Reasons Why The Edmonton Oilers Have The Worst Winger Depth In The NHL

Drafting Outside The First Round

Instead of finding some fancy percentage of the number of Oilers draft picks that have played over 100 games, I searched through the players drafted between 2004-2014 and identified the ones that currently have prominent roles (Top 9 F, Top 4 D) on an NHL roster today.

The reason being is that I found the number of players that have played over 100 games since being drafted by the Oilers is higher than you would probably expect. The thing is, that most of these players are now either fringe NHL players or are playing in the American League, or have been shipped off overseas.

So drumroll, please…

Here are your Edmonton Oilers drafted OUTSIDE the first round between 2004-2014, currently playing in a somewhat prominent role on an NHL roster:

• Jeff Petry (2nd round, 2006) – Traded to MTL in 2015
• Tobias Rieder (4th round, 2011) – EDM*
• Jujar Khaira (3rd round, 2012) – EDM
• Erik Gustafsson (4th round, 2012) – Signed with CHI

*  was since traded to the Coyotes in 2013 but signed back with the Oilers in 2018

Courtesy of HockeyReference.com

There you go. An entire decade of drafting and the organization has four players currently rostered in the league to show for it, only two of which now play for the club. Just for comparison, the Tampa Bay Lightning have drafted eight players that currently play in the league during in that same time frame, 5 of which currently play on their roster, and four that play in their Top 6 forward group… that’s how you do it.

Now obviously that is an extreme example, but the rest of league (excluding Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets)  has averaged 6.37 players within those same parameters that are currently playing.

However, what I noticed while collecting the data to find this average, is that the number isn’t even the biggest issue. The problem is that the Oilers have not seen a single impact forward with any of those picks. There were plenty of teams hanging around that 4-5 range. The difference was that the majority of them had found at least two or more players that play a significant role in their current roster.

Of the four that Edmonton was able to find… Khaira is the one who plays the most prominent role on the Oilers roster today. A guy who slots into the bottom of any competitive lineup.

There is no other way to put it… The Oilers have been a modern era disaster regarding player development. Which I believe is the number one cause for them rostering the worst winger depth in the NHL.

Misfired Trades

Taylor Hall? Jordan Eberle?… Who needs them?

There was no doubt that at the time one of them would have to go in order to fetch the top pairing defencemen Chiarelli was in search for. But Adam Larsson isn’t it, sorry to tell you. At least not for what the Oilers gave up. I mean c’mon,  Hall just went on to win a Hart Trophy in 2018… A FREAKING HART TROPHY!

And remember when the Oilers made the playoffs, and there was a proven top 6 winger in the lineup… good times.

Now don’t get me wrong, there were some negatives in Eberle’s game. Many weren’t happy that he didn’t score at all in 13 playoff games, he had struggles in the defensive zone, was far from the fastest player on the ice, and has a 6 million dollar contract.

However with that said, Eberle was also third in points on the Oilers that season before he was traded, with only Leon Draisaitl and Connor Mcdavid racking up more points in 2016/17.

So if you are trading a guy who is consistently putting up over 20 goals and 50 points, you better be getting someone back who can replicate that.

And no, the fact that Pat Maroon had one season where he flirted with 30 goals does not mean you can afford to move on from one of your most consistent goal scoring wingers just to save a quick buck. Somebody in the organization should’ve stepped up and said that wasn’t sustainable to rely on a couple of big, slow-moving forwards to make up most of the scoring from the wing.

So there you have it. In a matter of two years, the Oilers managed to trade away two proven top six wingers out of their lineup and brought in nobody capable of replacing them. That’s an easy way to ruin your depth chart.

Why not add salt to the wound by going on to trade a guy in Drake Cagguila who had a consistent spot in your forward lineup and provided some offensive flair (along with some defensive issues) for a defenceman that can’t even crack a d-core dealing with injuries?

And why make that move in a year that all the spotlight is on how the Oilers only have four players that can put the puck on the net?

Sure, there were some small scale trades that paid off in the short term. But those guys aren’t with the Oilers anymore and are barely keeping their NHL careers above water. So what good is that to the team now?

One last point: If you are losing Ryan Strome and Drake Caggulia trades, there is an issue. Let’s leave it at that.

Free Agency Slam…Flunks

Milan Lucic… enough said.

But in all seriousness, Free Agency has by no means resulted in any slam dunk signings in recent years. Who was the last free agent you remember having a significant impact on the success of the Oilers? I’d love to know. Not that Edmonton should ever expect to be the dream destination for potential free agents, but even a few small payoffs isn’t too much to ask.

Kris Russell and Mikko Koskinen have been guys that come to mind as being substantial additions but came at a high price point for their respective roles. And don’t help the fact that Edmonton currently has the worst winger depth in the entire league.

So if you aren’t finding them outside the first round of the draft, and trading away the ones you do see in the first round, how else are you supposed to find guys that can contribute?

Well, the Oilers thought they found that guy Lucic, and if they had gotten the Milan Lucic of 2011 they might have found their fix. But it would turn out that Edmonton had picked the worst year to be big spenders on the market. A year that saw the likes of veteran forwards David Backes, Andrew Ladd, Kyle Okposo, Loui Eriksson, and of course Milan Lucic all get signed to big money over long-term.

They missed on their big fish, along with everyone else in 2016. But even their recent depth additions up front haven’t provided much get behind.

Tobias Reider hasn’t even scored yet this season for the Oilers. A guy who stepped away from the term in order to get a chance to prove himself worthy of a bigger contract this coming July is currently writing his own career obituary in Edmonton.

Reider has been a reliable addition to the penalty kill, but Peter Chiarelli was banking on him being a guy that could provide some offensive options among the forward group. Instead, he got a guy who is still goalless in January.

What It Comes Down To

The fate of the Edmonton Oilers atrocious depth on the wing all boils down to a decade of incompetence on the draft floor. The misfire of several trades involving key players (and most recently losing almost every swap involving depth players). As well as overpaying free agents that were a ticking time bomb regarding when their play was about to fall off.

It is the year after year of mistakes made by multiple tenors of management that has led the team to where they are now, and it isn’t something you can fix overnight.

This was a team that just two years ago had many fans thinking they were finally sailing in the right direction. Until the man in charge quickly steered them directly back into an iceberg… and it’s about time he sank with the ship.

Good luck to whoever has to try and fix this mess after him.