The Edmonton Oilers rookies were just in Penticton for the Young Stars Classic, but unfortunately, they did not have the outcome they wanted. During the Classic they play three games, one each against the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets rookie teams. In those three games the Oilers rookies did not pick up a single win and to make things worse they only scored one goal.
They opened up the tournament against the Canucks rookies and lost 2-0, then they faced the Flames rookies where they scored their only goal, but still ended up losing 3-1. They finished up yesterday with a 2-0 loss. This is a poor showing for the Oilers and shows that the youth in the Oilers organization might be an issue moving forward.
What Does This Mean For The Edmonton Oilers?
Having a weak prospect pool is to be expected for a team that has legit Stanley Cup aspirations. It is nearly impossible to have a good team in the NHL and its prospect pool. One of the main reasons for this is the better you do the worse your draft picks are. This means the quality of your young players is worse, to begin with.
The other thing that adds to this, is top teams try to get better via trade. For the Oilers, they only have 2 of their first-round picks left since 2016. One is Evan Bouchard and the other is Sam O'Reilly. O'Reilly was just drafted a couple of months ago, so come this deadline there is a chance that he won't be here after that. So, things may get worse before they get better for the Oilers prospect pool.
Do The Oilers Care?
The Oilers' prospect shelves may be bare, but their NHL roster is one of the best in the league. For that reason, I don't think the Edmonton Oilers care that they lost every game at the Young Stars Classic. I know they would rather have regular season and playoff success as opposed to winning all the games at the Young Stars Classic as that success means nothing.
The full Oilers training camp will be getting into full swing right away here with preseason games starting up soon. The first preseason game is Sept. 22 at 4 pm as the Oilers will be in Winnipeg to take on the Jets. Don't expect to see any of the big-name players in that game, but as the preseason moves along, we will start to see a lineup closer to the regular season lineup.