BLOG: Caggiula thankful to receive more opportunities with the Oilers

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – This American Thanksgiving, forward Drake Caggiula is thankful for family, caterers and frequent flyer miles.

And of course, more opportunity within the Oilers organization.

While the entire Bakersfield Condors team was at his family’s home for American Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night, the 30-year-old forward was on his way to Salt Lake City to join the Oilers after being recalled from the AHL for the third time this season earlier that morning.

Caggiula spent the holiday driving two hours to Los Angeles before hopping on a flight to Utah. Luckily, the highways on the way in and the security gate at LAX were all sparsely occupied, with the bulk of everyone’s travel around the United States being done the day before on Wednesday.

“Everything went well,” said Caggiula of the dinner he didn't attend.

“We got the food catered in, so [his wife] didn't have to do any of that. The guys were great. They all brought wine, desserts, appetizers and stuff like that. Luckily, I was there to help set up the tables and the decor and all that beforehand, but on Thanksgiving Day, I was nowhere to be found. She had it all handled. My mom also helped out, so all in all it was a pretty good Thanksgiving.”

Caggiula was well aware when he re-signed with the organization that signed him out of the University of North Dakota in 2016 that his second stint would entail a few more trips between Bakersfield, Edmonton or wherever the Oilers find themselves on the road, but the forward has taken everything in stride – including his role and the extra movement up and down between the NHL and AHL.

“Obviously, I’ve been doing a lot of travelling back and forth, and it's been fun in many ways,” he said. “It's been tiring in many ways, but this is what we play for. This is kind of what I envisioned when I signed here last year and I'm grateful for the opportunities. It's been a little bit of a whirlwind.”

“I was home for a little bit and made my wife host the Bakersfield team for Thanksgiving all by herself, so it’s been fine. She's a trooper. She handles it really well, and I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her, but it's been a bit of a whirlwind, to say the least.”

Caggiula is grateful for every big-league opportunity he receives after his last NHL stint lasted only one game as a member of the Penguins on Feb. 3, 2023 before he re-joined the Oilers organization in the summer of 2023. He finished fifth in scoring with the Condors last season despite playing only 43 games (13G, 24A) because of another injury that shortened his campaign.

With several injuries over the past few years, the Pickering, Ont. didn't let them stop him from growing into a leader for Bakersfield on and off the ice before he received his first call back to the NHL to face the Nashville Predators on Oct. 31, recording one assist in 8:27 of ice time.

“The first one was exciting for me. It had been a long time since I played a game in the NHL up until that point, and now being here for – I don't even know what day it is – but my fifth game, it’s exciting after some of the things I've gone through with injuries and being in the minors and stuff like that," he said.

“I've worked really hard to get back to this point, and like I said, I'm just grateful for the opportunity and just trying to make the most of it.”

Caggiula has that one assist over four NHL appearances for the Oilers this year and garnered a season-high 10:27 of ice time in last Saturday's 6-2 win over the Rangers – his highest NHL total since playing over 14 minutes in his final game as a member of the Buffalo Sabres at the tail end of the 2022-23 season.

"I think that just proves that the coaches are believing in you," he said of the increased ice time. "Opportunities, you gotta to earn them, and I think each game you just got to keep building that trust with the staff and your teammates. And if you keep doing that, then you get rewarded with another game or another call-up or more ice time, whatever it may be. There's a lot of different ways that you can reward players and if you get increased ice time, then that's a testament to how you've been playing."

Caggiula is very cognizant of the fact that he plays different roles for the Oilers and Condors – as exemplified in his hosting of the entire Bakersfield team at his family’s home for American Thanksgiving.

For the Condors, he’s an offensive driver and a leader who receives top-line minutes, but he knows when he comes to Edmonton that his role will be focused more on being a bottom-six energy player. That's completely fine by the 5-foot-11 forward, who's always had a physical edge to his game in addition to the ability to play an offensive role at any level.

"I know what my role is here, which is always a big thing," Caggiula said. "Sometimes, when you don't know what your role is, you can kind of get lost in the mix and you're not really sure what exactly is expected of you. The coaching staff and management have made it pretty clear what my role is here, and that's something I'm comfortable doing. That makes it easier when you know exactly what you have to do. When I'm in Bakersfield, I have a little bit of a different role, so it's kind of fun to do two different things at once. But I just take it one day at a time and try to make the most of the opportunity."

Playing his role is exactly why the Oilers coaching and management staffs have developed a high level of trust and respect for Caggiula – a process that began with his strong impression at Oilers Training Camp as one of the standouts who were unfortunate not to make the Opening Night roster.

"A guy that plays a hard and a simple game and knows his role," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I'm thinking about the play last game against New York where he was back-checking against Kaapo Kakko and caught him from behind and knocked him over and made a play. He’s fast and he is strong, and also, the coaching staff has a tremendous amount of trust in him that he'll make the right plays.

"So far with what he's done, we've been happy with right from Training Camp, the exhibition games that he's played and when we've had him in the lineup."