Revisiting the 2020 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?
By Phil Gretzky
Round one - Dylan Holloway, 14th overall
Due to the fact that the Oilers were at long last playoff contenders, this meant that the Oilers had their lowest selection in the draft since they drafted Evan Bouchard 10th overall in 2018.
Holloway initially went the US College Route after playing in the AJHL, where he put up 17 points in 35 games after lighting up the AJHL, putting up 40 goals and 88 points with the Okotoks Oilers. Holloway's progress has been slow but steady since then, since he chose to go pro after only one more year at the University of Wisconsin, where ever since he's put up points to an extent in both the AHL and NHL, culminating in putting up 5-2-7 in 25 playoff games for the Oilers and looking like an NHL regular who's ahead of the development curve in the process.
He would've been great cheap scoring help for the Oilers in the bottom six but then the St. Louis Blues snaked him with an RFA offer sheet that the Oilers didn't match, agreeing to pay the still-unproven winger almost $2.3 million a year for the next two seasons. They better hope he works out otherwise that contract is going to be an anchor on the team, especially in the bottom six.
As a younger and less polished team, it appears the Blues DO in fact, see Holloway as a top six winger already, as they have him slated to play next to Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad on the second line. If you think that's bad, they're paying Philip Broberg $4.5 million a season for the next two seasons to play on the third pairing next to Ryan Suter. What GM Doug Armstrong is thinking here I don't know, Holloway has only done spot duty in the top six so far and Broberg has only done spot duty in the top four D pairings. Quite a gamble to use up over 75% of your free cap space on two young and unproven players, but what's done is done.
Trending up or down? Trending up, for the moment. Young Holloway will be expected to produce consistently in the top six forward group for the first time in his career and thus this ballsy move may explode in Doug Armstrong's face by elevating a young player before he's ready.
Who did the Oilers miss out on? Although the Oilers didn't do badly with this pick, they could've done even better. Underrated sniper Dawson Mercer (New Jersey) will be patrolling the second line for the Devils alongside Jack Hughes and Timo Meier - only going into his fourth season in the NHL and he already has two seasons of 20 goals to his name. Braden Schneider (NY Rangers) is also entering his fourth season in the league and has seen his point totals increase every season of his career so far. In a year or two he could push Jacob Trouba for a spot in the top four on that team.
Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia) put up 20 goals for the Flyers last season playing alongside Sean Couturier. The toast of the first round just might be Jake Neighbours (St. Louis) who is an Alberta boy and an RFA next year (memo to Stan Bowman, nice revenge offer sheet candidate next offseason) and just put up 27 goals playing for the Blues last season - he'll be on the left side of the Blues two young stars in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, creating one heckuva first line.
Honorable mentions go to Yegor Chinakov (Columbus), who put up 16 goals last year and will be playing on the Jacket's second line, Hendrix Lapierre (Washington) who put up 22 points last season for the Caps and will be going into this season as their third line center, and Ridly Greig (Ottawa) who will be playing third line LW for the Sens this upcoming season. He put up 26 points last season for the Sens.