'Mentally he’s ready': Bakersfield Condors GM Keith Gretzky endorses Connor Ingram ahead of Oilers debut

Whether Edmonton Oilers call-up goalie Connor Ingram gets the call in Minnesota Saturday afternoon or at Rogers Place Sunday night when Vegas drops by for the first meeting this season, it’ll be his first NHL game in almost a calendar year.

Yes. It’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget how. But Ingram’s last NHL game was Feb. 22 against the Los Angeles Kings when he was wearing a Utah team jersey, before they became the Mammoth, before the goalie stepped away and went into the NHL’s Player Assistance program.

His road back to the bigs has been rocky, if you look at his numbers on the farm in Bakersfield (4.04 goals against average, .856 save percentage in 11 games) after they picked him up in a trade Oct. 1, with Utah eating $800,000 of his $1.9 million contract.

But, the AHL GM Keith Gretzky says Ingram is up for the call with Tristan Jarry returning to Edmonton to be evaluated more closely after injuring his leg while moving across the crease in Boston Thursday, landing him on IR.

“Ingram’s worked hard to get his game in order, mentally he’s ready,” said Gretzky. “He’s got a lot more experience in the NHL than (Bakersfield’s other goalie Matt) Tomkins.”

Ingram, 28, has played 102 NHL games, Tomkins six. In 2023-24, Ingram played 50 games for Arizona, with six shutouts.

“Ingram’s stats haven’t been great but we’re not the best defensive team, we’re young and we think offence. That’s our motto,” said Gretzky. “Stats aren’t everything for me. A guy can have nine assists and he can be a dog, right?

“He’s had some good games down here, and he’s a had some bad luck. Like the other night against Tucson, we won 8-7, so he gives up seven but maybe one was his fault. In the 3-on-3 in overtime, he made an unbelieveavable save and literally next face-off, we win the draw and win the game. A timely save.”

Tomkins has a 3.30 and an .893 in 15 games but they’re going with Ingram.

“You make a deal for a guy and you have to see what you’ve got,” said Gretzky.

On the farm, they’ve split games, Ingram and Tomkins. They had to build up Ingram after so much time away from, not just practices, but real games, even in the minors.

“We’ve tried to get him up and running just in case the Oilers needed a goalie. It was everything he had to work on, the timing, being big in the net,” said Gretzky.

“Yeah, the stats … was he sharp all the time. No? But that’s what happens when you haven’t played. There’s been no issues with him, at all,” said Gretzky.

He’s going to be half-nervous, half-excited when he plays his first Oilers game.

“I would be, too but you know what? He’s not one to show his emotions. He’s a quiet guy. I’ll be interested to see what happens when he wins (a game). He’ll smile but he keeps everything to himself,” said Gretzky.

The Oilers play three games before the Christmas break with Pickard likely getting two starts. They play against the Flames at Rogers Place Dec. 23.

What about another Quinn

Gretzky was cheering when Bakersfield’s best player Quinn Hutson scored his first NHL goal against the Bruins in his second Oilers game this season since his call-up, doing what he’s been working on down on the farm.

“Getting to the net, being strong on the puck, winning a puck battle and he scores (rebound). He’s not going to run guys over but he has to come up with the puck, like how he scored,” said Gretzky, of the 176-pound rookie pro.

Hutson has played fewer than seven minutes in both games on the fourth line, but as coaches always say “whatever the ice-time, do something with it.”

And he beat Jeremy Swayman with the game-winner.

“We’ve also been working with Quinn here on killing penalties the last 10 games or so, like we did last year with Savvy (Matt Savoie),” said Gretzky.

Savoie bought into the PK in the AHL after being an offensive dynamo as a first-round draft out of the WHL. It got his minutes up with coach Kris Knoblauch to 503:56, fifth most amongst the forwards after Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Vasily Podkolzin and Adam Henrique. He’s played 56:34 on the penalty-kill. Only Henrique has played more at forward on the PK. Savoie is a dog on a bone but he hasn’t been hurt as a small player.

