Early last season, when the Oilers\u2019 roster needed a jolt, Clattenburg received the call-up to join the big club. Thrust into the fire, Edmonton was finishing a tough seven-game road trip against their Stanley Cup rival, the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n
CONNOR CLATTENBURG, HIS FIRST NHL GOAL!<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet | #LetsGoOilers<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cThat whole week was just pretty crazy,\u201d said Clattenburg.\u00a0\u201cI didn\u2019t know any of that was going to happen, and to have my family there to watch it all happen and play the former Cup champions was pretty cool for the first one.\u201d<\/p>\n He provided that much-needed energy as a green 20-year-old, sticking around and playing four more games while growing as a fan favourite.<\/p>\n In his home debut against the Dallas Stars<\/a>, Clattenburg scored his first NHL goal and played nearly 13 minutes of ice time during the blowout loss. Later, he got the better of Frederick Gaudreau in a scrap<\/a> in Seattle, his first in the NHL.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing to that Dallas game, I was just fired up to play, and I got that opportunity, and it was just a dream come true,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when you realize that you\u2019ve made that level, and it\u2019s pretty fun to celebrate with the family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was unreal here, and I\u2019ll never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Clattenburg looks to refine his gameAn eye injury kept him out of the lineup for the majority of December before he was sent back down<\/a> to Bakersfield to continue learning the pro game. He\u2019d suffer another setback just a week after his return, requiring surgery after breaking his hand.<\/p>\n In all, Clattenburg played 32 games with the Condors, scoring two goals and four points, while collecting 131 penalty minutes over nine fighting majors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a big difference to jump into pro hockey and learn from the higher-level coaches and just have a lot of bigger guys around me, a lot of vets,\u201d said Clattenburg. <\/p>\n \u201cJust learning from those guys, seeing what they do each day, it really made a difference in my career last year. I know the injuries kind of derailed me a bit, but it\u2019s just part of the game. You\u2019ve got to put your head down and just keep working. I\u2019ve dealt with that, I\u2019ve learned from that, and I\u2019m just ready to go this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m ready to rock\u2019<\/p>\n Clattenburg is still quite a raw hockey player, having played just 38 professional games in his life. But he\u2019s earned everything he\u2019s gotten to be a pro. Clattenburg admitted to Tony Brar of OilersTV two years ago that he had doubts growing up whether he could play at this level.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a credit to his hard work and dedication, plus the guidance he\u2019s received from Condors head coach Colin Chaulk.<\/a> Clattenburg said the former pro in Chaulk pushed him and he continues to learn from his coach, who recently signed a contract extension to stick around in Bakersfield.<\/p>\n While he continues to fill out his six-foot-two, 215-pound frame, Clattenburg knows that skating and puck play to match his truculence will determine whether he can carve out a long NHL career.<\/p>\n He can mix it up. Now, it\u2019s about adding to his game.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get better at all parts of your games and it\u2019s just each little step at a time,\u201d he said. \u201cMy puck handling is one thing I want to really improve, and it\u2019s just going to take my game to the next level. My skating too. If I improve that, it can really change the game a little bit. So, just working on those things to take the next step.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited for this next camp. I\u2019m confident and I\u2019m ready to rock when it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4<\/a>.\u00a0SIGN UP NOW FOR THE NATION GOLF TOURNAMENT![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783857191_891_image.webp\"\/)
The Nation Golf Tournament<\/a> driven by GMC is back Friday, August 28, 2026! Which means it\u2019s once again socially acceptable to skip work on a Friday for \u201cnetworking\u201d. Join us on Friday, August 28, 2026 at Mill Woods Golf Course for an 18-hole Texas scramble shotgun start, questionable swing decisions, and enough chirping to last the entire offseason. Every swing supports Gregor\u2019s Grads and their mission to help graduates shine on graduation day. Early bird pricing ends July 18th, so grab your squad and sign up now at NationGear.ca<\/a> before it sells out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft is a brash, throwback of a player: a take-no-prisoners scrapper better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-795430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}