Edmonton has been incredibly risk averse over the past week, opting not to get involved in the trade market opened up by the expansion process. Opting to (so far) stay out of the bidding for players like Hamonic and Hjlamarsson, preferring to stick with the devil they knew in Russell. However, they took a huge risk drafting a tiny player with the 22nd overall pick, which is something I fully endorse.
Edmonton’s cupboard is bare of high end offensive players, in part because the team’s picks have been studs at the top of the draft. Right now the only non-NHL forward in the system who looks like he could be a difference maker in the NHL is Jesse Puljujarvi. But the Oilers took a flyer on a 5’7”, 148 pound right winger in Kailer Yamamoto who instantly steps right behind Puljujarvi in the skill department. As per Bob McKenzie, Yamamoto owns the unofficial record for both shortest AND lightest player ever taken in the 1st round.
This is a dynamic player at the WHL level and given the needs of both the NHL club and the organization as a whole, going after Yamamoto made a lot of sense regardless of his size. The Oilers and everyone hopeful that this kid can make it to the NHL and succeed will point 3 hours down the road to Jonny Gaudreau. The NHL is a league about speed and on a team with Connor McDavid, there will always be room for wingers who can keep up.
As per the ISS Draft Guide (h/t Western Canadian scout Eric Kroetch), there were only two players rated to have “Elite” skating in the 2017 Draft. They were the smooth skating AJHL defender Cale Makar and the dynamic Kailer Yamamoto. So this is a player who can skate. There are a lot of skills and attributes that can get you drafted by an NHL team, but skating is the great equalizer. If you don’t have it, you don’t have a chance. If Yamamoto’s skating is as good as advertised then he’s got a shot in the modern NHL.
Yamamoto is an older player in the draft, with a late September 1998 birthday he was tantalizingly close to last year’s draft class. It means that he’s played 3 WHL years already with his hometown Spokane Chiefs. Doing exactly what we want to see, Yamamoto has improved year over year offensively and to borrow a phrase from Stu MacGregor, he’s the straw that stirs the drink there. Here are his three seasons in the WHL so far.
This past year in the WHL he was the highest scoring draft eligible player in the WHL in both points and goals. He was 8th in WHL goal scoring overall and 6th in points. This is impressive in its own right, but perhaps even more so given that he was 23 points ahead of the next closest player on his own team. Yamamoto factored into 99 goals officially but the Chiefs only scored 235 on the season. So this kid was in on 42% of all goals scored by his team.
I asked our prospect expert, Todd Cordell, what I should know about Yamamoto that I might not know. This was his response.
only five CHL draft eligibles scored goals at a higher clip during 5v5 play
— Kyle Hammermeister (@HammermeisterK) June 24, 2017
I cannot stress the importance of 5v5 scoring enough as it relates to keeping the offense when moving up leagues. The first thing rookie pros lose is their Power Play time. The fact that this kid can be a dangerous scorer at even strength is going to open a lot of doors for him.
I can’t say it’s more important than his skills, but what I might like the most about Yamamoto is that this kid has a serious set of stones on him. After the kid was drafted, Peter Chiarelli relayed this story about their interview of Yamamoto.
Per Chiarelli, Yamamoto to @EdmontonOilers at combine dinner, "You gotta draft me, otherwise I'm gonna come back and haunt you."
Hey, do you want to watch Yamamoto highlights? Here you go. Some takeaways from the highlights for me: The kid can really shoot on the one-timer, on his back hand, from the blueline on the PP, and a lot larger proportion of his goals than I anticipated came from in front of the net.
I’ll updated this post as the rest of the draft unfolds below
78
Edmonton acquired 78th pick for 82 and 126.
With 78 the Oilers selected Stuart Skinner of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL. He’s a 6’3” 205 pound goaltender with parts of 4 WHL seasons under his belt. He was a 1998 born player so this is his 2nd time through the draft. He had a .920 save percentage in 15/16 but that dropped to .905 in the regular season for 16/17. He rebounded in the playoffs with a .916 save percentage through 20 games.
84
Oilers select Dmitri Samorukov. He’s a 6’2” 180 pound left shooting defender out of the Guelph Storm. He had 67GP, 4-16-20 in this which was his rookie OHL year. Corey Pronman still likes this kid's upside even though he had a rocky 1st year.
115
Oilers take Ostap Safin. He’s a left-shooting RW out of the Czech league who is listed at 6’4” and 191 pounds. He had a goal and an assist in 8 games with Sparta, but had 24GP, 6-12-18 with their U20 club. He was ranked higher on every scouting list than the 115 spot that he was taken.
Per Eliteprospects, the Safin kid represents solid value. He was ranked significantly higher on many lists. pic.twitter.com/qxd2ix8d1s
Oilers take 6’2” RW Kirill Maksimov, who was actually born in Canada but has dual citizenship with Russia. He’s 6’2”, 192 pounds. He split his time with Saginaw and Niagara, but really opened up the scoring with Niagara. He had 37GP, 6-10-16 with the Spirit and 29GP, 15-7-22 with the Ice Dogs.
177
The Oilers select Skyler Brind’Amour. He’s a 6’2”, 188 pound left shooting center and the son of Rod Brind’Amour. He plays for the US National Development team and I have VERY little to add after that. If we add all the games from every tournament and league/level he played with the US team last year, he still played fewer than 30 games. I don’t know how to project anything from such a small amount of data. He’s a Brind’Amour though, so the kid has pedigree.
208
Oilers take 6’3”, 201 pound right shooting defender Philip Kemp. The American blueliner captained the US National development U18 team and produced 64GP, 5-8-13 and is heading to Yale next year. Edmonton needs as many righties as it can get and Kemp can take the long road in University.
That should end the draft for the Oilers barring any strange happenings. Both the Expansion Draft and the Entry Draft are finished. Moving onto the Free Agency Period is next. So far the Oil haven't addressed any of their needs yet and in about 3 weeks the NHL will grind to a halt in player movement. We wait to see what happens.
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