Being out, it was a long year for sure, I’m definitely excited to have it behind me,” Akey said. “It was a challenge in the first couple of months getting back into the swing of things, your cardio is not there and all those types of things, but I felt after the first couple of months I got into a nice groove.”

Edmonton is impressed with his mobility and offensive skills, but wants 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.”

Akey said he’s up for the challenge.

“Having a good team in Barrie and having other defensemen that can put up points and can score goals, I had to take that step and work on my defensive side and my 200-foot game and I think I did that,” he said. “We had a really good team in Barrie, we made it to the conference final and unfortunately we got swept by Oshawa. It wasn’t the best series we could have put together, but overall, it was a good season.”

Akey is expected to get a long look at Edmonton training camp with a good chance to play at the next level, even though he is eligible to return to junior as an overage player.

Missing most of his third season of junior because of his shoulder injury definitely set him back, but Akey is still considered one of the Oilers’ top prospects.

Edmonton enters the season off back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Florida Panthers each time, and do not have a lot of extra roster spots on the blue line, so Akey is expected to play with Bakersfield of the American Hockey League.

“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.”

Akey’s goal is to become a reliable two-way defenseman for the Oilers. Realistically, he may be a season or two removed from having a honest chance of making it to the NHL.

“When I got drafted, I think there was that excitement the first day,” he said, “but then you know you have to get to work, you have to try and work to take that step to become a professional whenever that is, and I think since I got drafted, I’ve had that work mindset.

“I want to be a better version of myself than I was last year. You always want to grow as a person and a player every year and get better. I just think I want to go into (this season) with that pro mindset and be able to keep working on myself and my game.”