Edmonton Oilers: Tracking the 2019 NHL Draft results
By Phil Gretzky
Round 3, 85th overall – Ilya Konovalov
Remember the 2018 draft when I talked about goalie Olivier Rodrigue? Well, now you get to meet the goalie who will compete with him for ice time on Bakersfield at some point, maybe even this season. The 22-year-old has played in the KHL for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv for the past 3 seasons and for the most part, has had himself a pretty stellar career in the 2nd best pro hockey league in the world.
In 2017-18 as a rookie in 7 games he finished with a .933 sv% and a stingy 1.56 GAA. The next year, in many more games – 45 – he finished with numbers almost as good – .930 sv% and a 1.89 GAA. He followed that up last season with a bit of a dip in stats to a .912 sv% and a 2.45 GAA.
However, if history is any indication we can write that off as 1 bad season in a career that thus far is looking pretty good with only 1 blemish on it. Scouting report is here.
Going forward: KHL players can’t necessarily translate their skills to the NHL – just ask Anton Belov – but it looks like so far so good with Konovalov. I can’t find any sort of official word on what the Oilers are doing with him yet, but from what I’ve heard in the past he’s going to stay in the KHL for this season and the team will bring him over to Bakersfield for the 2021-22 season.
It’ll be interesting to see the competition between Rodrigue and Konovalov in Bakersfield. Rodrigue better make a name for himself this year before the competition gets fierce the season after. Either way, Stuart Skinner’s pro career is on life support right now, so if the expected happens and he fizzles out, there’s room for both prospects in Bakersfield. Also, unlike Broberg and Lavoie, Konovalov doesn’t have an ELC as of yet, but expect Holland to change that at some point in the next year. We hold his rights indefinitely so there’s no hurry.
Trending: Up, despite 1 off season out of 3
Round 4, 100th overall – Matej Blumel
Czech dual winger Matej Blumel took the unusual route of the USHL to start his career. In his rookie season in 2017-18, Blumel put up 8-10-18 with 10 PIMs and a -2 in 50 games for the Waterloo Black Hawks, then put up no offence or PIMs in 2 playoff games in the same season.
He followed that up by exploding the next year, putting up 30-30-60 with 22 PIMs and a +4 in 58 games for the Black Hawks. That momentum continued in the playoffs as he put up 3-1-4 and 2 PIMs in 4 games.
He went back to his native Czech Republic last season to play in the Czech pro leagues for Pardubice HC and put up 4-1-5 in 31 games with a +4 and 18 PIMs to boot. Not an earth-shattering start to his pro career but not a bad one either.
Going forward: Judging by his scouting report, I’m assuming his career ceiling will be as a bottom 6 forward. It’s hard to say what will happen with only 1 pro season under his belt. Sports Illustrated seems to think pretty highly of him. Maybe he might be a top 6 forward if he can maintain the early momentum in the current season?
Apparently, he has 4 points in 6 games in the Czech leagues. I can’t find a development path for him, so I’m assuming the Oilers leave him in the Czech league for at least one more full season before deciding whether or not to bring him to Bakersfield.
I’m guessing he makes his way there eventually, though. It’s important to keep sample size in mind and the fact that the Czech league is not the NHL. Lots of Europeans can’t hack it in the NHL, and if Blumel is one of those guys he’s not the first and he won’t be the last. But, we’ll see what happens. Could be a guy to watch. We have until June 1, 2023, to sign him.
Trending: Hard to say. We need to see more data from him in the Czech league before we know for sure.