Revisiting the 2024 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?

Overall verdict

This draft is very much a mixed bag. O'Reilly, Wakely, Nicholl, and Barry all appear to be covering their draft bets in the early going to different extents. This, of course, is no guarantee of anything, but it's good to look good early in your career. The future is a bit fuzzier for Vinni, Clattenberg, and Sundin, but I'm not willing to write off any of them just yet. They were literally just drafted so anything can happen. Any of the latter three can surge up just as much as any of the former four can nosedive down. Drafting is an inexact science and it's hard to say this early in their careers who will work out and who won't. Some are paying early dividends, some not so much.

Bonus material

Oilers sign Mike Hoffman and Jasper Weatherby to PTOs

As of late, the Oilers seem to enjoy grabbing players with connections to the San Jose Sharks for some strange reason. The 34 year old Hoffman was at one time one of the NHL's elite snipers, cracking the 30 goal mark once and the 20 goal mark six times. However, that hasn't been the case for five seasons now, as Hoffman these days is best described as a younger version of Corey Perry - past his prime but still might have his uses. He might tag team with Perry on the fourth line, that's about as good as I can see for him if this PTO turns into a full fledged contract. He played for the Sharks last season putting up a respectable 10-13-23 in 66 games, albeit with a -21 in the process, notwithstanding of course the fact that San Jose was and still is a lousy rebuilding team.

Weatherby, on the other hand, was drafted by San Jose in 2018 and although he had one extended 50 game callup in the 2021-22 season, he only put up 5-6-11 and a -14 in those games. He spent the next two seasons on San Jose's farm team the San Jose Barracuda and dropped off the map after that, spending the next two seasons bouncing around the AHL, first in Grand Rapids then in Milwaukee. Weatherby looks to be an AHL bubble player at best and will likely find himself with an AHL-only contract at best unless he knocks everyone's socks off in training camp. At 26 his dream of being an NHL regular is likely done.

These moves are in addition to recently signing blueliner Travis Dermott to a PTO.

Pro scout Jason Pietrzykowski and Assistant GM Brad Holland exit the organization

Pietrzykowski has left for Pittsburgh to take on the same role with the Penguins. Holland and the club, "mutually parted ways" so to speak, and it's unclear what he's going to do next. Meanwhile, GM Stan Bowman says there are no plans to replace Holland on the management team.

Prospect Roby Jarventie will miss training camp with a knee injury

Looks like Carl Berglund isn't the only Oilers prospect injured, so is Roby Jarventie, the player acquired from Ottawa over the summer for Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson. He's going to have to have surgery but fortunately, this knee injury isn't as severe as the one that limited Connor Brown to only four games for the Washington Capitals two seasons ago. Jarventie is slated to be back within two weeks, at which point he'll probably be assigned to the Condors where he can participate in their camp.

Notable hires in scouting and analytics

Warren Rychel, who has spent the last three seasons with the Oilers as a pro scout, has been promoted to pro scouting director. Meanwhile, to compensate for the loss of Pietrzykowski the Oilers have hired ex-Oiler Zack Kassian to take his place. This will be Kassian's first foray into scouting.

Meanwhile, Dominik Zrim, one of the founders of CapFriendly, is joining the Oilers as director of hockey strategy. Other hires include Aaron Nagy (amateur scout), Erik Elenz (video and analytics coaching coordinator), and David Evanochko (lead solutions architect).