Revisiting the 2021 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?

Second round - no pick, traded away to Detroit with Sam Gagner and a 2020 second round pick in exchange for Ryan Kuffner and Andreas Athanasiou. Detroit ended up flipping the pick to the New York Islanders who would use it.

Third round - Luca Munzenberger (drafted with Minnesota's third round pick as the Oilers had sent their own to Calgary in the Milan Lucic/James Neal trade. Thanks for that, Calgary, that was swell of you.)

With this pick it seemed the Oilers were hoping to recapture some of the German magic they captured when they drafted Leon Draisaitl in 2014.

Munzenberger has chosen to cross the Atlantic and go the US College Route. The left defenceman has so far been unremarkable from an offensive standpoint, putting up a mere combined 11 points in 92 games for the University of Vermont over three seasons, and scoring the lone goal of his college career just last season.

There are two areas of interest for Munzenberger, though, as his PIMs have shot up from 45 then down to 24 then up again to 51, a career best for him at that level so far. His +/- has also improved dramatically, from a crazy -17 in his rookie season to -9 and then +2 last season. At this stage the German is 6'3" and 190 lbs, and with time and the proper conditioning there is no doubt he'll build on that. At this point it looks like Munzenberger may carve out a career as the next Vincent Desharnais, a physical stay at home guy not to be counted on for offence, unless of course he breaks open either in the minors or what is likely his last season of US College hockey.

According to Munzenberger's scouting report though, he already possesses a good shot but doesn't use it enough. Could more offence be in his future with his coach coaxing him to shoot more? Maybe.

Munzenberger remains unsigned. However he is on the reserve list, and I would bet that depending on how he does in his last season at Vermont will help determine what his next contract in the organization looks like, or if he even has one. If he uses that shot more and increases his boxcars, he's a surefire bet for a two-way ELC in the near future.

Trending up or down? Up.

Who did the Oilers miss out on? There were a few guys the Oilers missed out on in the second round. Forward Matthew Knies (Toronto) played his first full season for the Leafs last year and put up 15 goals and 35 points. This season he's slated to play next to Auston Matthews on the Leafs' first line.

The other player is left D JJ Moser (Arizona) who has already played 200+ NHL games and was included in the trade for Mikhail Sergachev coming to Utah from Tampa Bay. Information is spotty about Moser - he's not slated anywhere on the big league roster, and his contract - which he supposedly signed in July with the Lightning - is not listed on Puckpedia anywhere. He's not listed as a blue-liner going to their minor league team nor is he on the reserve list. Weird. He might've been nice cheap help for the bottom pairing allowing the Oilers to trade Brett Kulak. However, the contract he supposedly has with Tampa is $6.75 million over two years. Which means Tampa is oddly paying a guy almost $3.5 million a season to play on their third pairing - they're usually so good with cap space I wasn't expecting that.

Anyway, an honourable mention goes to Shane Doan's son Josh, who was drafted by Arizona in this round going after all the feels. He's slated to play on their third line next year with Nick Bjugstad. In terms of the third round, no one of any consequence has emerged yet, although it's worth noting that current bottom six prospect forward Jayden Grubbe who's currently playing on the Condors, was drafted by the Rangers in the third round.