Edmonton Oilers draft day

The Oilers went into draft day with 3 picks, but only left with one player. GM Braithwaite made 2 moves heading into draft day, flipping his 2018 first, and 2017 first for 13th, a second and a third pick. He then flipped the second and 13th for the 8th pick. With many fans thinking Braithwaite would take a defender with his first due to the lack of defensive prospects in the system, GM Braithwaite surprised manyby optiing for a different route.

"We always take the best player available, regardless of position. If a log jam happens in the future, we can deal with it then." 

With the 8th overall pick, the Oilers selected Lias Andersson, a swedish center playing in the SHL. Andersson put up 9-10-19 in 42 games playing in one of the top leagues in the world. He joins a small list of players to put up similiar statistics in the SHL. This list includes 4 names, Robert Nillson, Niklas Backstrom, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin. Elite company (minus Nillson) to say the least. 

The Oilers have Eichel, Ryan O'reilly, and Mikael Backlund down the middle. With William Karlsson vying for a main stay spot in the line up next year, the competition for center positions will be fierce, meaning the Oilers will give the Swedish center all the time he needs to become an NHL regular. 

The Oilers also held the 77th and 109th pick. They tried aggressively to move up into the second round, but ultimately lacked the appealing assets to gain a pick in the 30's. 

"We felt Connor Timmins would have been a nice add. But ultimately, we didn't have the assets necessary to move that high up in the draft." Claimed GM Braithwaite.

Seeing no interesting players available, picks 77 and 109 were flipped to Detroit for Detroit 3rd and 4th in 2018.

With many fans upset with GM Braithwaites inability to stock the defensive prospect cupboards, GM Braithwaite quickly reminded them "We have a young top 4 that can compete with any defensive core in the league. On top of that, we have picks stocked for next years draft, which is thought to be a much stronger crop of young player,  we will continue to accumulate top young players. We just don't want no scrubs, scrubs can't get no love from me"

When questioned if GM Braithwaite was quoting TLC, he claimed the reporter in question was just chasing waterfalls.

Austin Evans

bahaha solid ending. Good article, bad draft; better luck next year

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