2021 Draft - 1st Pick: Xavier Bourgault (F)

[The Nuge]

I know this is unrelated, but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

Meh. We’ve got a good coach now. No reason to think we’ll be changing any time soon (regardless of the small percentage of our fanbase who complains about the coach no matter what)

Who is the best French Canadian Oiler of all time?

Must say, I love the accent.

BGL

 

[McFlash97]

This guy better be a 20 to 30 goal scorer with a good 2 way game if the goalie we passed up on for him ends up being an NHL starter.



this organization man.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Who is the best French Canadian Oiler of all time?

Must say, I love the accent.

David Perron

 

[McGoMcD]

I like the player. I think he will be a solid NHL top 6 guy, however, I don't like the pick. We need a goalie badly. Wellstedt unexpectedly drops, perfect, what do we do??? trade the pick. I just don't get why it's so hard to take the goalie we need.

 

[Nostradumbass]

The utter disrespect for JDD.

MAP, JFJ, Marco Roy as well.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I like the player. I think he will be a solid NHL top 6 guy, however, I don't like the pick. We need a goalie badly. Wellstedt unexpectedly drops, perfect, what do we do??? trade the pick. I just don't get why it's so hard to take the goalie we need.

I think the arguement is they weren't that high on him and normally goalies don't really become starters until they are what 24/25 so 6-7 years post draft...which does not at all lineup with McDrais peak

 

[McGoMcD]

I think the arguement is they weren't that high on him and normally goalies don't really become starters until they are what 24/25 so 6-7 years post draft...which does not at all lineup with McDrais peak

Top prospect goalies often play in the NHL a year or two after being drafted. I get if they just weren't high on him, but I wouldn't be surprised if you see him in the NHL in a year or so.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Top prospect goalies often play in the NHL a year or two after being drafted. I get if they just weren't high on him, but I wouldn't be surprised if you see him in the NHL in a year or so.

That's not really true in the slightest
Top goalie prospects (drafted first round) NHL games in Draft+1,2,3... Since 2010
Campbell 0
Visentin 0
Vasilevskiy 16
Subban 1
Samsonov 0
Oettinger 0 (2 in playoffs)
Knight 4 (draft +2)

So what you are describing is extremely rare. Unless he is literally the best goalie prospect in the world since Vasilevskiy, then him being in the NHL that quick is incredibly rare.

So far exactly one have been regulars in their first 3 years post draft. Knight could be the second. But even then Vasilevskiy shared backup time with Nabokov as Bishop played 62 games that year.

 

[McDoused]

This guy better be a 20 to 30 goal scorer with a good 2 way game if the goalie we passed up on for him ends up being an NHL starter.



this organization man.

Just goes to show you that fans are never happy. It's kind of funny to see fans who have never watched these guys play go from never wanting to draft a goaltender in the first round to criticizing them for passing on a goaltender.

I think their is some recency bias with Vasilevskiy falling later in the draft. Bourgault was arguably the best forward available but no one seems to care.

For the record Devan Dubnyk was drafted 14th overall in 2004 and took like 6 years before he made it into the league. Meanwhile a guy Claude Giroux was drafted 22nd overall and was an NHL regular in 3 seasons and by his 6th season was a 90 point player.

I'm not saying that this is how its gonna go down but we don't know and this year was a very weird year for prospects.

My guess is that the Oilers prioritized what they've heard from the "boots on the ground" and prioritized what they've heard from coaches, teammates and people that know the players to get a better idea of what their character, commitment, strengths and weakness are and how they see them developing in the future. It's very possible that Wallstedt came across as peaking early, lacking the work ethic or carried by a good Lulea team. Who knows?

 

[Oilhawks]

Just goes to show you that fans are never happy. It's kind of funny to see fans who have never watched these guys play go from never wanting to draft a goaltender in the first round to criticizing them for passing on a goaltender.

I think their is some recency bias with Vasilevskiy falling later in the draft. Bourgault was arguably the best forward available but no one seems to care.

For the record Devan Dubnyk was drafted 14th overall in 2004 and took like 6 years before he made it into the league. Meanwhile a guy Claude Giroux was drafted 22nd overall and was an NHL regular in 3 seasons and by his 6th season was a 90 point player.

I'm not saying that this is how its gonna go down but we don't know and this year was a very weird year for prospects.

My guess is that the Oilers prioritized what they've heard from the "boots on the ground" and prioritized what they've heard from coaches, teammates and people that know the players to get a better idea of what their character, commitment, strengths and weakness are and how they see them developing in the future. It's very possible that Wallstedt came across as peaking early, lacking the work ethic or carried by a good Lulea team. Who knows?

