The 2012 NHL Entry draft is complete. What have the Oilers got to show for it?

Here’s the rundown of the Edmonton Oilers’ picks on Day 2 of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Round 2

In the 2nd round, the Oilers selected Mitch Moroz, a left winger for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL. I had the pleasure of watching a good handful of Oil Kings games this year, and got to see a bit of Moroz. I will say that there wasn’t a lot that stood out to me, but the Oilers brass were pretty keen on him. One of the media mentioned on Twitter that the Oilers felt that he would not have been available for them to pick in the 3rd round. They really wanted to nab him, especially after seeing fellow Oil King Henrik Samuelsson go in the 1st round. TSN had him ranked at 56th overall (i.e. late 2nd round), so you’d have to think that the Oilers were right.. Moroz probably wouldn’t have been there for their 3rd round selection.

Moroz is a BIG kid (6’2″, 208 lbs). He actually looked like Continue reading 'Day 2 draft thoughts..'»

Nail Yakupov!

There was a lot of smoke out there suggesting that the Oilers would take Ryan Murray or Griffen Reinhart.. possibly trading their pick. I think they made the right choice here. Nail Yakupov was the near-consensus #1 prospect in the draft. Most scouts and scouting agencies had him #1. Many also said there was a big drop off after Yakupov too. Well done, Oilers… now go get us Justin Schultz and possibly another good d-man via free agency or trade.

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So tonight is the 1st round of the NHL Entry draft. Exciting times for Oilers fans (wouldn’t it be great if we could look forward to something else other than the draft?). Some of the media out there seem to be of the mind that the Oilers will pick Ryan Murray. I’m pretty sold that we’ll take Nail Yakupov. I should say, I’m pretty sold that we SHOULD take Nail Yakupov. Most lists have had him as the consensus #1 since nearly the start of the year. Most scouts have said that there is Nail… and then there is everyone else – there apparently is a big drop off after Yakupov. These other kids are decent talents, but Yakupov is apparently that much better. So why would we settle for a lesser player, just because we need defensemen?

Erik Duhatschek had an article about why he thinks the thought of defensemen taking longer to develop is old-school, and wrong. David Staples had a rebuttal to this, which answers my question of “he singled out one year.. what about the other years?” He provides details of at least the 2006-2011 stretch, stating that the forwards have been more prominent in this group (Save for the 2008 “anomaly”).

So who is it going to be? I think Yakupov.

In other news, Jordan Continue reading 'Draft day!'»

The rumor mill has been busy lately, as it always is at this time, with suggestions that the Oilers will be moving the #1 overall pick. So I thought it would be great to take a look at every team in the NHL and consider their assets… NHLers, and prospects … and consider which players we should be asking about. I mostly focused on the defense, and a bit on goaltenders and centermen, as I think those are our biggest needs. Some of these teams wouldn’t be able to offer much for our #1 pick and some teams would need more than our #1 pick for their assets, so I’ve also considered a list of tradeable players for the Oilers. This time of the year, it’s always fun to talk about trades.. but often they’re pretty unrealistic. I don’t mention any specific deals here though (save for a couple). Please feel free to make some suggestions in the comment section for guys we should be after, or trades we could make.

Continue reading 'Pre Draft Trade Thoughts…'»

As per a Stauffer tweet, the Oilers are looking at 5 players seriously in this upcoming draft according to MacGregor: Nail Yakupov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Filip Forsberg, Ryan Murray and Griffin Reinhart.

So lets take a closer look shall we:
Continue reading 'Oilers Draft Options'»