According to the official Twitter account of the team, the Edmonton Oilers have signed college free agent Joseph Gambardella.
A forward in his fourth year with the UMass Lowell River Hawks, Gambardella is listed at 5’10 and 200 pounds. He’s also teammates with fellow Oiler prospect Evan Campbell, a fifth round pick from the 2013 draft.
Gambardella’s entry level deal will begin next season and I expect he will play with the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL, unless he has an absolutely stellar training camp. I assume that in the meantime, he’ll be able to join the Condors on an ATO at some point this year.
The #Oilers have signed free agent forward Joseph Gambardella from @RiverHawkHockey to a two-year ELC, effective in 2017-18. pic.twitter.com/ciXWq1rd8k
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 28, 2017
At 23 years of age, Gambardella has steadily increased his offensive output in each of his four seasons with the River Hawks, capitalized by 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 41 games this season.
By using the NHLE conversion factors that Rob Vollman (@robvollmanNHL) so kindly makes public, Gambardella’s 52 point season would be equivalent to a 39.52 point season in the NHL. That’s excellent production, the question is whether he’ll ever be able to transfer that over from college hockey.
The Oilers signed two college forwards last year, Drake Caggiula and Patrick Russell. Caggiula’s final season of college, in which he posted 51 points in 39 games for the University of North Dakota, would have translated to 43.96 NHL points. For Russell, his 41 points in 41 games for St. Cloud State would have meant a 33.62 point NHL season.
It would seem that at this point, Gambardella is somewhere between Caggiula and Russell on the prospect spectrum, which sounds about right to me. All we can do now is wait and see how he progresses.
What do you think of the signing? Thanks for reading!
You can find me on Twitter @SullivanJLarson
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