Agreed. Wallstedt will need to put in some work to be an NHL starter. There’s a chance that the athleticism is always an issue, would fans be happy with us using a 1st to draft a future Koskinen? Being a starter in a couple of years is a laughable assertion to begin with, maybe with Cossa but even then everything will have to go right

 

[McFlash97]

Just goes to show you that fans are never happy. It's kind of funny to see fans who have never watched these guys play go from never wanting to draft a goaltender in the first round to criticizing them for passing on a goaltender.

I think their is some recency bias with Vasilevskiy falling later in the draft. Bourgault was arguably the best forward available but no one seems to care.

For the record Devan Dubnyk was drafted 14th overall in 2004 and took like 6 years before he made it into the league. Meanwhile a guy Claude Giroux was drafted 22nd overall and was an NHL regular in 3 seasons and by his 6th season was a 90 point player.

I'm not saying that this is how its gonna go down but we don't know and this year was a very weird year for prospects.

My guess is that the Oilers prioritized what they've heard from the "boots on the ground" and prioritized what they've heard from coaches, teammates and people that know the players to get a better idea of what their character, commitment, strengths and weakness are and how they see them developing in the future. It's very possible that Wallstedt came across as peaking early, lacking the work ethic or carried by a good Lulea team. Who knows?

The Oilers have no upcoming high potential netminder growing in our system. Our worst depth is goaltending. We decide to draft Lavoie 2.0 when a goaltender falls right into our lap. Its just logic I am parlaying brother. Bourgault better prove frustrated Oiler fans wrong and be a Giroux level propect or even just have 30 goal potential if Wallstedt does pan out, or its going to look the Oilers Oiled again.

 

[CycloneSweep]

My page refreshed and I lost it

The only time guys actually are a factor for their team early in their career as goalies is the incredibly elite guys. Often it takes longer or the goalies bust

For every Price there is a Dubnyk and a couple Chet Pickards

 

[McFlash97]

My page refreshed and I lost it

The only time guys actually are a factor for their team early in their career as goalies is the incredibly elite guys. Often it takes longer or the goalies bust

For every Price there is a Dubnyk and a couple Chet Pickards

How many of these great forward prospects the Oilers have drafted from number 20 to 30 have panned out in the last 2 decades ? Were acting like the Oilers track record drafting in this position is above average. In fact Dubnyk might be one of the best prospects we drafted in the middle to late first round in the last 20 years lol. He is a goalie.

Ouch.

Our track record doesnt leave a lot to be desired. Its horrid.

 

[Beerfish]

I like the player. I think he will be a solid NHL top 6 guy, however, I don't like the pick. We need a goalie badly. Wellstedt unexpectedly drops, perfect, what do we do??? trade the pick. I just don't get why it's so hard to take the goalie we need.

Holland won cups with chirs osgood so by god he is going that route again.

Meanwhile his prodigy yzerman drafted vasilevsky and built tampa and now has drafted cossa for detorit.

 

[McFlash97]

Holland won cups with chirs osgood so by god he is going that route again.

Meanwhile his prodigy yzerman drafted vasilevsky and built tampa and now has drafted cossa for detorit.

pretty much this.

There is no vision with this group. Yzerman saw Cossa falling , and went in and drafted him. While the skeleton huggers in Edmonton were calculating math in their heads.

 

[YEGJuniorFan]

Does anyone know how he compare to Lavoie as far as overall skills and impact in the Q?

 

[McDoused]

The Oilers have no upcoming high potential netminder growing in our system. Our worst depth is goaltending. We decide to draft Lavoie 2.0 when a goaltender falls right into our lap. Its just logic I am parlaying brother. Bourgault better prove frustrated Oiler fans wrong and be a Giroux level propect or even just have 30 goal potential if Wallstedt does pan out, or its going to look the Oilers Oiled again.

Our goaltending depth isn't as bad as people say. We have Skinner, Konovalov and Rodrigue in the system. If Wallstedt was off the board, no one would be clamouring for Benjamin Gaudreau with our pick.

Do you know how many 30 goal scorers their are? The last time we had a full season their was 45 of them. Seems to me you are putting unrealistic expectations on a guy and then demanding that he proves something to you, like it's owed to you. Yet, Wallstedt will be given every chance to succeed and looked at with blinders on because he was ranked higher after a shortened season. Bourgualt and Wallstedt could both bust and Oiler fans would still resent the team for passing on Wallstedt. Truth is, the Oilers didn't go off the board and drafted who they thought was the best forward available because we also lack top end forward prospects. It blow my mind how people can have such strong opinions on guys they have never even seen play.

