Edmonton Oilers Race to 5th First Overall Pick in 7 Years

[Rush17]

9 hours ago, terrible.dee said:

Sutter isn't that good.

I agree.  But he brings a confidence and swagger too the team.  He has intangibles outside his points that help relieve the pressure on the defensive side of things and he has shown time and time again he can deliver big goals at big times.  (Short handed late in game etc.)  

That type of help from a 2nd line or high 3rd line center makes all the world.  Imo sutter is a quality 2nd line center.  Just needs more time to prove it outside of crosby/malkin.  Sucks he got injured but if we manage to sneak in the post season.  A fresh sutter and hamhuis could do wonders for our squad.

[Honky Cat]

9 hours ago, terrible.dee said:

Sutter isn't that good.

I think the return of Sutter will 'right the ship' a little bit,but nowhere near the impact McDavid will have when he gets back in the Oiler lineup...Draisaitl and Hall are killing it right now....Oilers should package RNH along with their 1st round pick IMO.

[McBackup]

1 hour ago, Honky Cat said:

I think the return of Sutter will 'right the ship' a little bit,but nowhere near the impact McDavid will have when he gets back in the Oiler lineup...Draisaitl and Hall are killing it right now....Oilers should package RNH along with their 1st round pick IMO.

For what though?

[Drakrami]

Oh god... Oilers are gonna draft top 5 again. What a waste of talent. 

[Neko]

I hope the NHL stops and says "hey, this doesn't seem right- are they doing this on purpose?" about the Oilers doing this, they have a bloatload of talent on the offense that they should still be productive enough to be near the top of the bottom 15.

And I do think McDavid will want out of that team.

Where do you think Hall would be if the Oilers drafted Seguin?

Would Seguin faired as well as Hall?

I think Boston mishandled Seguin, right now Seiguin is being the better deal than Hall, if it was the other way around, Boston probably would've traded Hall anyways- they were building a goon team at the time, not a high octane offense

[Monty]

On Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Creepy Crawler said:

I think Boston mishandled Seguin, right now Seiguin is being the better deal than Hall, if it was the other way around, Boston probably would've traded Hall anyways- they were building a goon team at the time, not a high octane offense

I'm one of those few people who believe it wouldn't have mattered if the Oilers had drafted Seguin or any other defenseman with the first overall pick over the years. It's not as if Seguin, Ryan Murray, Landeskog, or any other player have fixed their defense or goaltending. Murray is still finding his way, as it takes years to develop.

Long story short, the Oilers have relied 100% on drafting, which is ludicrous. Yes, you have to draft well, but holding onto talent in fear of making the wrong move is asanine. "Hi, we're the Islanders. What, we don't have defenseman but we need to compete? Ok, we'll take advantage of Boston and Chicago's cap constraints and cheaply get Leddy and Boychuk." And, "What, we're Nashville and we need more offence to compete? Ok, we'll just trade Jones, no biggie." Where was Edmonton to be found in both of these scenarios? Oh, just sitting on their collective thumbs, still hoping their all offense system works.

[Canucks Curse]

37 minutes ago, Monty said:

I'm one of those few people who believe it wouldn't have mattered if the Oilers had drafted Seguin or any other defenseman with the first overall pick over the years. It's not as if Seguin, Ryan Murray, Landeskog, or any other player have fixed their defense or goaltending. Murray is still finding his way, as it takes years to develop. 

Long story short, the Oilers have relied 100% on drafting, which is ludicrous. Yes, you have to draft well, but holding onto talent in fear of making the wrong move is asanine. "Hi, we're the Islanders. What, we don't have defenseman but we need to compete? Ok, we'll take advantage of Boston and Chicago's cap constraints and and cheaply get Leeds and Boychuk." And, "What, we're Nashville and we need more offence to compete? Ok, we'll just trade Jones, no biggie." Where was Edmonton to be found in both of these scenarios? Oh, just sitting on their collective thumbs, still hoping their all offense system works.

their drafting and scouting is pathetic. Where are the 2nd rounders that have made their team?

They draft according to ISS and they cant even get that right. It is a real disgrace. I am hoping that when McJesus returns he will get this team into the playoff race in the weak pacific so that they dont get a lottery pick, but right now they are in full lottery pick mode, sitting at about 28th overall. To see them get chychurun, puljujarvi or laine or tkachuck or heaven forbid Matthews would be disgusting

[Monty]

2 minutes ago, Canucks Curse said:

their drafting and scouting is pathetic. Where are the 2nd rounders that have made their team?

