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Trading Down In The First Round |
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Currently the Edmonton Oilers only have four selections in the 2020 NHL Draft. Their 2nd round selection this year was part of the trade which brought in Andreas Athanasiou and their fourth round selection was moved for Mike Green. Edmonton may or may not have their 3rd round selection as they can choose to give either this year or next year's pick to the Flames as part of the Neal for Lucic deal.
Considering Edmonton needs to be in a position where they are winning now, the mid round draft picks may seem of little consequence as those prospects, should they ever amount to anything are likely at least three years away from being NHL players.
Teams that have the most consistent success in this league are the ones that always have a steady flow of talent being added to their ranks. Edmonton has a number of promising young defensive prospects but aside from a few names there is a lack of noteworthy talent up front.
Currently Edmonton holds the 14th overall pick and looking at Ken Holland's past, he may look to trade that pick, not necessarily for an NHL player, but instead to stock up the cupboards with more picks. Let's take a look back.
June 24th 2016
Red Wings trade #16 overall (Jakob Chychrun) and Pavel Datsyuk to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for #20 (Dennis Cholowski), #53 overall(Filip Hronek), and Joe Vitale.
Datsyuk never played a game for the Coyotes but was simply a move to help the Coyotes get to the cap floor without having to pay any salary (something that could occur again this season in the desert). Vitale also never suited up for the Red Wings.
Looking at the picks, Chychrun has been playing in the NHL since the year after his draft season and with 234 games under his belt is starting to look like a solid top four defenceman. Cholowski has bounced between the AHL and NHL over the past two years putting up 24 games in 88 games. Right now the 22 year old is looking like a third pairing player.
The real value came not with the #20 pick, but the #53 pick as Filip Hronek emerged this season, averaging nearly 24 minutes a night and posting 31 points through 65 games. The second round selection is playing on a horrendous team but is still looking like a player with top pairing ability.
June 24th, 2011
Red Wings trade #24 overall (Matt Puempel) to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for #35 (Tomas Jurco), and #48 overall (Xavier Ouellet)
The now 27 year old Puempel never really caught on in the NHL, playing a total of 87 games since the 14/15 season and producing 16 points. He played for the Senators, Rangers, and last season actually played some games for the Red Wings.
Tomas Jurco is a name Oilers fans know well as he played in 12 games for them this past season posting 2 assists. Prior to that Jurco was an unspectacular depth forward, producing 50 points in 201 NHL games.
Ouellet became a middle to bottom pairing defenceman for years in Detroit, serving more as a defensive specialist and used heavily on the PK. He ended up receiving a couple different contracts by the team that drafted him, including a 2 year deal worth 1.25 million a season. That contract was bought out the summer after the first year and was subsequently signed by the Canadiens.
June 26th, 2009
Red Wings trade #29 (Carter Ashton) to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for #32 (Landon Ferraro) and #75 (Andrej Nestrasil)
Right winger Carter Ashton struggled and never made an impact in the NHL. In 2012 Ashton was traded to Toronto in exchange for Keith Aulie and three years later Tampa would reacquire him for a 7th round pick. Ashton has spent the last few seasons in the KHL.
Ferraro was another player who bounced between the NHL and AHL for much of his career. His best season (5-5-10 in 58GP) came after being picked up by the Bruins on waivers. Nestrasil was another player plucked from Detroit on the waiver wire and had a couple of decent seasons in Carolina before taking his talents overseas.
June 24th, 2006
Red Wings trade #29 (Chris Summers) and #152 overall (Jordan Bendfeld) to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for #41 (Cory Emmerton) and #47 overall (Shawn Matthias)
Chris Summers is one of those players I didn't think I had ever heard of but apparently he played in Arizona between 2010-2014 and then a couple of years with the Rangers. Through 70 games, the left shooting defender had 2 goals and 7 assists.
Jordan Bendfeld actually went unsigned and went back into the draft where he was selected again by the Oilers in the 2008 NHL Draft. He never played an NHL game.
For Detroit, Cory Emmerton played 139 games, producing 12 goals and 9 assists over the course of four seasons.
Shawn Matthias actually carved himself out quite a nice career, playing with Florida, Vancouver, Toronto, Colorado, and Winnipeg. Through 551 games he produced 174 points. While none of those points came with the Red Wings, Holland was able to take Matthias and a couple of picks to acquire Todd Bertuzzi who ended up having some solid years in Detroit up to the end of his career.
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Looking back on all of these trades, the Red Wings ended up doing well for themselves. There were no cases where the team they traded with walked away with a superstar or a far more valuable piece than what they received. Some of the lower round selections such as Hronek and Ouellet were the best player of the traded selections.
This Draft class is not being heralded as phenomenal nor is it being called a weak group. The consensus is that the first round is deep with talent available in all positions. There are some interesting names such as Seth Jarvis, Dawson Mercer, and Dylan Holloway that could be available when Edmonton steps to the podium at #14. If however, Holland decided to say make a trade with the Flyers and trade #14 for #28 and #53 and select a forward like Tyson Foerster, Mavrik Bourque, or Jake Neighbours with the 1st round selection and someone like Dylan Peterson (center), Lukas Cormier (defenseman), or Jean-Luc Foulder (right winger) with the second round selection that should be looked at as reasonable value.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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