Oilers defenceman Spencer Stastney finding his love of hockey again

Eighteen months ago, Spencer Stastney didn’t like hockey so much.

But today, wearing a megawatt smile, he’s all in.

The Edmonton Oiler defenceman, who will be playing his old Nashville Predators’ team Tuesday for the first time since his trade Dec. 12, had some mentally dark days in the Preds’ organization when hockey wasn’t any fun, but the sun is fully out, now, with Stastney partnering here with his one-time U.S. Development teammate, Ty Emberson.

What brought the love of hockey back?

“Just a lot of therapy with family, friends… taking time to step back and trying to figure out myself and what I was feeling,” said Stastney, who had so many things swirling in his head, a lot of stuff as he grew up.

Did he think of quitting?

“Oh, yeah,” said Stasney, who turned 26 Sunday.

“During that whole process, for sure. That’s why I stepped away.”

He went into the NHL’s Player Assistance program, like fellow Oiler goalie Connor Ingram, who has been there, twice, and come out the other side feeling much better.

So many young kids would hang in there until the bitter end, no matter how they were playing. But Stastney just wasn’t feeling it, like when his Milwaukee farm team lost in the playoffs in 2024, and while others were heart-broken he just wanted to get away. He was depressed. It wasn’t the hockey so much as internal agonizing.

He took time away from hockey in late 2024.

“There’s always pressure (being a pro) but there were personal things. I realize a lot of kids would die to be here but there were things in my life that got out hand and had to take care of that,” said Stastney, who opened up his heart during a summer 2025 podcast with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas.

As he said then, “I remember sitting in the locker room after the last game (2024 playoffs) in Milwaukee and I wasn’t in a great place. I was pretty happy the season was done, I was absolutely miserable, I had nothing in the tank. I looked to my left and Cal O’Reilly had tears in his eyes. Like he wanted to win the game more than anything.”

Right then, said Stastney, he realized he had to take a break, get away. He said he was feeling anxiety every day. When he was on the ice, his shifts were very short.

”It was overwhelming (the turmoil),” he said.

He had to his head around getting back to the ice, talking through his issues. He wasn’t that he was trying to figure out hockey, instead it was the turmoil from his teen years when his parents divorced and it wasn’t a warm family dynamic.

“Just a lot of mental stuff,” he said. His body was fine.

“Fortunately I’m not too old. I was fine there,” said Stastney, who did share his feelings with Ingram.

“We’ve talked a bit. He was in Milwaukee with me. We talked to the psychologist we’re close with in Nashville. We’ve both been through stuff,” said Stastney.

Stastney, whose greatest strength is his effortless skating, checking players with his feet, getting in and out of trouble, getting the puck going north, had played 30 games with the Predators this season when dealt to the Oilers the same day Brett Kulak was moved to Pittsburgh in the Stu Skinner trade.

He’s averaged over 17 minutes a game, mostly in a third pairing, but he did see some time with Darnell Nurse, shifting from his usual left side to his right with Nurse. He started with a bang on an Oiler road trip after the trade, but his play has dropped off some the last while. He was minus 3 in Saturday’s loss to the Flyers, minus 3 in 11 Oiler games.

“First time I was ever traded. I was a little scared but it’s shocked me how smooth the transition has been,” said Stastney, who saw his comforting old buddy Emberson from the U18 development team with Joel Farabee, Jack Hughes and K’Andre Miller.

He spent four years at Notre Dame after being drafted in the fifth round in 2018, then 126 AHL games in Milwaukee, along with 81 with Predators. He read the tea leaves in Nashville, knew there were too many defencemen in the organization, and not enough spots on the lineup card. His love of the game has reawakened and he’s trying to make more happen after coaches in Nashville said he was passive.

The Oilers likely want to see more runway from Stastney, a restricted free agent in July, before they work on a new deal. For now, Stastney expects some good-natured chirps from his former teammates as they say hello after he said goodbye  .

“I was real close to the guys on the back-end but I’m sure (forward Luke) Evangelista will have some things to say to me. It’ll be a fun game, going out there every shift against guys I know and guys I love,” he said.

With a smile on his face.

Eye-opening

Wingers Andrew Mangiapane and Trent Frederic were skating on a fifth line with farm call-up Quinn Hutson at Monday’s practice and if the two veterans are healthy scratches for the Predators, that’s a seminal moment, folks.

These are the two free-agent forward signings after last season.

“We haven’t made a decision yet (sitting both),” said Knoblauch, who probably knows his line-up for the Predators but isn’t saying so for public consumption, with winger Kasperi Kapanen likely coming off LTIR to eat up one roster/lineup spot and Curtis Lazar being the 4C with wingers Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie.

Mangiapane has been scratched two of the last three Oiler games as they try to trade him. He has one goal in his last 26 games, a nice deflection from the high slot against Minnesota Dec. 20. Frederic hasn’t scored in 18 games (13 shots) and has one assist in that time, setting up the now-gone David Tomasek for a snipe against the Jets Dec 6.

Tomasek has played two games in Sweden with his old club Farjestads, a goal and an assist, after asking for his release and clearing waivers. He’s still waiting to see if he makes the Czechia Olympic team.

The Oilers may find a trade partner for Mangiapane and his $3.6 million AAV for two years but Frederic’s eight-year, $30.8 million deal continues to be an albatross for him and Oiler management. They keep waiting for him to show some fire in a season that’s barely been a flicker. He’s played five games since he sat, 8:37 (Calgary), 7:15 (Calgary), 8:55 (Winnipeg), 10:51 against Boston, 8:39 against the Flyers.

This ‘n that: One of life’s fine moments: seeing 600-goal scorer Steve Stamkos, a slam-dunk Hall of Famer, schlepping an equipment-type bag across the pedway from Rogers Place to the JW Marriott Monday afternoon to hand off some stuff to the Predators’ head of team services. Stamkos, who had a very slow start but has 18 goals now, didn’t take part in their practice after getting dinged up a bit against Calgary Saturday, but the soon-to-be 36-year-old will play… Hutson was sent back to their AHL farm club with Kapanen about to be activated, but he doesn’t have to travel far. The team is on the road in Abbotsford, B.C…. Local product and ex Oiler first-round draft Reid Schaefer, sent to the Preds in the Mattias Ekholm trade, has his first four NHL goals this year in 18 games… Janmark was sick Sunday and didn’t skate but if he’s on a line with Lazar and Savoie against Nashville that’s three of their six penalty-killing forwards… Defenceman Jake Walman’s broken bone in his foot has mended but he still needs the green light from the medical staff and the usual route is a player also has to go through a skating fitness test before playing. He wasn’t in the regular six at practice. Oiler coach Kris Knoblauch says he could be ready around the two-game road trip to Chicago and Nashville Jan. 17-18. He’s missed 19 straight games.