They draft according to ISS and they cant even get that right. It is a real disgrace. I am hoping that when McJesus returns he will get this team into the playoff race in the weak pacific so that they dont get a lottery pick, but right now they are in full lottery pick mode, sitting at about 28th overall. To see them get chychurun, puljujarvi or laine or tkachuck or heaven forbid Matthews would be disgusting

I forget who said it on here a while back. But Edmonton could trade their entire roster for the Blackhawks roster, and they'd still manage to be a lottery team.

[WHL rocks]

Other than the Canucks I'd love to see the Oilers win the 1st overall lottery this year. No way we're catching up to their star studded prospects in the next 5+ years anyway, might as well enjoy watching a small market team like the Oil kick ass again. 

They could trade Mathews and another top piece for a huge haul and I mean huge haul. 

If they get 2nd overall they take Puljujarvi and have a top tier winger for McDavid for the next 10 years. Trade one of the other more developed pieces to upgrade D and they're on there way. 

Contenders in 2 years either way, considering where they are in the standings. 

And no Canuck fans, you don't become a contender with 2 top 5 picks. It's a long process, 10 years long.

[WHL rocks]

On 12/12/2015 at 1:04 PM, Honky Cat said:

I think the return of Sutter will 'right the ship' a little bit,but nowhere near the impact McDavid will have when he gets back in the Oiler lineup...Draisaitl and Hall are killing it right now....Oilers should package RNH along with their 1st round pick IMO.

Not yet, they'll package it at the Draft Table if at all. Depends where they sit after the draft lottery/

[WHL rocks]

On 12/3/2015 at 8:02 AM, hatedkid666 said:

Atleast after the last offseason they are heading in the right direction unlike the years before.

klefbom

nurse

reimhart

You mean McDavid and Reinhart. The young Dman is still a couple of years away from making an impact. He's only 21, got sent down to minors a while ago.

Another good piece is Jujhar Khaira who got promoted to the NHL a couple of weeks ago,  a Surrey kid, drafted in the 3rd round in 2012. Brings a lot of physicality and character. For some reason this kid just makes his team  better. He's a 3rd liner but a heavy player. He makes a tangible difference on his team. Can PK and be the solid character type that every good team needs. 

Klefbom and Nurse were already in the system. 

There have been other good additions as well, especially the surprising young goalie Nilsson. 

[WHL rocks]

On 12/1/2015 at 0:40 AM, DownUndaCanuck said:

Chychurn would do that team a world of good. Funny that their original 1st overall picks are now veterans and they're still growing that "young core".

Chychrun would take 5 years to develop into a ready and  impactful Dman, he won't help in the short term. 

Oilers need a couple of years for the kids they have to mature. That's all, they're well on their way. 

It's not a 1 or 2  year game, Drafting and developing a prospect takes years. Many years. That's why you see the Oilers like Hall starting to stand out now.  It takes time. 

[guntrix]

What seems to get constantly ignored on here - and I think is quite important - is the fact that all these young stars will require raises eventually. The problem with building solely off the draft is that this team will eventually need to be dismantled.

There's no way the Oilers will be able to keep Nurse, McDavid, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Draisatl, Eberle, Yakupov and whoever they draft in 2016. Simply, in a cap world, it's gonna be impossible.

 

On a semi-unrelated note, the Oilers franchise is the most despicable one I've seen. Their fans are looking forward to the next draft as if it were the yearly playoff countdown... and they're not even embarrassed anymore. This is more than humiliation; this is some paper bag over head kind of stuff.

[guntrix]

1 hour ago, WHL rocks said:

Chychrun would take 5 years to develop into a ready and  impactful Dman, he won't help in the short term. 

Oilers need a couple of years for the kids they have to mature. That's all, they're well on their way. 

It's not a 1 or 2  year game, Drafting and developing a prospect takes years. Many years. That's why you see the Oilers like Hall starting to stand out now.  It takes time. 

Their prospects' raw-ness doesn't stop them from dropping them into the shark tank anyways... that's probably why some of them underachieve.

Had Seguin been drafted by the Coilers and Hall by the Bruins, I'd wager that we'd be talking about how Hall is so much better than Seguin.

