The Athletic mock draft has Oilers making high risk/reward pick in 2nd round

All eyes are firmly focused on the Stanley Cup Final, with the Edmonton Oilers preparing for their third consecutive elimination game on Friday night and hoping to take the series versus the Florida Panthers to a game seven. However, hard as it might be to believe, the 2024 NHL entry draft will be getting ready to go this time next week in Las Vegas.

With this in mind, The Athletic's Corey Pronman undertook the massive (and thankless) task of completing a mock draft for all seven rounds. That's 225 picks folks, so Pronman certainly deserves major kudos.

For the Oilers specifically, they have six total picks in this year's draft, but only one in the first four rounds. That particular pick is in the second round at 64th overall, but who did Pronman have them selecting?

With the 64th pick, the Oilers take ...

The player in question was Marcus Gidlöf, a goalie from Sweden, where he currently plays for Leksands IF Jr. If the Oilers did indeed end up drafting him, he would represent a high risk/reward selection for the organisation.

In respect of being a risky gamble -- is there any other type of gamble? -- a lot of the hockey media outlets have Gidlöf ranked lower than 64th. As per Elite Prospects, Dobber Prospects rate him 110th, while McKeen's Hockey have him at 178.

Better but still lower than 64th, Daily Faceoff have Gidlöf at 80, while Chris Peters of Flo Hockey ranks him 86th. For what it's worth, NHL Central Scouting have him at 10th among all European goalies.

Turning to the high reward aspect of such a pick, what the Oilers would essentially be banking on is that the 18-year-old will become better as a result of maturity and better habits. His size of 6 foot 6 and 212 pounds makes him an intimidating presence to the opposition, and there is a belief (hope) that his game will continue to develop over time.

Purely from a statistical perspective Gidlöf has certainly seen his game improve in the last few years, with him coming off his best season yet in 2023-24. He had a 14-12-0 record in 26 starts for Leksands IF Jr., with an excellent .923 save percentage and 2.22 Goals Against Average.

Overall, as Pronman does allude to at the beginning of his article in a general sense, the likelihood of Gidlöf being selected in the second round by the Oilers is not high. At the same time however, he would make for an intriguing selection if the organisation did go down this path.

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