What's the word on him this year? Is he getting a fair shake in Bakersfield? Is he playing tentatively? Are there questions about his willingness to go into traffic? Or are we happy just slapping the bust tag on him because Wallstedt got called up (and got lit up for 7)?
2021 Draft - 1st Pick: Xavier Bourgault (F)
- Thread starter Seachd
- Start date
IMO, not yet. He had a decent rookie pro season, but has struggled to produce this year.
22-23 = .55PPG
23-24 = .39PPG
Its defiantly something to take notice off, the decision to be made is next year at the end of his ELC. Also Clauk (sp?) seams to have a tendency to not play the younger players too much. Given the draft capital invested in him, he'll probably get another contract but at that point it should be rather clear what kind of player he is.
Sheikyerbouti
ShakeyerMcBooty
He is not got getting a fair shake imo. He's a first round pick and he's not getting much PP minutes, it's pretty nuts development wise imo.
He's been playing tough minutes without offensive players and has really rounded his game, but Chaulk seems to really favor vets, which seems to be an organizational thing because woody did too
Both he and Broberg are good players that the oilers are not developing well imo
Mr Positive
Cap Crunch Incoming
- Nov 20, 2013
- 36,119
- 16,575
It could be okay then. Development isn't measured in points. If he's becoming a well rounded player that has value, and maybe once he gets some talent on his line the points will come
Well rounded is good, but by some accounts he’s being buried in favour of vets who Have no future with the org. I don’t follow closely enough but seems like an odd development approach.
He did pretty well in Russia.
16th in Russian Super League scoring as a 22 year old is pretty damn good.
7th in league scoring at 19 for Russia division 1.
He didn't drop out of nowhere despite being a late pick.
A bunch of lazy scouts who wanted to stat watch from Mexico might have missed him, but he was apparently a very good young player.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,196
- 34,653
And IIRC he was a twig when he was drafted so he needed to get bigger. Bourgault isn't huge, but he's not Yamamoto or Gaudreau small either.
Jimmi McJenkins
Sometimes miracles
I suspect he was also physically unimpressive (for draft purposes) when he was 18, so scouts over looked him for sure.
94 Oil Drops
McHy is the new McDrai.
8 points in 24 games as a 21 year old and then followed it up with 4 points in 15 games as a 22 year old is not exactly sexy. It wasn't until he was 23 when he started to shine.
Oh yeah, Bourgault still got some time
TheNumber4
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2011
- 36,965
- 42,237
Yep. There’s a lot of wait and see bandied about with prospects. But I would say if you are 1st round drafted and haven’t made it at 21. The arrows are down. I mean of course any prospect or player could eventually turn out but history has shown that the longer they take the lower the odds they are ever going to turn out. I’ve been advocating for trading Broberg and XB for a long while now. I think they should be used in place of a 1st for any deals we need to make this year. Cut em loose.
TheNumber4
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2011
- 36,965
- 42,237
My scouting report on XB. He has good skill and vision, but he expects and needs too much time and space to make any plays with it. There’s too much “delay” in his game, if I was to put a word on it. It works in junior of course. But urgency and quickness needs to take a serious uptick for him to be effective at the NHL level. Combine that with his size and only average skating and it’s tough for me to get too excited about this prospect, which is why I haven’t been. I hope he surprises though and breaks through of course, but it’ll either take time or won’t happen at all.
McDNicks17
Moderator
He's been playing on the first or second line with Tullio and McKegg for the last little while and he's third on the Condors for PP goals by forwards, so I think a lot of that "buried" stuff is just the usual prospect angst that gets directed at AHL coaches.
Sounds like another potentially wasted 1st round pick.
Well, if you are that smart, other teams' scouts are probably on it too. Likely earlier than the Oilers' GMs and scouts who drafted those guys. But I guess there are always teams like Calgary who are even worse.
TheNumber4
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2011
- 36,965
- 42,237
Probably just wishful thinking on my part. But interpretations of prospects can and do vary with GMs. We see it all the time at the draft.
joestevens29
Registered User
- Apr 30, 2009
- 52,830
- 15,518
It is also a league that for some reason people put a lot more stock into draft position than they should. Not everyone, but there are still guys that think that maybe their organization can do something better with the player.
TheNumber4
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2011
- 36,965
- 42,237
Yeh for sure. Hey maybe our reputation as prospect ruiners can come in handy for a change.
Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
Haha. People making Datsyuk comparisons age wise and unrealized potential yet declare this team's blue chip defense prospect Broberg who's only 8 months older a bust. haha.
Bourgault processes the game well. Needs to mature physically and continue to gain experience against pro competition while growing a dependable 200 foot game. It's a big leap from junior to pro. On a mature window organization there are few opening for top six ice-time where skill guys should play and Lavoie ahead in the development next-up cue. It's okay for young players to face adversity. It's what they do with it.
Bourgault processes the game well. Needs to mature physically and continue to gain experience against pro competition while growing a dependable 200 foot game. It's a big leap from junior to pro. On a mature window organization there are few opening for top six ice-time where skill guys should play and Lavoie ahead in the development next-up cue. It's okay for young players to face adversity. It's what they do with it.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,196
- 34,653
It's also ok to deal guys like Bourgault and Broberg that don't look like can't miss stars to strengthen the team and/or recoup picks. We pissed away any value that Yamamoto and Puljujarvi had because we read their trajectory and upsides wrong. Let's not do the same with these 2.
Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
Prospect development is always a messy process unless you're talking the rare air of 'can't miss stars' that are probably 5% of the workforce.
The Oilers have shown with the Ekholm deal they will deal futures to lockdown a proven, quality veteran difference maker. Unfortunately the Oilers have been poor with drafting and development so they need to feed the beast of winning window now while concurrently trying to create the critical cheap young talent to sustain windows. The Oilers have been the little Dutch Boy trying to build a legitimate contending team around its prime year super elite McDavid and Draisaitl, Nuge, Nurse fixing several changing positional holes left by a decade of shitty management groups.
We'll see what this means for their very limited prospect pool.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,196
- 34,653
Do you or anyone else know how many picks Pittsburgh dealt in their window? It seemed like they were doing it a lot back then, we've been somewhat tame in comparison IMO. Would be interesting to see the head to head comparison!
EDIT-Just looked on hockeydb:
Since the 2008 draft the Penguins have drafted:
in the 1st round 9 of a possible 16 times and in 2012 they had a pair of 1st round picks so basically they have drafted in the 1st round every other year since 2008.
In terms of 2nd rounders they drafted 12 and 2 of those came in the 2016 draft and 2 more in the 2018 draft. So once again more or less every other year. We haven't dealt near that much to this point and our drafting has sucked.
Last edited:
Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
Sorry I don't. They were super awesome though in finding cheap quality support forwards. Much greater stability with its management group. Sadly I think the Oiler rebuild stands alone for its gross long duration to get here and changeover of management groups involved.
It's difficult to say when the Oilers' windown opened. They made playoffs in 2017, then missed for two years straight, then covid broke out. Arguably only last year, they were surefire contenders.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,196
- 34,653
I'd say that 2017 had better moves been made it would've at least been cracked open a little. McDavid has been amazing from the word go and the best player in the word most of the time since then.
