Did you ever think it is not the players drafted but the inept management of Oilers to push them immediately into the spotlight and ruining their development; evidence points towards that more than the players drafted.
What are you talking about? Who got rushed out of the 1st OA group?
Hall? Was back to back Memorial Cup MVP, there is literally nothing more he could have done with an extra year of junior.
Nuge? Perhaps from a physical standpoint, but they did well in sheltering his ice-time and matchups, and to this day his rookie season is still his most productive year (55pts in 62 games).
Yak? A case could certainly be made here, but he and his agent had the Oilers by the balls, particularly due to the circumstances (playing in the KHL already during the lockout, thus wasn’t an idle threat). He did tie for the team lead in goals as a rookie, and looked absolutely fantastic the final 10 games of that season. He may have lived up to expectations if Krueger remained our coach instead of Eakins.
Management was certainly a joke in a number of aspects during that dark period, but I don’t see “rushing” first overalls as one of those aspects.