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

By Adam Girard

EDMONTON, AB - JANUARY 10: Milan Lucic #27 of the Edmonton Oilers lines up for a face off during the game against the Florida Panthers on January 10, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB - JANUARY 10: Milan Lucic #27 of the Edmonton Oilers lines up for a face off during the game against the Florida Panthers on January 10, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Edmonton Oilers
TAMPA, FL – NOVEMBER 06: Edmonton Oilers right wing Tobias Rieder (22) skates in the first period of the regular season NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning on November 06, 2018 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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:

*  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.

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