{"id":237148,"date":"2026-03-26T07:06:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/237148\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:06:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:06:40","slug":"oilers-send-james-hamblin-back-to-bakersfield-in-revealing-roster-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/237148\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers send James Hamblin back to Bakersfield in revealing roster move"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Edmonton <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

James Hamblin is headed back to Bakersfield, and Kris Knoblauch just showed where the Oilers see their forward depth right now.<\/p>\n

Edmonton announced Wednesday that Hamblin has been loaned to the Condors, a clean paper move that trims the NHL roster and sends a familiar depth piece back to the farm.<\/p>\n

That says plenty about the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Hamblin has already played 41 total games with Edmonton over two different stints, so this isn’t about learning the room or getting a first taste.<\/p>\n

Knoblauch has leaned on established options in the bottom six, and Hamblin was always battling for a spot that comes with short minutes and quick hooks.<\/p>\n

The tough part for Hamblin is that he did everything a depth forward usually needs to do in the AHL last season.<\/p>\n

He put up 19 goals and 45 points in 51 games while wearing an A for Bakersfield.<\/p>\n

That kind of production keeps him in the conversation, but it still hasn’t locked down a full-time NHL job. Career-wise with Edmonton, he has 2 goals and 1 assist.<\/p>\n

For the Oilers, this looks like a stretch-run decision more than a verdict on the player. They’re protecting flexibility and keeping a recall option close by.<\/p>\n

Why this move matters for Edmonton<\/p>\n

Hamblin’s contract also makes him easy to move in and out when the club needs a shuffle. He re-signed on a 2-year, two-way deal with a $775,000 NHL cap hit.<\/p>\n

That matters on a team that still needs every roster spot to count. The Oilers have spent the season juggling depth while trying to hold their place in the Pacific race.<\/p>\n

Sending Hamblin down also gives Bakersfield a proven forward for its own push.<\/p>\n

He’s already a major part of that group and knows exactly how to handle top-six AHL usage.<\/p>\n

And that may be the biggest takeaway here.<\/p>\n

Edmonton still values Hamblin, but the NHL club clearly sees him as insurance, not a nightly fixture.<\/p>\n

That can change fast this time of year. One injury, one cold stretch, one back-to-back, and his phone can ring again.<\/p>\n

For now, though, the Oilers are sending a hometown forward packing to the AHL and betting their current forward mix is the better play for the games that matter most.<\/p>\n

Previously on Edmonton Hockey Daily<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

14 HOURS AGO|82 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Oilers send James Hamblin back to Bakersfield in revealing roster move<\/p>\n

Did the Oilers make the right call by sending James Hamblin back down ?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images James Hamblin is headed back to Bakersfield, and Kris Knoblauch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,3855,153,152,2070,34634,21156,63618,91223],"class_list":{"0":"post-237148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-condors","10":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","11":"tag-bakersfield-news","12":"tag-edmonton-oilers","13":"tag-isaac-howard","14":"tag-james-hamblin","15":"tag-kris-knoblauch","16":"tag-stan-bowman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}