It’s a 30-degree sunny day in early July, but you could forgive Easton Odut for feeling a little impatient to get back to hockey.
The 2007-born forward with the Brandon Wheat Kings hasn’t played since December 14, when he suffered a shoulder injury against the Prince Albert Raiders that prematurely ended his season. Being on the shelf since before the calendar turned to 2025, Odut has more reason than most to want the offseason to be over.
“It’s been longer obviously with not playing hockey throughout the season,” he said with a chuckle. “I just started getting to fully working out now with overhead presses and arm stuff. So that’s been awesome. With skating, I just started being able to take contact and play full games, which makes me much happier.”
When you’ve had the kind of injury Odut had, getting back to full contact and full workouts is no small feat. Odut had a torn subscapularis tendon in his shoulder, and that was on top of other simultaneous ailments which led to a lengthy and unpleasant recovery.
“Your mobility is based around that tendon, and mine was torn into two pieces,” he explained. “My rotator cuff was fractured, and extra bone grew. It wasn’t grown how it should’ve grown so they had to shave a big lump of bone down. There was also a big ball of calcification just roaming around in my shoulder. There was so much going on, it was kind of crazy figuring it all out.”
If you read that description and cringed, you’d likely agree there’s never a good time for such an injury. Odut’s, however, came at perhaps the most frustrating time. The game before he was injured he had a goal and an assist against the Raiders, and two games prior to that he also scored against the Edmonton Oil Kings. In other words, he’d just been starting to heat up.
“I thought after having a few good weekends and games it was going to be a nice fun ride until the end of the season,” Odut said. “It was bad, but at least I got to go out of my final full game on a high note and now I want to carry that on to next season.”
His rehabilitation is going well now (Odut said he’s never been more mobile in his shoulders in his life), but it made for a rough few months to end the season. Having some fellow Wheat Kings injured along with him gave him some company, but it was still a frustrating second-half for the rookie forward.
“You sort of feel useless,” said Odut. “All the guys are out there, they’re going to work and you’re just here watching. I had to find other ways to help the team whether it’s helping around the room or being there to talk to all the guys. It was still awesome to be a part of the group, I’m happy that I’m local and got to stay with the team but it was horrible having to watch all the time. But you learn lots of things watching your teammates so that was the positive that came out of that.”
Another positive that came out of the injury was, unable to do much work with his arms, Odut turned his attention to his skating. After analyzing his stride, he found something he thinks can make a big difference in his speed and endurance.
“I’m trying to get as much power and distance as I can out of each stride because I have a wide track,” he explained. “It’s not the most energy-efficient method of skating, so this is going to help me a lot with skating faster and having more energy throughout the games. And puck handling, and shooting, I’m working on those now every day.”
As if Odut needed any additional motivation, he saw his two longtime linemates and good buddies Brady Turko and Jaxon Jacobson take massive steps forward this past season. The trio formed a three-headed monster for a wildly successful U18 AAA Wheat Kings team in 2023-24, and since then Turko has been drafted and Jacobson has played for Hockey Canada at the U17s and may well be on their radar for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Odut wants to remind Wheat Kings fans that they have another highly skilled local product wanting to make his mark.
“They keep me motivated and keep me on my toes,” said Odut. “They’re awesome players and you always want to move up with them. We’ve done that for countless years, going from U15 to U18 to the WHL, so I can’t let them get too far ahead of me. I’ll try to do as much work as I can and have an awesome season.”
And if Odut takes that big step forward, he’ll be doing it at just the right time. The Wheat Kings have their sights set on a deep playoff run this season, and that makes his return to health all the more exciting for him. One thing Odut learned from that run to the 2024 TELUS Cup was that the later in the season you play, the more fun you have.
“Having that awesome U18 year, it was the best time ever,” he said. “So many memories get built from that. Your team is a family. You guys go to war every day and it’s the greatest feeling. I hope this season we can leave a mark in the league as a team. I’m so pumped for it.”
No doubt WestMan would be pumped to see the Wheat Kings make good on their impressive potential. And they’d be even more pumped to know the Dauphin native Odut, one of their own, was a big part of it.
