Connor Clattenburg shouldn’t be in the NHL. He certainly doesn’t intend to make the case for keeping a deep, offensively potent Edmonton Oilers roster looking to win a Stanley Cup. But here’s Clattenburg, who is quickly becoming a fan favorite.
Even more interesting, he’s making a case for staying put, and a strange rarity in the NHL — low expectations — could be exactly why he’s sticking around.
The 20-year-old winger isn’t carving out a spot in the NHL because of silky hands or elite scoring touches. He’s not here because of the draft pedigree either. If Tyler Yaremchuk of Oilers Nation commentedplayers with his stat don’t get drafted, let alone earn NHL minutes. Clattenburg is here for one reason: effort.
For the Oilers, that’s all they want from him.
Everything about his game is based on effort. His physicality, his tenacity, his relentless puck pursuit – it’s all mentality and motor. He hits. He predicts. He goes to the net. He defends his teammates without hesitation. He plays every shift like he’s trying to save his job, because in his mind he probably is.
The organization is not developing Clattenburg into a top six scorer. They don’t wait for an outbreak that may or may not come. At Clattenburg, the assignment is simple: be a fourth-liner. Be a problem at the pre-check. Be difficult to play against. Bring energy every night.
Yaremchuk argued that he passed that assignment with flying colors. Even without the goal he scored, the reviews of his play would be the same: he does everything a fourth-line coach craves.
Are low expectations a good thing for Clattenburg?
And that’s where low expectations become a bonus. He is not here to become something he is not. He is here to be exactly what he already is. And in today’s NHL, where roles matter and coaches rely heavily on players they trust, that clarity could keep him in the league far longer than anyone could have ever imagined.
Clattenburg’s ceiling may be a fourth-liner, but he could also be a damn good An. And sometimes that’s all you need.
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