Call-up Clattenburg making his case to stay with the Edmonton Oilers

When it comes to the things he can control, the Edmonton Oilers couldn’t ask anything more from Connor Clattenburg.

Called up from the farm in Bakersfield, Calif., when Noah Philp landed on long-term injured reserve, the 20-year-old rookie has made an impact in helping the Oilers turn their season around.

He scored his first NHL goal in the second period of an otherwise listless 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, and celebrated it like the lifelong memory it will always be. Even if the fans weren’t at all feeling it that night.

And while it was his only point in his first five games in the big league, the physicality he brings to the game is something the Oilers had been sorely lacking in yet another mediocre start to the season.

It’s the parts Clattenburg can’t control that are the only question mark around him right now, after taking a high stick under the visor against the Seattle Kraken required stitches around his eye and forced him to miss Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

He is expected to miss the rest of this week, as well, which isn’t the best news for an energetic youngster looking to make his mark for as long as the opportunity presents itself.

“Did I think Connor Clattenburg was going to play in the NHL at this point? No,” said Bakersfield Condors head coach Colin Chaulk. “But I also know when (Oilers amateur scouting director) Rick Pracey and his staff drafted him and then we got to know the kid, I think the word I used is a dinosaur.

“He really enjoys forechecking and hitting people. Hard.”

It hasn’t happened overnight, getting drafted in the fifth round (160th overall) by Edmonton in 2023, before finishing out his third and final season in the Ontario Hockey League with the Flint Firebirds and making the jump to the pros.

“It went back to the first rookie camp in Penticton two years ago, he’d go flat out every game, and we’re like, ‘Hey, you can play too and we want you to have a good stick, and you have to have better detail and you have to stop and start, swinging and swooping. Those are big points of emphasis for him.

“And then, he’s got some nice little mittens. He’s got a nice pair of hands.”

Just don’t worry about mistaking him for that ‘other’ Connor quite yet …

“Early in the season, he took the puck from behind the net and tried to dangle, and it ended up in the back of our net,” Chaulk said. “We were playing in Tucson, and we kind of had a fun clip of Connor McDavid going through four guys against the New York Rangers.

“And it was like, ‘OK, let’s probably leave that to a select few people. He got a chuckle out of it, and it was our way of coaching him about the next chance when you make that decision.”

The learning curve only amps up here in the NHL. With 15 games in the American Hockey League, where he scored a goal and an assist, there hasn’t been much time for coaching. So, Clattenburg has had to rely on his instincts. And at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, those instincts are seek and destroy.

“When I get back to the dinosaur part, that’s the physical play, enjoying the fear factor,” Chaulk said. “And I think that group up there, he’s bringing a lot of fun, a lot of pride and I think for a veteran group that has been to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, it’s got to be so hard to get up for things.

“I think he’s bringing some joy and bringing some passion and some fun. That’s just my assumption from what he brought here. The players just love him, the coaches love him. He’s a 20-year-old man who is trying to find his way.”

Whether that winds him back in Bakersfield sooner or later, or he gets more chances to show he belongs in Edmonton, time will tell. But sooner or later, the Oilers are going to have a player on their bottom six who solves problems with a hammer.

“There were nights he’d play 15 minutes and there were nights he’d play eight minutes because he’d be in the penalty box,” Chaulk said. “He was in that third/fourth-line role for us here.

“So, I think it’s him mastering that role and him also growing his game where he can be, like, a Tom Wilson. Where he’s able to generate that offence and be responsible defensively with the puck.

“Projecting as a betting man, or a coach or a scout, you think that’s more down the road, but right now he’s just providing that passion and energy and love for the game. And sometimes, everyone needs to be reminded of that.”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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