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A Special Trio

May 14, 2015, 5:16 PM ET [1412 Comments]
Matt Henderson
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Edmonton’s best prospects continued to shine yesterday and it is getting difficult to hide the excitement about the club’s near future. The team has been waiting on prospects to fix their woes for so long that it’s become a sick joke, but there is reason for optimism. I know Lucy has pulled the football away every time before this, but this time for sure we’re going to kick that ball.

The Oilers have 3 Blue Chip Prospects who are all finished or finishing Junior Hockey this year. But every team has Blue Chip prospects. Every team is excited about their youth. And Edmonton in particular have been graduating high end players for years with no change to the bottom line that their team is brutal. And yet, this trio is impressive even for a team that has added plenty of well hyped young players in the past.

Last night all 3 played and all 3 took center stage in their games.

CONNOR

McDavid isn’t even officially Oilers property but barring a Pete Chiarelli mental breakdown, he will be. The (almost unanimous in voting) OHL’s player of the year ripped the Oshawa Generals for 1 goal and 3 assists in a losing cause. Here’s his goal:



I apologize for the video being from 1998 but Sportsnet wasn’t broadcasting the game so that’s all we get.

He had been relatively quiet (for him) against the Generals but he broke out in a big way in last night’s game. After the game he was asked about potentially playing his last game in Erie next and he quite confidently said it wouldn’t be his last game. The kid is all business and confident to the nines.

I think it goes without saying that he’s going to be on the Oilers club next year and most likely playing in their top 6. It’s possible he plays that position as a winger but we haven’t heard a thing about Derek Roy since Chiarelli was hired and it looks more and more like he will be allowed to become a Free Agent. There is more than enough time for Chiarelli to add another Center to the team (Soderberg?) if he wants to but there’s every chance they just run with McDavid as a C from the start of the year.

The first reaction to winning the lottery I got from family and friends who maybe don’t follow Hockey so closely was “Yeah but the Oilers have won before.” I get it, from their view, but McDavid is so special. He’s better than Hall was. He’s better than RNH was. He’s incredible on a level that’s hard to convey with sincerity because every year we say 1 kid is the best. NO. McDavid is better than all of them.

He has already been a game changer for the franchise and he hasn’t even been drafted yet. That’s how good he is.

DARNELL

The Oilers took Darnell Nurse from the OHL when McDavid ended his Jr career and dropped him in Oklahoma. He got there quickly and then he waited. And he waited. And he waited. He waited several games before they finally gave him his first game last night. Well their patience paid off because he played a whale of a game. He picked up 3 assists, drew 2 penalties (both of which the team scored on) and was named the 3rd Star of the game.

There was a loud push for Darnell Nurse to be recognized as the best Defenseman in the OHL this past season. He was certainly Canada’s best Defenseman in the Gold Medal game at the WJC. I think it’s possible to make the case that he was the best Defenseman in the entire Canadian Hockey League. He has every attribute you want in a blueliner. Every single one. He’s big, mean, hits, skates like the wind, has a great shot, makes a killer first pass, can rush the puck if he wants, has vision in the offensive zone, and can log 30 minutes a night if you need him to.

Last year when he joined the Barons in the AHL there were a few people that thought he looked a little shaky. The jump to the AHL is a big one and he wasn’t ready yet. That’s not a big knock against Nurse. Defenseman aren’t expected to be plug and play right out of the Draft. Not just that, but their development doesn’t always pan out the way it’s expected to on Draft Day. With Nurse, things have progressed exactly the way the Oilers have hoped. He might end up being the best choice Craig MacTavish will ever be credited for.

If that first game is any indication, Darnell Nurse is ready for a feature role in the AHL and maybe much more. The Oilers Defense is a complete trainwreck but Nurse looks like one of the fixes, at least in the long run.

LEON

Leon Draisaitl is the “forgotten man” right now in the Oilers plans at Center because it’s clear that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the most established young C they have then McDavid takes number 2 almost automatically. After him there’s Anton Lander who picked up 3 more points Centering Sweden’s top line at the World Championships and Gordon is holding down that shutdown role. Draisaitl sits on the outside looking in down the middle for the club.

Now some people look at that and make the sane assumption that Draisaitl will transition to the wing. Others see the same thing and take the logical leap that the Oilers “have too much depth” at Center and they need to trade Draisaitl. Edmonton’s depth is so new that 2 key members are still in the CHL and one hasn’t even been drafted yet. Can we let “too much depth” be a problem for at least one full season before the team does something crazy like trade impact centers away?

Last night Draisaitl’s Kelowna Rockets won the WHL title in a sweep. He scored his 2nd shorthanded goal of the series and added an assist in the win. In every series along the way Draisaitl proved to be the best player participating and it culminated with him winning the WHL equivalent of the Conn Smythe Trophy. I suggested at the end of the WHL regular season that the numbers suggested that Draisaitl was the best player in the WHL based on his estimated points per 60 minutes. In fact, with an estimated 4.94 points per 60 minutes he was only behind Connor McDavid (5.58 eP/60) in the entire CHL.

THIS TIME FOR REAL


It is entirely possible that Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, and Leon Draisaitl are the 3 best players in the entire CHL. They are almost certainly the best player in the CHL, the best player in the WHL, and the OHL's best defenseman at the very least. And, they will all 3 graduate to professional hockey fulltime next year somewhere within the Oilers organization.

I don’t care that we’ve been excited about rookies in the past. I don’t care how ridiculous it is to pin hopes on a bunch of kids every damn year no matter how poorly it always turns out. Like Charlie Brown and that damned football I’m going to try it again. This time it’s different. This time we’re going to kick that stupid ball.

They don’t have to carry the team. The Oilers already have RNH as a 1C and a bevy of young talented Wingers to count on for scoring. Nobody is expecting Nurse to step onto the Oilers and play 25 minutes a game. I think most would feel extremely disappointed if Chiarelli doesn’t find at least one top 4 D via trade or free agency. The point is that unlike when Hall and RNH came to the team, this new batch of wunderkinds isn’t all alone on a gutted team.

I am thoroughly excited about Edmonton’s best prospects and I don’t think they’re overhyped. This is a special group and adding them to the fantastic stable of young players on Edmonton’s roster gives me the giggles.

Just to leave you with something to smile about, here are the point totals for all 3 prospects this year including the Playoffs:

McDavid 66GP, 65-104-169
Draisaitl 51GP, 29-52-81
Nurse 50GP, 13-28-41

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