Player Discussion 2016 Draft Roundup....So How Did We Do?

[OilTastic]

thoughts?

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[BudBundy]

Pretty much a win as soon as poolparty fell to us. I liked the upside of the Benson pick. Shocking lack of RH D picked but overall solid.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Puljujarvi, Benson and Niemelainen all good picks.

 

[Aerchon]

My opinion is basically worthless after the first round but will provide comment on how well they addressed the needs of our prospect pool.

3/10 at best.

Loaded up on more left handed D that they already have proven unable to properly manage. Picked a joke of a goalie and basically avoided skilled forwards which supposedly was thier focus. Benson an ok pick but a LWer...

Hoping my ignorance is clouding the situation but this year looks like garbage outside of JP.

 

[BarDownBobo]

Puljujarvi at #4 makes the draft an instant win. I really like the Benson, Niemelainen and Rasanen picks, all great value for where they went and could all be steals a year from now. Wells is going to be boom or bust, he was great at the Hlinka for Canada last year but had a terrible season after, skills are there though. Berglund is a nice pick, especially considering our prospect pool. And I really don't know what to think of Cairns, McPhee or Desharnais; Cairns is the one I disliked the most because of the guys left on the board but he could end up alright.

I'd give them an A- or B+ personally.

 

[PKSpecialist]

I think they did well. Glad we kept our picks. I have a pretty strong feeling that Nurse is going to be leaving in a deal for an established defender. Only reason I can think that they went with LHD prospects when others were available(Fox). I hope we knock a deal out of the park. A Nurse/Eberle or Nurse/RNH package should return a heck of a defender.

Really like the Berglund pick. Wells is exactly what everyone here keeps asking for with late picks, high potential, high risk.

 

[nabob]

My opinion is basically worthless after the first round but will provide comment on how well they addressed the needs of our prospect pool.

3/10 at best.

Loaded up on more left handed D that they already have proven unable to properly manage. Picked a joke of a goalie and basically avoided skilled forwards which supposedly was thier focus. Benson an ok pick but a LWer...

Hoping my ignorance is clouding the situation but this year looks like garbage outside of JP.

Well they did draft a guy who could be your next Marincin? Think of it that way and you'll give it an 11/10

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Pretty happy with the draft, honestly. 8/10 or a B+/A- grade.

A++ to our first three rounds, though. Final three rounds were just okay.

 

[Noah88]

- Puljujärvi was great of course,but a no brainer to pick.
- Benson wouldn't had been my pick. I think he has a high chance to bust, or become a pretty meaningless 4th liner. I would had preferred to trade that pick with something for Brodin for example.
Niemeläinen would had been my pick at #62 too, so I can't complain. Good choice.
- For the rest I don't expext much. Have slim hopes for Räsänen. But who knows, perhaps some of Cairns, Berglund, McPhee, Wells can make it into the NHL. They have all some interesting talents but the chances ar eslimm, that is clear.
I had prefered some other guys, but all in all it were solid picks I guess.

 

[Aerchon]

Well they did draft a guy who could be your next Marincin? Think of it that way and you'll give it an 11/10

Lol, who was traded for peanuts because we are stacked on left defense. Which isn't changing.

We should stack our left D and see if they can reach the moon.

 

[captaincaptain]

Puljujarvi was a huge win, not getting a RHD via trade was a huge loss.

In terms of drafting, they did very poorly outside of the the first three picks.

 

[The Nuge]

Added a poll

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

Added a poll

You forgot to add "Too soon to tell"

 

[Hynh]

I like the continuing trend of players born later in the year. Last year Bear, Jones, Marino were all in the later 6 months of the draft year. This year Niemelainen, Cairns, Rasanen, McPhee and of course, Puljujarvi were born in the last 6 months of eligibility. Despite being an overager Berglund is also a May birthday. Benson's trajectory reminds me of O'Reilly. Both drafted first overall into junior, both fell to the high second round.

Fairly balanced in terms of positions. 1 centre, 3 wings, 4 defencemen, 1 goalie. 4-4 split in handedness too.

I think that if the Oilers had more drafts like this they would produce more players past the first round. Only Desharnais and Wells strike me as "no hopers". The rest could conceivably find a path to success.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

The LD/RD argument is just weird now.

They're prospects.

We have Bear, Marino, and now Berglund and Desharnais to be ready in 3 years and we can add an infinite amount of RD between now and then as either prospects or players. Not to mention that a LD can potentially play RD.

The Rshot D problem is one for next season and wouldn't have been solved in this draft, it might not even get solved this offseason (and that doesn't mean you can't improve the defense).

 

[GMofOilers]

We did good with the first 3 picks. Going to be a few years before anyone can claim we did anything over good. We wait.

 

[The Nuge]

Puljujarvi was a huge win, not getting a RHD via trade was a huge loss.

In terms of drafting, they did very poorly outside of the the first three picks.

The thing is, those later picks are likely to be busts regardless, so it doesn't hurt to take some gambles. We'll have to wait and see with them. Either way, we made out like bandits where it counts, at the top of the draft

 

[OilTastic]

Added a poll

^thanx. i wasn't sure how to do that.

 

[OilTastic]

Puljujarvi, Benson and Niemelainen all good picks.

i think these 3 picks are what will define this draft. anyone that comes after this and lights it up is gravy.

