Merry McDavidmas Eve, everybody!
The NHL Entry Draft starts tomorrow at 5pm Mountain Time and by the time it ends Edmonton’s trajectory for next season and the foreseeable future will be dramatically changed for the better. That much is guaranteed with the 1st pick alone. What we don’t really know is what happens after that.
The Oilers have the 1st and the 16th pick in this Draft and that places them in a great position no matter what their intentions are for tomorrow. If they elect to use the 16th pick to acquire another prospect they are in range to pick up someone very, very good. If they elect to trade the pick for immediate help then that pick carries significant value.
NEEDS
NHL Level
-Top Pairing Defender (right shot preferable) -Middle Pairing Defender (any handedness) -Starting Goaltender
Farm Level
-Functional Size in any position -Centermen -Wingers -Goaltender -Offensive minded players of any ilk
You’ll notice that at the Farm level I could have shortened the entire list down to “Every position, all playing styles…. The truth is that for the last 6-7 years the Oilers have filled their pockets with 1st Round selections who are almost all playing for the Oilers already.
They have very few prospects on the farm or in their prospect pools who have high end futures. They missed out greatly in the 2nd Rounds of the Draft during the MacGregor years and that has left them missing a good crop of 2nd tier prospects. While gifted with Hall, Eberle, RNH, Klefbom, Yakupov, Nurse, and Draisaitl, the AHL team has been quite disproportionately barren of talent.
So when the Oilers use the picks that aren’t designated for Connor McDavid, they will be filling a relatively empty prospect pool. That’s not to say prospects don’t exist at that level, but the Oilers are not so stocked with talent that they can ignore the Best Player Available just because it might be a forward.
In fact, Forwards are probably the prospect pool’s biggest weakness. The Oilers actually have a good number of Defensemen (headlined by Nurse) in the system. What they don’t have are forwards who can put the puck in the net.
With picks 1, 16, 33, and 57 the Oilers have the chance to address their organizational needs.
They also have the chance to address NHL needs. Chiarelli has been on record saying he might use a 2nd Round pick to acquire a Goalie in this buyer’s market and if (somehow) a Defenseman became available we can guess the 16th could be in play too. It would have to be one heck of a player to pry the pick from the Oilers though.
TELEGRAPH
If we can read the tea leaves a little, then at the 16th pick the Oilers have been looking at adding a big skilled forward to the system. That’s the move they’ve been telegraphing for quite some time.
There are two names that we’ve been hearing a lot about and that’s 1) Evgeny Svechnikov and 2) Joel Eriksson Ek.
Both of these players are quality prospects and that’s the first thing Oiler fans need to know. Neither would be considered reach picks at 16. I think there’s a definite top 8-10 players and then after that there are really good players that could be slotted in at different spots all over the map.
Svhechnikov is 18th on the McKenzie final ranking and Eriksson Ek is 23rd and apparently rising.
Svechnikov is a 6’2… 200 pound Russian born player who just played his rookie QMJHL season for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and shattered their rookie scoring record. He went 55GP, 32-46-78 with 70 PIMs and apparently took a 3 game suspension for two-handing a player in the neck. He’s the kind of skilled size that the Oilers really lack and they are more than able to be patient with his development.
Joel Eriksson Ek is a rising name at the Draft. He is a 2 way Swedish pivot who has performed very well in tournaments and in his age group, but he has also played at the pro level in the SHL. He went 34GP, 4-2-6 with Farjestad of the Swedish Hockey League which isn’t overly impressive. However, with the Farjestad U20 team he went 25GP, 21-11-32 and at two different U18 tournaments he went 5GP, 5-1-6 and 13GP, 10-6-16. When he’s playing his peers he looks like a deadly goal scorer. He’s not as heavy as Svechnikov but his two way game is a big plus and his shot is reported to be elite.
If the Oilers use their 16th pick, these are the names that should interest Oiler fans. That said, anything can happen in the Draft and we’ve seen players inexplicably drop before. Should by a miracle of the Hockey Gods Ivan Provorov inexplicably fall to the Oilers they would surely take him with the pick. But, assuming nothing insane happens at the Draft, Eriksson Ek and Svechnikov are players to watch out for when the Oilers take the stage.
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