Revisiting the 2020 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?
COVID-19 brought lockdowns, job losses, and halted sports. The NHL playoffs had no fans, and the draft was virtual.
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.
Round two - no pick, traded away to Detroit along with Sam Gagner (second tour of duty) for Ryan Kuffner and Andreas Athanasiou. The pick would be flipped to LA who would use it in the draft.
Round three - no pick, traded away to San Jose for their picks in the fourth and fifth rounds of this draft
Round four - Carter Savoie, 100th overall (this was previously San Jose's pick, their own pick was traded away to Detroit along with Kyle Brodziak in exchange for Mike Green)
Not much to say here. Savoie's ELC was up after this season and after not playing a game for the Oilers Savoie was not issued a QO and mere days later signed a contract to play in Europe. Worth noting that the Oilers traded for his brother Matt in the Ryan Mcleod trade to Buffalo. Usher one Savoie out the door, and welcome another one inside. Lots of irony there.
Trending up or down? Definitely trending down, his NHL career is over unless he sets the Finnish pro leagues on fire.
Who did the Oilers miss out on? No one of any consequence. Most teams missed on their picks in this round - in fact, only two players who were drafted in this round have even played NHL games and even then at this point, they're nothing more than AHL bubble players as both guys played most of the year in the AHL.
Round five - two picks, Tyler Tullio (126th overall)
Not much to say here. After wrapping up a junior career in which he ended with 42 goals and 86 points in 65 games, Tullio spent the last two seasons in Bakersfield largely spinning his wheels, with point totals of 26 and 21 respectively with his +/- going down from +2 to -1. Nothing special so far, he has been more valuable to the Oilers organization as a trade chip, being the other piece going to Buffalo along with Ryan Mcleod in exchange for Matthew Savoie. Can't truly declare him a lost cause at this point, he just might take a step in the Buffalo organization and prove us wrong, but so far he hasn't really impressed and hasn't played a game at the NHL level yet.
Trending up or down? Down, thus far
Maxim Berezkin, 138th overall
Berezkin is an interesting prospect, and it's tough to get a handle on exactly where he is, but there is a glimmer of hope with this player. He's moved his way through the Russian junior and minor leagues and looks like he just earned a regular spot on his KHL team, Yaroslav Lokomotiv, with 30 points in 62 KHL games. This is his third straight season of point increases, going from two to 26 to 30 points over the last three seasons. What's really intriguing for him as a prospect, though is he put up five goals and 16 points in 20 playoff games for YL. So he followed up a solid regular season with a breakout playoffs. Only time will tell whether he can build on that in his career. He currently holds no contract for the Oilers organization but remains one of the forwards on their reserve list. If he can breakout with a regular season producing at the same rate or better as he did in the KHL playoffs last year, then the Oilers just might sign him to a short term two way contract and bring him over to Bakersfield to see if he can translate his offence to the North American ice surface. We might be able to salvage something out of these lower rounds just yet.
Trending up or down? Trending up, slightly. Player to watch over the next two years.
Who did the Oilers miss out on? No one of any consequence has since emerged from this round. Only four picks from this round have played NHL games and only two have played more than 10 - and those two are nothing more than AHL bubble players at this point.
Round six - Filip Engaras, 169th overall
Not much to say here as Engaras is already out of the organization. He showed limited potential in the Swedish junior leagues and then came across the ocean to play in the US College System, where his best results were 21 points in 33 games for the University of New Hampshire. He turned pro with the Condors at the tail end of the 2021-22 AHL season, producing no points in five games. He followed that up next season with two goals in 11 games for Bakersfield, at which point he was sent down to Fort Wayne where he put up 14 points in 23 games. The Oilers I assume didn't renew his contract as after that season where he was sent down to Fort Wayne he isn't listed on the reserve list and it appears he's signed a two way AHL contract with the Utica Comets, the AHL team of the New Jersey Devils. His career since arriving in Utica has followed a similar trajectory - limited scoring in the AHL, a scoring touch shown in limited time in the ECHL. It doesn't look like Engaras is making the NHL anytime soon but never say never. Sometimes guys on AHL contracts can surprise.
Trending up or down? Down
Who did the Oilers miss out on? No one of any consequence. Most teams missed on their picks in this round, only one pick past Engaras even played NHL games, and that was only one game, and not last season. Only a single player even played more than 100 NHL games from this round, Nils Aman (Vancouver) and he was taken two picks before Engaras so the Oilers had no chance at him. Even then he wasn't listed on the Canucks end of season roster so he's an extra forward at best at this point.
Round seven - Jeremias Lindewall, 200th overall
And now we get to the longest of long shots in the draft that will probably go down as the biggest crapshoot in NHL history. I think you see where I'm going with this - not much to see here. This Swedish meatball was drafted after he showed potential in the Swedish junior leagues, putting up 28 points in 39 games in the lone season listed. He hasn't even progressed to the top Swedish pro league the SHL, though, only sticking to the Swe-1 league (the second tier pro league) and not even producing 10 points in any given season. His silver lining is he produced 1-2-3 in only 16 games last season so if he can build on that it might indicate there is at least a decent European player there. In terms of his NHL career, though? It seems unlikely at this point he'll even cross the ocean to play in the Oilers system, much less play for the Oilers.
Trending up or down? Down
Who did the Oilers miss out on? No one of any consequence. The closest pick to an NHLer was goalie Devon Levi (Florida), who at this point is nothing more than an AHL bubble player and has since been playing in the Buffalo Sabres organization. His numbers are nothing special for the moment, but this is a 22 year old kid who has only played 30 games in the NHL and still has a year to go on his ELC, so we can't write him off yet. Only three picks other than Levi have even played NHL games, and none of them are NHL regulars yet.
Next. More insight on why Oilers didn't match offer sheets for Broberg or Holloway. More insight on why Oilers didn't match offer sheets for Broberg or Holloway. dark
Overall verdict
This draft was overall not very good, but it wasn't a really strong draft for the NHL in general - that's what happens when you're dealing with shortened sample sizes for draft picks, it's more about throwing a dart at the dart board and seeing what sticks.
Dylan Holloway was showing well before St. Louis stole him away from us (yeah I said it, I don't care). Maxim Berezkin will be interesting to watch for the next couple of years, let's see if he can build on that solid KHL playoff run. At this point, I never truly count anyone out from this draft as we're now only four years into their draft year, but a number of players look to be a failure to launch. You could tell this draft had Holland's fingerprints all over it because he traded away two picks for two Red Wings and traded a higher pick for two lower picks.
I'll leave it to you to decide if the play-in series was an actual playoff series or not.
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