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Edmonton Oilers: Gearing Up For An Exciting NHL Draft

By Sean Maloughney

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Evan Bouchard poses for a portrait after being selected tenth overall by the Edmonton Oilers during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Evan Bouchard poses for a portrait after being selected tenth overall by the Edmonton Oilers during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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We are only one day away from the 2019 NHL Draft and there are plenty of exciting narratives surrounding the Edmonton Oilers.

We are quickly approaching the NHL Draft and by the end of the weekend, the Edmonton Oilers will have a number of new prospects in the system and potentially a couple NHL players too.  Currently the Oilers have 6 picks in the draft, they are as followed:

1st Round – 8th Overall

2nd Round – 38th Overall

3rd Round – 85th Overall (acquired from NYI)

4th Round – 100th Overall

5th Round – None

6th Round – 162nd Overall

7th Round – 193rd Overall

The first round of the NHL Draft occurs tomorrow, with rounds 2-7 happening on Saturday.

In the past Ken Holland has not shied away from trading draft picks for more draft picks.  For example, we could see Ken Holland trade the Edmonton Oilers 3rd round pick for a lower 3rd round pick and a 5th round pick.  How Holland uses his team’s draft picks will be very telling about the faith he has in the scouting department.  Regardless, once the draft is finished I expect some changes to be announced in the Oilers amateur scouting departments.

Holland has publicly stated he fully expects Edmonton to walk to the podium and draft a player with the 8th Overall selection and unless a spectacular deal reveals itself I assume that to be true.  The Oilers need to find more NHL ready wingers, especially with the news yesterday that Jesse Puljujarvi likely will not be returning to Edmonton.

Plenty of teams have expressed their own desires to move on from players, giving Edmonton a number of dance partners.

Andre Burakovsky, a LW with the Washington Capitals is a pending RFA but is reportedly not going to be re-signed by the team.  Burakovsky went 12-13-25 in 78GP last season.

Toronto is still in cap trouble and are reportedly open to trading wingers Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Brown, centre Nazem Kadri, and defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.

The Minnesota Wild and GM Paul Fenton still want to move on from solid 5 on 5 scorer Jason Zucker.  Zucker has 4 years remaining on a deal that pays him 5.5 million per season.

Winnipeg freed up some cap space by trading Jacob Trouba but are still in a bind and have to sign pending RFA’s Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor.  Reportedly the team has let in be known to the league they are open to trading Nikolaj Ehlers.

In a perfect world I would offer a lower round draft pick or marginal prospect for Burakovsky. and trade Matt Benning, Jesse Puljujarvi, and a couple of draft picks for either this season or next to acquire Kapanen and Brown from the Leafs.  The Oilers roster next season up front could look like this:

Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian

Burakovsky-RNH-Kapanen

Nygard-UFA Centre-Brown

Lucic-Cave-Gagner

That is my own personal fantasy and every fan has their own.  There is often tons of noise right before the NHL Draft; sometimes it is all bluster with no results but every so often a big trade goes down on the draft floor.  Either way I hope you all enjoy the day and stay tuned for more blogs and player breakdowns here over the next few days.

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