Edmonton Oilers: Tracking the 2017 NHL Draft results

Round 6, 177th overall – Skyler Brind’amour

If that last name sounds familiar to you, then the answer to your question is yes, we have in fact drafted the son of former NHLer Rod Brind’amour.  Good to know he has the genes to compete, but it’s tough to say how far it’ll make him go. After all, Keegan Lowe hasn’t had near the pro career his father Kevin did.  Surely you all remember Kevin Lowe.

Anyway, left center Skyler has done things non-traditionally.  He started out with a few games for the US Youth teams (Under 17 and 18 teams).  In 2 seasons with them, he played 8 games and scored 1 goal.  No PIMs either year and finished 0 in year 1 and -10 in year 2.

He then moved to the BCHL where he played 2 seasons for the Chilliwack Chiefs and seemed to do pretty well.  In season 1, he finished with 10-14-24 and 34 PIMs, in 52 games.  Not a bad start for junior A.  In 7 playoff games he put on 3 more assists and another 2 PIMs.  He followed that up next season by almost doubling his point totals – to 13-31-44 with 39 PIMs and 2-3-5 in 11 playoff games and another 6 PIMs.  Nice progression.

He then graduated to the US College route last season, where he played his rookie season for Quinnipiac University in Connecticut somewhere (yeah I had to look that up too).  He only put up 4-9-13 with 16 PIMs and even in 34 games.  Not outstanding, but not bad.  For the life of me, I can’t find a scouting report for him, but there’s this, which is good news for him.

Going forward:  It’s tough to say what we have with young Skyler here.  He’s gone a very unorthodox development route.  If he had gone more mainstream I’m willing to bet he would’ve been drafted higher.  I like that progression in 2 seasons in junior A, but junior A is a long way from the NHL.  I have to agree with the ON article that states at this point he’s a long term project.

He’s 1 of 2 picks from this draft that doesn’t have an ELC with the organization yet, but the Oilers hold his signing rights until August 15, 2023, so we have lots of time to sign him.  Honestly, I can’t blame the club for not offering him a contract just yet. US College folks are always tougher to predict than those in junior as I’m willing to bet the player development staff and Oilers management are unanimous.  Basically that Brind’Amour needs at least 2 more seasons at QU before you can think about committing to signing him.

At that point, we should know more about what he can do and know what to do with him one way or the other.  If he had the same career as his father, personally I’d be thrilled.  His father put up 1184 points and 1100 PIMs in 1484 games.  12 20 goal seasons, 1 in which he came close at 19, and 4 30 goal seasons.  That’s a solid career.  If he makes it to the NHL on this team, he’ll probably have to play in the top 6 as a winger as no one is upending the McDrai duo at top 6 center.

Trending:  Baby steps up

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Round 7, 208th overall – Philip Kemp

Right d-man Kemp is not a flashy prospect, but one that could be a small diamond in the rough in the future.  Kemp started out as a regular in the US National Under 17 and 18 teams, going 1-3-4 with an ugly -16 and 2 PIMs in 35 games on the under 17 team.

On the under 18 team, he put up 2-2-4 with 8 PIMs and a much improved +7.  Kudos for cleaning up his own zone play.

He then graduated to the US College system at Yale University, where he’s maintained more or less the same pace as he did for the US National teams.

His rookie season was 3-5-8 in 26 games with 8 PIMs and a +7.  In season 2 he put up the same boxcars except in 30 games.  This time his PIMs went up to 35, although his +/- dipped to -9.

This past season his games played increased for the 2nd straight year, as he played 32 games this time, finishing with 3-8-11, a dip to 10 PIMs, and almost completely rebounding in +/- to +4.  Both his US national teams and his teams at Yale have never made the playoffs, so none of those stats to speak of.  His scouting report is here and frankly, I tend to agree with it.

Going forward:  Remember in the last pick I wrote there are 2 picks without an ELC?  This is the other one.  And it’s no surprise why, either – Kemp doesn’t have great offensive chops, but he could contribute secondary offence and for the most part be defensively responsible.

Kemp has size but not a lot of scoring chops, and the fact his PIMs were cut in less than half from the season prior to this past one should show you that even Kemp’s physical chops can disappear.  This is the case during long stretches, which doesn’t bode well for him.  He’s a very generic, vanilla type of hockey player.  The Oilers just signed a few European prospects to be the stay at home guys, they may look at Kemp and decide they don’t need another one.

All of this being said, Kemp would probably get a little more attention from the organization if he did more next season, his last in US College hockey.  If he can produce more offence, stay on the plus side of +/-, and put those PIMs closer to the 35 mark, then I’m willing to bet the Oilers give him a 1 year ELC or AHL only/2 way AHL/ECHL contract to give him a chance.

Otherwise, if he keeps to the same pedestrian totals and stays the same vanilla player he is now I’m willing to bet the Oilers pass on him.  We retain his rights until August 15, 2021.  Having the career trajectory of Matt Benning isn’t going to get you a whole lot of cache in the organization.  It’s next year or bust for him.  If he busts, maybe he’ll take his chances in Europe.

Trending:  Laterally – which for a 7th round pick is not good.

Bottom line

Overall I like how this draft has gone.  Only 2 guys are trending down right now (Skinner and Kemp are right on the edge).  I love the fact that most of the picks are trending up and 1 – Yamo – is already playing on the big league roster ahead of schedule.  5 out of 7 picks have ELCs, which IMO is great.  Not all of them will make it of course and some may be more valuable as trade bait than anything else, but right now I like the looks of most of them.  Even the picks in the later rounds are compelling, something we couldn’t say much in 2016.  Stay tuned for the 2018 draft results.