This in, news that the Edmonton Oilers organization have signed two young power forward prospects, David Lewandkowski, 19, and Simon Tassy, 25, to amateur try-out contracts in Bakersfield of the American Hockey League, this after Oilers GM Stan Bowman seemingly committed grand larceny bringing in young power forward Colton Dach, 23, from his old Chicago Blackhawks team at the recent March trade deadline.
Dach came in seemingly as an add-om to the deal that saw the Oilers acquire centre Jason Dickinson from Chicago for a first-round draft pick and the salary dump of Andrew Mangiapane’s contract. At the same time, Chicago retained 50 per cent of Dickinson’s $4.25 million contract for this year.
Dickinson was coming on strong before he took a wicked shot off his foot, knocking him out of some recent game, but the emergence of Dach has been one of the most promising developments of Edmonton’s season.
In an admittedly small sample size of eight short games with the Oilers, the 6-foot, 4-inch, 220 pound Dach played his way up to the third line. He and fellow power forward Trent Frederic caused havoc on the forecheck with their aggression and helped the Oilers score a few goals with their skill.
Frederic has been trending up steadily in the second half of the season — a huge relief to all fans and commentators in Oil Country given his seven-year contract — and together with Dach and first Dickinson and then Josh Samanski, a promising heavy hockey line suited for playoff action appears to have been concocted.
Dach
The key for Dach in the coming series is whether he’s read to battle nasty and experienced knee-and-head hunters on the Anaheim defence such as Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba.
If he and Frederic can get in on them and make life miserable by throwing nasty hits, that will go some way in wearing down their old NHL bodies. At the same time, Dach has to keep playing smart hockey on defence, essentially making safe passes out of his own zone, while covering off his area of the slot and blocking point shots.
His play with the Oilers has been so eye-opening and promising it leaves me wondering why Chicago gave him up, but on his Oilers Now show Friday, host Bob Stauffer dropped a hint, that Chicago is most interested in more recent draft picks and not so interested in players drafted in the pre-2022 Stan Bowman era. Bowman’s Hawks took Dach 62nd overall in the 2022 draft.
It’s very early here and Dach’s path could go sideways fast, but he’s looking like he alone might be worth that late first-round pick payment.
82 Grade A
As for Lewandowski, he was taken in the fourth round of the 2025 draft by the Oilers. He put up 65 points in 57 games this year, then helped lead his Saskatoon Blades to an upset win in the first round of the playoffs over the Edmonton Oil Kings. Lewandowski is a big, rangy power forward with skills and a love of battle. This past summer he was ranked 15th overall for Oilers prospects by the Cult of Hockey.
David Lewandowski
The other signing to an amateur try-out deal, Sinon Tassy, is also big, 6-feet, two-inches, 194-pounds, and was a key player on a ferocious forechecking Wisconsin team. He’s an older prospect, which also makes him a longer shot to make the NHL, but stranger things have happened.
Simon Tassy
At the Cult of Hockey
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