The changes from the top continue for the Edmonton Oilers as it was announced Tuesday afternoon that Edmonton had mutually parted ways with former Director of Amateur Scouting, Tyler Wright and brought in Rick Pracey as a replacement.
Pracey was a scout with the Avalanche from 2008-2014 and had been with the Flyers since. Drafting the likes of MacKinnon, Landeskog, or Duchene were no brainers at the time but some notable later picks include Ryan O'Reilly in the second round of 2009, Tyson Barrie in the third round of 2009, and Will Butcher in the fifth round of 2013,.
For the Flyers some notable names are Travis Sanheim, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Oskar Lindblom in 2014, Provorov and Konency in 2015, Carter Hart in the second round of 2016, Morgan Frost in the late first round and Noah Cates in the fifth round of 2017, Joel Farabee in 2018, and Cam York in 2019.
Tyler Wright had some good picks to his name with the Edmonton Oilers but this organization has always struggled to find diamonds in the rough in the draft and their 2-7 round picks have struggled to turn into impact NHL players.
I don't know how Pracey will change the drafting culture in Edmonton but this is a move that reinforces that new President Jeff Jackson wants to change the culture and how this organization does business. We can only hope this continues the trend to embracing more analytical data and adapting a modern philosophy that will benefit the team for years to come.
Thanks for reading.