Roby Jarventie made his Edmonton Oilers debut Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
His regular-season debut, anyway.
He’s been in the organization since July 2024, traded along with a fourth-round draft pick for Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson from an Ottawa Senators team that drafted Jarventie in the second round (33rd overall) in 2020.
The 6-foot-2 winger out of Tampere, Finland, played seven games with the Senators in the season leading up to the trade, but knee injuries have had a tendency to interrupt his development along the way, only seeing him play a couple dozen American Hockey League games over the past two seasons.
But this year was about getting him back on track, as he racked up 52 games with the Bakersfield Condors before getting his first call-up to the Oilers last week.
“A second-round pick and high skill level, a guy who can score, big body but has battled injuries,” said Condors head coach Colin Chaulk. “So, it’s taken him a year and a half to put together a full season.
“He started the year with load management and not playing back-to-backs for, I believe, the first six of them. He started really hot, and then he went through the rigours of the season where he was up and down and just finding his way through being able to play every day — which you’re excited to do, but your body’s not used to it.”
With 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 52 games, Jarventie is currently seventh in Condors’ team scoring. And while the call-up represents the next step in the process of his development, Chaulk said there is still plenty of room for improvement in the 23-year-old’s game. And the potential for a high ceiling.
“There are times where he could have skated more and competed a little harder. And then there were times where myself as the coach, I needed to play him more,” Chaulk said. “I would say, overall, he’s had a really good season. And right now, he’s starting to find his groove where he’s learning to battle through and maybe find his B-game.
“And the conversations I’ve had with him, it’s like, ‘Keep battling through and find your B-game, and I’ve got to stick with you and I’ve got to play you a few more minutes.’ I think the relationship and combination where we can both give a bit more has been really good.”
But was it going to be good enough for a call-up this season?
“At some point I wondered a little bit, but I just tried to focus on every game, every day at a time,” Jarventie said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, but obviously super excited to be here.”
The Edmonton Oilers’ Roby Järventie (15) during preseason NHL action against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Wednesday Sept. 24, 2025.
While he was held off the stats sheet in 8:30 of ice time on the Oilers fourth line, just getting back out on NHL ice in the first place marked a milestone for someone who spent so much time in the physio room over the years working on both knees.
“You didn’t really know what you were going to get because he was injured,” Chaulk said. “He’s always been a really good contributor and I think he’s a prospect, for sure. It’s believed he should be a regular Edmonton Oiler here one day soon.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has been paying attention to Jarventie’s progress down on the farm.
“He’s been having a good year in Bakersfield, and from my count he’s been pretty healthy this year. He’s played a lot of hockey. This year, he’s been able to play in a handful of (Oilers) exhibition games,” Knoblauch said. “A smart player, he’s got a very short stick and I was always wondering why, but it’s something that he feels comfortable with. He can really shoot a puck.
“And he’s probably earned an opportunity to play some games with us. Right now, he’s been the best forward in Bakersfield, played the best hockey. So, that’s why we called him up. I think he’s a player that can play in the NHL.”
And it’s another feather in the cap of the crew in Bakersfield, who continue working away at making sure there are more well-rounded prospects in the pipeline whenever the Oilers find themselves in need.
“There haven’t been many first-round picks, so we’re trying to develop players that can be on the penalty kill,” said Chaulk, who spent all last year helping turn young Oilers forward Matt Savoie into the player he is today. “That was something Keith McCambridge did, and that myself, on the defensive side of things with Matt to make sure that he was responsible.
“As far as Roby goes, it’s no different. He hasn’t had a lot of penalty killing, it’s not something he’s comfortable doing, but playing on the right side of the puck, playing defensively, and then also providing offence.
“When he’s forechecking, he’s a big body. He’s also really dynamic on entries. He can be pretty nasty when his game is on, and then he can play lots of different spots on the power play, as well. So, he touches a lot of different areas of the game. The only thing he’s not doing is penalty killing, but every other piece of the game he’s a part of.”
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