Oilers bolster hockey ops team with trio of new hires
The new NHL season is quickly approaching and the Edmonton Oilers have made a trio of new hires to fill out their hockey ops team.
With training camp set to open in just a week or so, the team has hired three new people to fill out positions in their scouting department as well as their player development team.
Those hires include Tobias Salmelainen, who will handle player acquisition and development in Europe, Andreas Karlsson as a player development coach, and Vincent Malts as a mental performance and player development coach.
The #Oilers have made three hockey operations additions, hiring Tobias Salmelainen for Player Acquisition & Development (Europe), Andreas Karlsson as Player Development Coach & Vincent Malts as Mental Performance & Player Development Coach. https://t.co/EzjEAXgjfE
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 11, 2024
This is just the latest in a long list of new hockey ops hires in the organization this offseason. Karlsson and Malts will work alongside senior director of player development Kalle Larsson, who was hired by the team recently.
Karlsson is a former NHL veteran who appeared in 264 NHL games in the early-to-mid 2000s with the Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He has spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach in the OHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs and Kitchener Rangers.
Malts is not a former NHL pro but had a 10-year professional hockey career in the ECHL and UHL. The 45-year-old served as a scout for the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres from 2011 to 2017 and, most recently, was a mental performance coach for the NAMHL’s Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks from 2020 to 2022.
While those two should be making their way to Edmonton to fulfill their new jobs with the Oilers, Salmelainen will be putting up shop in his native Finland as he works on recruiting European players into the organization. He most recently served as the general manager of the SM-Liiga’s HIFK and previously worked as a player agent. Salmelainen is the brother of former Oilers player Tony Salmelainen, who appeared in a total of 13 games with the club during the 2003-04 season.
It appears that Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson is putting an emphasis on the team’s ability to recruit players outside of North America, as well as bolstering the organization’s player development program, which has seen its fair share of struggles over the past decade.
The fruits of these changes will take a while to measure, but this newfound focus on improving things is a positive sign for where the Oilers are headed.