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Oilers Prospect Update: Asher Barnett and David Lewandowski at the World Juniors as Tommy Lafreniere continues to score

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With the holiday break also comes the start of the World Juniors tournament, and this year, the Edmonton Oilers have a pair of prospects playing.

One is Asher Barnett, a 2025 fifth-round selection, representing the United States, and David Lewandowski, a 2025 fourth-round pick, representing Germany in Minnesota this holiday season. Meanwhile, Tommy Lafreniere is now ninth in the WHL for total points with 44 in 34 games played. The Blazers centre is also tied for fourth in goals at the halfway point of the season.

D Asher Barnett – Team USA

The United States team started their first three games of the tournament with three wins. They have scored a total of 14 goals for and have allowed eight goals against in those games. Barnett was a bit of a surprise to make the team, with a player like Blake Fiddler (Seattle Kraken second-round pick in 2025) getting cut in favour of the Wolverine defenceman. Throughout the tournament so far, Barnett has suited up in every game and has played third-pairing minutes alongside Logan Hensler and E.J. Emery more recently.

In the box score, there isn’t anything that will stand out to you about Barnett’s game as the American defenceman has one shot on goal and an even rating through the three games. But, as one of the youngest players on the Americans, he has held his own defensively and has continued to show the same strengths in his game as I liked about him in the off-season.

One of the main strengths on display this tournament has been Barnett’s gap control. In the first clip below, against Germany, it’s fellow Oilers draft pick David Lewandowski entering the blue line on Barnett after a bad(ish) change by the Americans, and the defenceman is able to play it perfectly.

In the next clip its more of the same against Slovakia, but

© Oilers Nation