 

[PBandJ]

1st round was a loss not getting one of the top D, but I'm pretty ok with the rest.

 

[LemmyUlanov55]

i think these 3 picks are what will define this draft. anyone that comes after this and lights it up is gravy.

Exactly. Pretty happy with the draft, getting Pulju is a nice draft surprise.

 

[OilTastic]

Puljujarvi was a huge win, not getting a RHD via trade was a huge loss.

In terms of drafting, they did very poorly outside of the the first three picks.

not everyone has even been thrilled with Benson or Niemelainen either.

Tyler Benson = Pitlick (because of injuries)

Markus Niemelainen = Marincin

Matt Cairns = Jeremy Blain

Filip Berglund = Troy Hesketh

Dylan Wells = Kevin Bouchard

....you get the picture.

 

[duul]

Anything past the second round is almost a complete guessing game so I've always disliked commenting on those picks. Like others have said our first three picks were very good. Even the second round is almost entirely a guessing game so picking a player like Benson is ideal because his ceiling is higher than most players in the whole draft.

From what I've heard from talking to scouts over the years, the later round picks are based mostly off player personalities and other factors. When you're picking in the first round or two you are usually picking the most talented player you can.

The players who make the NHL after the first round get there off sheer determination, willingness to learn, creativity, etc. You can usually tell after a 15 minute interview that the teams do what kind of person these kids are and how they will be in the coming years. I am confident in our picks throughout the entire draft.

 

[Paralyzer008]

Puljujarvi was the BPA and a fantastic pick - A+

Benson isn't a terrible pick...better players available but he does have a bit of upside that we didn't see due to the injuries. He's a guaranteed bottom six player at the least. - B

Niemelainen isn't as good as HF thinks he is. Sure he's big, but I don't see much of a true upside here. Fairly soft, doesn't have much of a shot. His potential is a No.5 D to me so I'm not in love with this compared to everyone else. C

Berglund is kind of interesting, another guy who got killed by injuries last year. Overagers are hard to predict especially when they're playing in Swe Jr. but there's some potential here and he shoots right which is awesome. B-

Cairns is a guy I really like but it's a long con. Probably has No.4 potential, maybe a 3. Can move the puck and be tough. Makes a few errors that need correcting mentally. Also needs to play in a stronger league. B

Rasanen had a great U-18 but that was because of who he played with. I'm not super convinced that he's going to be a player yet. His Fin Jr. numbers aren't bad but not impressive. We'll see. C+

Wells had one good tourney at the Ivan Hlinka. He also had an awful season. Not really a fan at all of this pick but goalies are voodoo. I guess the question is why we're taking a goalie then if he doesn't have underlying stats to support him. D

Desharnais was only picked because he's big and he shoots right. There were way more guys on the board that Edmonton passed over. Not a fan of this one. D

Graham McPhee is a guy where he only really impressed at the U-18s and partly that's because the US had a stacked roster. 5 goals at the USHL level and middling numbers for the USDP, despite being small. At least he's not a lazy player. We'll see where this one goes C-

Despite ALL of that analysis above, these guys aren't even 20 yet. It's so hard to project where their games will go. Always hopeful on all of them.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Puljujarvi was the BPA and a fantastic pick - A+

Benson isn't a terrible pick...better players available but he does have a bit of upside that we didn't see due to the injuries. He's a guaranteed bottom six player at the least. - B

Niemelainen isn't as good as HF thinks he is. Sure he's big, but I don't see much true upside here. Fairly soft, doesn't have much of a shot. His potential is a No.5 D to me so I'm not in love with this compared to everyone else. C

Berglund is kind of interesting, another guy who got killed by injuries last year. Overagers are hard to predict especially when they're playing in Swe Jr. but there's some potential here and he shoots right which is awesome. B-

Cairns is a guy I really like but it's a long con. Probably has No.4 potential, maybe a 3. Can move the puck and be tough. Makes a few errors that need correcting mentally. Also needs to play in a stronger league. B

Rasanen had a great U-18 but that was because of who he played with. I'm not super convinced that he's going to be a player yet. His Fin Jr. numbers aren't bad but not impressive. We'll see. C+

Wells had one good tourney at the Ivan Hlinka. He also had an awful season. Not really a fan at all of this pick but goalies are voodoo. I guess the question is why we're taking a goalie then if he doesn't have underlying stats to support him. D

Desharnais was only picked because he's big and he shoots right. There were way more guys on the board that Edmonton passed over. Not a fan of this one. D

Graham McPhee is a guy where he only really impressed at the U-18s and partly that's because the US had a stacked roster. 5 goals at the USHL level and middling numbers for the USDP, despite being small. At least he's not a lazy player. We'll see where this one goes C-

Despite ALL of that analysis above, these guys aren't even 20 yet. It's so hard to project where their games will go. Always hopeful on all of them.

I agree with your write up on nemo and benson but i think its a decent strategy.

I think Chia went with fairly safe picks at the top of the draft. But suppose you get a top six RW, a 3rd line LW, and a 5 d playing meaningful minutes when the cap crunch hits in 3 years.....then this draft is a big success.

On top of that you have some other guys who, with some luck, could develop into depth defenders and role players.....(maybe more if you get weird-lucky)