Edmonton Oilers hopefuls including goaltender Nathaniel Day show their wares at Oilers Development Camp last month. Photo by Bruce McCurdy /Cult of Hockey

Article content

We continue our Cult of Hockey summer series of the Edmonton Oilers’ 25 Top prospects entering 2026-27.

Article content

Our panel of judges cast votes on thirty-seven organizational “prospects”. From those, we will pay closer attention to what we have deemed (by the afore-mentioned voting process) as the Top 25.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Jim Matheson, David Staples, Kurt Leavins, Ira Cooper, Kevin McCurdy and Matthew Panchyshyn.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Nathaniel Day

Article content

Article content

2026 Ranking: 24

Article content

2025 Ranking: 17

Article content

Article content

Nathaniel Day is a left-handed goaltender from Grimsby, Ontario. The twenty-one-year-old was a Sixth-Round selection (#184 overall) by the Edmonton Oilers in 2023. He stands 6’4 and weighs 205 LB.

Article content

Day spent four seasons with the Flint Firebirds of the OHL. And in his three full seasons of junior his goals against average improved each season, from 3.91 to 3.73 to 3.07 in his final year of 2024-25. His final season he also posted his best save percentage at .894.

Article content

Day then made his pro debut at the tail end of that season, playing three games for the Fort Wayne Comets of the ECHL. It was a sparkling start, albeit a small sample size (0.41 GAA, .981 SV% in 140 minutes). That included a shut-out in his first game. His strong play continued into the postseason for the Comets (2.17 GAA, .914 SV% in 5 games.

Article content

In the middle of that breakout season, Day had signed his ELC with the Oilers, a three-year, $2.77m deal (AAV $923,324). His OHL club also named him their 2024-25 MVP. And well they should have, Day faced the fourth most shots in the league while playing the most games and minutes. It certainly looked as if the Oilers had found a good one.

Article content

Article content

Day then delivered a very solid follow-up in 2025-26 with a 2.76 GAA and 0.893 SV% in 39 GP for the Comets. In 7 post-season games he went 2.86 GAA, .912 SV% in 7 games for Fort Wayne. Day also had a solid pre-season start for the Oilers in a shared 3-0 shutout over Calgary in a split-squad game.

Article content

Article content

Elite Prospects: “Day displays a lot of patience in a variety of different scoring opportunities. He is solid and composed on breakaways, rarely making the first move. When the puck is worked around the zone, he shows good attention to detail by making micro adjustments with his feet to stay on angle, even when the play around him speeds up.

Article content

Dobber Prospects: An athletic goaltender who can make high difficulty saves. Needs to get better with reads and consistency. Given his big body at 6-4, he is physically ready to defend an NHL net but will need some seasoning in the AHL to show his sterling numbers in a miniscule sample size are indicative of him thriving in a better system than he was behind in Flint of the OHL.

Article content

Article content

Nathaniel Day has been thoroughly decent in his Oilers career to date. But he may be blocked, not just by both by veterans Tristan Jarry and Freddie Andersen as well as young newcomer Devon Levi at the NHL level. However, Day may even have to wait for his chance at precious AHL minutes as well, something his development requires. Why?