Among the things that Noah Philp missed the most about his time away from hockey, the feeling of going out on the ice and losing track of time was one of the biggest.
“Just losing an hour or two in the middle of the day,” Philp said, speaking to the media from Oilers Training Camp on Friday afternoon. “And every time I step on the ice, I’m never really watching the clock and it never really feels like it’s work. It just feels like I’m having fun.”
When Philp felt like external factors were detracting from his ability to enjoy every second he spent on the ice during his rookie pro season in ’22-23, he knew deep down that he needed to step away from the game and focus on life away from the rink, so that’s exactly what he did.
“The best I can answer is that I felt like I needed to step away, and it was a decision just for me and it was just a gut feeling,” Philp said.
The centre followed his intuition and took a one-year hiatus from hockey during the ‘23-24 season, electing not to re-sign with the Oilers after finishing with the second-most goals (19) and third-highest points (37) in 70 AHL games with the Bakersfield Condors the previous campaign.
As he prepares to return to professional hockey this season on a one-year, two-way contract with the Oilers, the 26-year-old is certainly glad he trusted his premonition and is prepared to proceed this week at Training Camp with his best effort and intentions, hoping to leave a strong impression on the coaching staff here in Oil Country and position himself as one of the first call-ups from Condorstown during the season.
“I followed that and I’m very happy I did. I wouldn’t trade it (for anything).”
Fifteen months ago, Philp decided to take an indefinite leave from hockey, saying in a delivered statement that he was at a time in his life when he needed to focus on life away from the rink.
The Oilers retained his rights by issuing a qualifying offer – even going as far as offering him a two-year extension after being one of the Condors’ most influential forwards during the ’22-23 AHL campaign – which left the door open for his return to the organization when the time was right.
The Canmore product utilized his leave by gaining new perspectives where he could, taking time to travel the world before the itch to return to hockey slowly crept back. He didn’t know when his desire to return would surface, but when he returned home, he was feeling closer to returning and getting back to competing again.
This time, his gut was telling him to get back on the ice.
“It just gave me a different look,” Philp said of his hiatus from hockey. “I just had a gut feeling to step away from hockey for a little while and I didn’t know how long that would be. I did that and I went and saw different parts of the world, did some travelling, and then came home and sort of decided it was ready to get back into it.
“It feels fresh to me and it feels really great to be back.”
When the Oilers were deep into the second half of their season that would end in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Philp started skating again before he marked his official return to hockey by signing of a one-year contract with the Oilers on July 14.
The 26-year-old had been on the ice for almost five months before the start of this week’s Training Camp, so while the majority of the NHL roster was reduced to a short summer, he’d been working to get back up to speed, making up for lost ice time over a long offseason.
“I had quite a bit of time, so I’ve probably been skating hard for four or five months now and training while these guys played all year,” he said. “I’ve kind of had an extended summer, so that’s given me time to get up to speed.
Philp’s return to the organization is a massive boost for its depth chart thanks to his toolkit as a 6-foot-3, right-shot centre who’s proven he can be an all-around contributor in the professional minutes he’s accrued with the Condors since entering the professional ranks following his final season with the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
So far at Training Camp, Philp has impressed as a player who didn’t see the ice competitively during the ’23-24 season. If the right-shot centre’s effort and demeanour at Camp are to be read into, it’s fair to say that he accomplished a lot of what he set out to do during his hiatus and looks poised to return to being a valuable contributor to the organization – whether it’s in Bakersfield or even down the road in Edmonton.
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, also a former Golden Bear from 1999-2004, hasn’t had much exposure to Philp since arriving behind the Oilers bench last November, but he’s liked what he’s seen so far at Training Camp from the player who shares his alma mater.
Knoblauch knows that in an organization like the Oilers, which boasts the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman up front, you can never have enough young players like Philp on team-friendly deals to fill roles in places such as the penalty kill, faceoffs and secondary scoring.
“There’s a lot to like about him, and I didn’t know the player at all,” Knoblauch said. “I heard before he took his time off that he was treading in the right direction, playing really well with the possibility of playing the National Hockey League one day.
“Seeing him at Camp, there’s an opportunity for him in the future. You can always use smart, dependable, two-way players. Just with the way our team is, if we can add some youth and younger legs and physicality, I think that’s important for our team. I look at the size of him – he’s got some size, he skates pretty well, and he thinks the game very well.”
Philp recorded 32 points in his final 42 games with the Condors during the ’22-23 season, showcasing he can be an offensive player in the future for this team despite specializing in an all-around game that will make him a valuable NHL pivot if he can crack the Oilers roster at any point this upcoming season.
Despite his offensive touch, Philp isn’t quick to place expectations upon himself for the upcoming season, instead focusing on the day-to-day and not worrying about results or where he’ll be playing this upcoming season. Worrying less about those factors has been a major help for him as a professional and will continue to be important as he makes his return to hockey in hopes of wearing an Oilers jersey in the NHL during the coming seasons.
“When I talked about that learning experience in Bakersfield, I think one of the biggest things that I changed was just not worrying too much about where I’m going to be, and I found that helped me a lot and just worrying about the littler things rather than the big picture,” he said.
“I think for me, it’s great to be just an all-around strong player, and they haven’t necessarily come up to me and told me that, but I know that’s where my strength kind of lies is being an all-around guy. I’m not going to pop in and score a million goals, but just to be able to contribute and be solid all over the ice.”
