Regular season action has wrapped up in major junior hockey, and the playoffs are getting underway across the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
A trio of Edmonton Oilers prospects played in the CHL during the 2025-26 season: Tommy Lafreniere with the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL), David Lewandowski with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, and William Nicholl with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Here is a look at how Edmonton’s major junior prospects fared in 2025-26, and what the future holds for these potential Oilers.
Tommy Lafreniere
The first player selected by Edmonton in the 2025 NHL Draft (third round, 83rd overall), Lafreniere was one of the top scorers during the 2025-26 WHL season. He scored 41 times (tied for sixth in the league), including 13 power-play goals (tied for eighth), four shorthanded goals (tied for first), seven game-winning goals (tied for 11th), two overtime goals (tied for third) and seven first goals (tied for second).
Related: 7 Things to Know About Oilers’ Top Draft Pick Tommy Lafreniere
Lafreniere also recorded 36 assists to finish the season with 77 points in 67 games, a sizeable increase from 2024-25, when he totalled 56 points in 68 games.
The forward’s breakout campaign coincided with a huge leap up the standings by his team. After finishing 10th in the Western Conference with 53 points last season, the Blazers totalled 75 points in 2025-26 to finish 5th in the conference and clinch their first postseason berth since 2023.
This is exactly what the Oilers envisioned when they drafted Lafreniere with the 83rd overall pick last June. At that time, Oilers director of amateur scouting Rick Pracey said: “We think he’s going to take off offensively. He played on a sort of bubble team lower in the standings, so we think the team’s going to improve. We think he’s going to be a significant part of it.”
Lafreniere, 19, will make his WHL playoff debut as Kamloops faces the Kelowna Rockets in a best-of-seven first round series beginning Friday (March 27).
David Lewandowski
Lewandowski, who Edmonton selected in the fourth round (117th overall) at the 2025 NHL Draft, also made big strides over the last year: The German forward went from totalling 39 points with Saskatoon in 2024-25 to racking up a team-leading 65 points this season.
Over 57 regular season games, Lewandowski scored 17 times and added 48 assists. He was a model of consistency, never going more than three games in a row without a point, and recording four separate streaks of at least five straight games with at least one point. Over a 26-game span from Jan. 14 to March 18, he was held pointless only three times.
The forward missed a few weeks of WHL action while representing his country at the 2026 World Junior Championship in Minnesota, his second straight appearance at the World Juniors. He came up big in an 8-4 victory over Denmark, scoring once and adding a pair of assists to help Germany avoid relegation and secure a spot at the 2027 World Junior Championship.
Fans in Oil Country will get a chance to watch Lafreniere during the WHL Playoffs, as Saskatoon meets the Edmonton Oil Kings in a first round series beginning Friday at Rogers Place. Lewandowski recorded a goal and an assist in four games with the Blades during his major junior postseason debut last year.
William Nicholl
Nicholl missed more than half of the OHL regular season while recovering from upper-body surgery that he underwent last summer. Since returning to London’s lineup on New Year’s Eve, he’s appeared in 32 games, notching 15 goals and 11 assists.
His average of 0.81 points per game is a slight drop from 2024-25, when he scored 21 times and added 36 assists in 66 games, but he’s picked up the pace a bit lately, with goals in five of the last six games, and points in 10 of his last 12 games.
The 6-foot centre, who Edmonton drafted in the seventh round (196th overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft, contributed to London’s back-to-back OHL championship triumphs in 2024 and 2025, and helped the Knights capture the Memorial Cup last year.
London is now looking to win its third straight J. Ross Robertson Cup in the 2026 OHL Playoffs, which get underway Thursday (March 26). The Knights open their title defence in a best-of-seven first round series against the Soo Greyhounds, beginning Friday in London.
While Lafreniere and Lewandowski will likely be back with their WHL teams next season, the 2006-born Nicholl could be moving on to the pros. But his first order of business, of course, is trying to win another championship.
