Oilers draft day rundown
2018-06-28
The Oilers may have ended the rebuild, but they came into the draft with 11 picks including 3 firsts, 3 thirds, a 4th, and 4 fifths. Needless to say, the Oilers had some ammunition coming into the draft. Coming into the draft, there was some speculation that the Oilers were eyeing 2 defenceman with the 7th overall; Noah Dobson, and Evan Bouchard. The Oilers elected to select Noah Dobson.
We were thrilled to grab Dobson with that pick. The right handed defenceman scored 17 goals and 42 assists with the Titans in 67 games this season, and scored 2 goals and 5 assists in the memorial cup in only four games. Dobson is tall at 6's, but could put some weight as he only ways 176 pounds.
"We had Dobson and Bouchard ranked quite similiarly, but Dobsons memorial cup showing really pushed him over the edge. He may take a touch longer to hit his ceiling, but we believe we have a guy with #1D potential" GM Braithwaite told the press after the draft.
Rumours swirled that the 16th overall pick could be traded down to grab a second round pick, but when the time to select rolled around, the Oilers saw a guy they couldn't pass up on and grabbed defenceman Ty Smith. Smith scored 14-59-73 in 69 games for Spokane in the WHL, and added 7 points in 7 games in the playoffs. Smith is a superb skater, and has upside similiar to the other top ten Dmen.
"We had Smith in our top 12, we are ecstatic we could grab him at 16. We expect him to impress at camp this year and make lots of teams regret passing on him."
The Oilers saw a third defenceman in the first round they wanted to grab, and traded 28 and 68 to move up and grab him at 24. Nicolas Beaudin was available and the Oilers snagged him. He is an offensive defenceman with excellent 4-way mobility, and some of the best skating in the draft. He is smaller at 5'11 and 176 lbs, but his skating allows him to move to positions to make great outlet passes. He scored 12-57-69 in 68 games this year.
"We thought we should grab a forward as we added 2 defenceman to the fold already, but Beaudins offensive upside couldn't be ignored, so we grabbed him to make it 3 defenceman in 3 picks in the first round."
The Oilers didn't pick again until pick 69, but that didn't stop them from talking to a team(reportedly the Detroit Red Wings) about moving up to grab a second or early third.
"We really had our eyes on Alex Kerfoot this year, and a certain dipshit GM who shall not be named...Austin... set an unrealistic price, knowing we wanted to grab Kerfoot."
Reportedly they had talks over moving several picks, but in the end, nothing materialized, and Detroit grabbed Kerfoot for the strict purpose of pissing GM Braithwaite off..I guess missing playoffs without a first can make you bitter.
At pick 69 the Oilers went to sweden and grabbed David Gustaffson who scored 12 points playing in a mens league in Sweden. He has size, and plays center.
"We felt he was a great player to grab at this spot, and the fact that he's a center made the pick a no brainer."
Oilers grabbed yet another defenceman at 71 in Adam Ginning who played in the Swedish leagues this year. He was a good value pick for the third round and was expected to go in the second, needs to work on his skating, but is a big body who plays a well rounded game.
Edmonton didn't pick again until the 4th, but watched as teams passed up on their guy over and over again. There were talks of moving up again with the Red Wings, but seriously, that guy is ridiculous...there was no deal to be made.
"We were worried about Ben Jones not making it through the "Todd Gauntlet" As the Blackhawks had 5 picks between our picks, and he was selecting similiar players, but we got Ben jones where we wanted him. Jones showed great improvement between seasons, and scored 30-49-79 in 68 games for the Niagara ice dogs.
The Oilers added 2 forwards and 4 defenceman, so it was time to look at some goaltenders, the Oilers selected Joel Hofer from the WHL, looks promising, but is slight, and it may be years before he plays for the NHL.
the Oilers then selected Russian Ivan Prosvetov, also a goaltender. The goaltender performed well in the USHL this year in his first year playing NA hockey. He looks to join a group of young promising goaltenders who have recently come out of Russia.
Oilers had 2 picks, and used the first one to select Maxim Mamin, a 23 year old who has already seen NHL time, and is expected to play for the Oilers farm team next season.
The Oilers moved their last pick at 145 to bring in a 5th in 2019, and goaltender Ian Scott. Scott saw some AHL action this year at 19 years old, and add some depth to the Oilers growing goaltender pool.
In Via draft:
Noah Dobson
Ty Smith
Nicolas Beaudin
David Gustaffson
Adam Ginning
Ben jones
Joel Hofer
Ivan Prosvetov
Maxim Mamin
In Via trade:
Ian Scott
Wow that last pick looks good, find him all by yourself? no?
Oilers draft day rundown
The Oilers add 9 players through draft, 1 player via trade.