Gretzky sees a similar progression with Hutson, whose brother Lane was last season’s rookie of the year in Montreal. Hutson was a first-line player at Boston University and he’s been the same in Bakersfield (16 goals, 24 games), but he has no chance of that as an Oiler.

Hutson could have signed with an NHL bottom-feeder and he might be in the NHL, playing fairly big minutes today, but he chose a team that has been to the last two Cup finals, with almost no room in the top six here. “Guys will be coming back (injured), but now he realizes what it takes, what he has work on to be a regular in the NHL,” said Gretzky.

This ‘n that

• The Oilers, who try to keep players off LTIR to accrue cap space, now have four on the list. Jack Roslovic (injury to the groin area), Kasperi Kapanen (knee), Jake Walman (ankle) and Noah Philp (concussion like symptoms) are parked there now. With Walman, X-rays found a small fracture in his bone after he was hit with an Emil Lilleberg shot in Tampa Nov. 20th. He has missed 12 games, 18 in all after starting the season hurt after a camp injury. Don’t expect him back until early in the New Year.

• The Oilers called up Connor Ungar from Orlando to take Ingram’s spot in Bako, rather than one of their kids Samuel Jonsson or Nathaniel Day, who are in Fort Wayne. Ungar has played for Fort Wayne, Greensboro and Orlando (Tampa’s farm team) this season with a 1.54 goal average and .944 save percentage in 11 games.

• Jonsson and Day having similar ECHL stats now after Jonsson’s early three shutouts in a row. “Jonsson got off to a great start but has faltered lately. Day has played maybe the most games in the ECHL (14),” said Gretzky.

• With the Oilers hazy on injury updates, still no definitive word on what’s up with winger Connor Clattenburg, who appeared to only be out for a week or so after he took a stick over his eye but has been out for nine games now. He is skating but his conditioning is off. Don’t expect him back until after Christmas, depending if he stays or goes back to Bakersfield with returning injured guys. While fourth-line centre Curtis Lazar’s has a knee issue after he was dumped into the end boards in Pittsburgh this past Tuesday. He hasn’t gone to IR.

• The Oilers didn’t practise Friday in Minnesota so who’s playing where and who’s out, is up in the air, like with defenceman Alec Regula, who didn’t dress against his old Bruins team because he was sick.

• Ike Howard is doing a little bit of penalty-killing on the farm, but not like Savoie or Hutson, not yet anyway. What the Oilers would die for with Howard is he turns into a Jake Guentzel type NHL scorer. Guentzel also came from college and spent time in the minors with Pittsburgh. “The biggest thing with Howard is he’s competing and skating. The other night in Tucson was the the best game I’ve seen Ike play. I think he can be a top six (NHL) forward when he’s skating,” said Gretzky.

• The Wild are hardly breaking in Hughes slowly. In the 5-2 W over Columbus Thursday, with Minnesota hurting on defence, Hughes played 32:02 of the 60-minute game. His partner Brock Faber, who will be a teammate on the U.S. Olympic team, had 30:57. Hughes has played three games since the Canucks’ trade, steadily getting his minutes up from 26:55 against the Bruins, then 29:33 against Washington. None of the games going to OT…

• Minnesota might not have injured defenceman Jonas Brodin, who will be on the Swedish Olympic team for the Oiler game, Connor McDavid’s usual mano o mano defensive battle. Brodie was outstanding in the Wild W over the Oilers Dec. 2.

• While goalie Jesper Wallstedt shut out the Oilers 1-0 at Rogers Place, it is Filip Gustavsson’s turn in net if they keep with their rotation.

• The Wild could have seven players in the Olympics: Hughes and Faber, along with winger Matt Boldy on the USA team, Brodin, Gustavsson and centre Joel Eriksson Ek on the Swedish side and Nico Sturm on likely captain Leon Draisaitl’s German squad.

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