[tas]

the oilers' problem is threefold:

1. the pieces they need (top 4 defenceman) very rarely become available on the market, and when they do:

          i) teams don't want the oilers'                         forwards in return

          ii) if the player has any form of no                   trade clause, he's not going to                      edmonton.

2. they can't sign ufas because nobody wants to play there, and top flight defencemen very rarely make it to ufa anyway. 

3. they always draft too high to justify taking a defenceman in the first round. 

[Odd.]

I could see them trading down their high pick for defenseman/goaltender.

This draft they should be only targetting Defenseman unless Matthews/Puljujarvi are still around which I'm going to take a pretty strong guess they won't be.

If I'm an Oiler fan, I'd want us to trade down and snag one of Chychrun, or Juolevi, and with the 2nd round pick (if they do have it), snag Sean Day or Jake Bean (if he falls that far).

They need defenseman, I don't think their management has realized up until they brought in Sekera who's good, but doesn't really have the capabilities in being their temporary number one. 

 

[John Tortorella]

6 hours ago, WHL rocks said:

Other than the Canucks I'd love to see the Oilers win the 1st overall lottery this year. No way we're catching up to their star studded prospects in the next 5+ years anyway, might as well enjoy watching a small market team like the Oil kick ass again. 

They could trade Mathews and another top piece for a huge haul and I mean huge haul. 

If they get 2nd overall they take Puljujarvi and have a top tier winger for McDavid for the next 10 years. Trade one of the other more developed pieces to upgrade D and they're on there way. 

Contenders in 2 years either way, considering where they are in the standings. 

And no Canuck fans, you don't become a contender with 2 top 5 picks. It's a long process, 10 years long.

Knew it

[Tortorella's Rant]

6 hours ago, WHL rocks said:

Other than the Canucks I'd love to see the Oilers win the 1st overall lottery this year. No way we're catching up to their star studded prospects in the next 5+ years anyway, might as well enjoy watching a small market team like the Oil kick ass again. 

They could trade Mathews and another top piece for a huge haul and I mean huge haul. 

If they get 2nd overall they take Puljujarvi and have a top tier winger for McDavid for the next 10 years. Trade one of the other more developed pieces to upgrade D and they're on there way. 

Contenders in 2 years either way, considering where they are in the standings. 

And no Canuck fans, you don't become a contender with 2 top 5 picks. It's a long process, 10 years long.

That's what they said years ago. Huzzzaah.

[Sandro17]

I don't see the reason why when players don't want to be traded to the Oilers, it's such a big factor. If a GM needs offensive talent and has too much defense, when guys like RNH or Hall are on the table, you take the deal regardless of what your player wants. The fact of the matter is that as a player, you're making tens of thousands of dollars per game to perform at your best regardless of whatever team you're on. Yeah it sucks, but thats the reality of being a professional athlete. If you don't want to be traded, sign an NTC. As a GM, its your responsibility to do what is good for the organization not just a single player. Gm's have to keep their jobs too.

[Kragar]

1 hour ago, Sandro17 said:

I don't see the reason why when players don't want to be traded to the Oilers, it's such a big factor. If a GM needs offensive talent and has too much defense, when guys like RNH or Hall are on the table, you take the deal regardless of what your player wants. The fact of the matter is that as a player, you're making tens of thousands of dollars per game to perform at your best regardless of whatever team you're on. Yeah it sucks, but thats the reality of being a professional athlete. If you don't want to be traded, sign an NTC. As a GM, its your responsibility to do what is good for the organization not just a single player. Gm's have to keep their jobs too.

If the player has a family, it's disruptive enough to uproot them to move to another city/country.  Having to move to a place like Edmonton, where it is too fricken cold for much of hockey season might be too much to ask.  If the player came from a California or Florida team, Phoenix, or even Dallas, going to Edmonton is a big deal.  If the player comes home to the wife and/or kids bitching about the weather, or lack of choices on entertainment, or schools, or whatever it was they had, it will wear on the player after some time.  If the player then starts playing poorly because he's distracted, and not so happy with his new home, it lowers his value in the market.

And, for a team that seems to struggle to win, despite loads of offensive talent, what's the point of going there?  Play somewhere else, keep the family happy, and perhaps take a pay cut in an attempt to stay relevant.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

And, if the player is single, I assume there has to be more exciting places to live, where the, um, scenery is a little more plentiful and appealing.