 

[CycloneSweep]

How many of these great forward prospects the Oilers have drafted from number 20 to 30 have panned out in the last 2 decades ? Were acting like the Oilers track record drafting in this position is above average. In fact Dubnyk might be one of the best prospects we drafted in the middle to late first round in the last 20 years lol. He is a goalie.

Ouch.

Our track record doesnt leave a lot to be desired. Its horrid.

You kidding?
Oilers picks from 20-30 since 2000
Mikhnov 2 games
MAP 192 games
Schreno 114 games
Cogliano 1066 games
Riley Nash 578 games
Eberle 779 games
Yamamoto 105 games

Honorable mention ..
Klefbom 19oa

Hell let's go back another 10 years
Didn't draft 20-30 in those years

So 7 picks in that range, 1 is trending well, Eberle was great, Nash and Cogliano are good journeymen players, 3 busts decades ago.

So a 57% success rate
That's a higher success rate than first round goalies since 2000

From 2000 to 2020
30 goalies drafted in the first round, 11 have played over 200 NHL games, of those who have played less than 200 4 are still in the league/prospects. Subban is one of those and is pretty much a bust Campbell might finally be something? So say 14/30 for a 46% success rate for the entire first round.

Picking a forward in that spot even for the Oilers shitty drafting, we have a better chance at success there than a goalie in the first round does, period

 

[CycloneSweep]

Holland won cups with chirs osgood so by god he is going that route again.

Meanwhile his prodigy yzerman drafted vasilevsky and built tampa and now has drafted cossa for detorit.

Okay?
So Wallstedt is Guarenteed to be a starter? Cause there is a 50% chance of that happening in the first round.

Also from the heavy sounds of it Cossa WAS their guy so he saw what Yzerman saw and didn't see that in Wallstedt, either did Yzerman so maybe this doesn't make the point you think it does

 

[McFlash97]

Our goaltending depth isn't as bad as people say. We have Skinner, Konovalov and Rodrigue in the system. If Wallstedt was off the board, no one would be clamouring for Benjamin Gaudreau with our pick.

Do you know how many 30 goal scorers their are? The last time we had a full season their was 45 of them. Seems to me you are putting unrealistic expectations on a guy and then demanding that he proves something to you, like it's owed to you. Yet, Wallstedt will be given every chance to succeed and looked at with blinders on because he was ranked higher after a shortened season. Bourgualt and Wallstedt could both bust and Oiler fans would still resent the team for passing on Wallstedt. Truth is, the Oilers didn't go off the board and drafted who they thought was the best forward available because we also lack top end forward prospects. It blow my mind how people can have such strong opinions on guys they have never even seen play.

No one is trashing Bourgault. If you look at my comment. It basically tells you , IF Wallstedt pans out into a starting netminder in the NHL then Bourgault should be on par or dam good forward. Or its considered a bust move. Goaltending is more of a need here then another secondary scorer , most of whom we have busted on going decades back. Just look at our track record in the late first roundpicking forwards. Its horrid.

 

[McFlash97]

You kidding?
Oilers picks from 20-30 since 2000
Mikhnov 2 games
MAP 192 games
Schreno 114 games
Cogliano 1066 games
Riley Nash 578 games
Eberle 779 games
Yamamoto 105 games

Honorable mention ..
Klefbom 19oa

Hell let's go back another 10 years
Didn't draft 20-30 in those years

So 7 picks in that range, 1 is trending well, Eberle was great, Nash and Cogliano are good journeymen players, 3 busts decades ago.

So a 57% success rate
That's a higher success rate than first round goalies since 2000

From 2000 to 2020
30 goalies drafted in the first round, 11 have played over 200 NHL games, of those who have played less than 200 4 are still in the league/prospects. Subban is one of those and is pretty much a bust Campbell might finally be something? So say 14/30 for a 46% success rate for the entire first round.

Picking a forward in that spot even for the Oilers shitty drafting, we have a better chance at success there than a goalie in the first round does, period

Lets do this

The bolded are either trash because they never wanted to play here to begin with or still putting up garbage numbers being spoonfed playing on the top 2 lines or just plain were bad NHL players

we are batting 28 %

if you want to reach and include Yamamoto: thats 42 %


Now we drafted Dubnyk who ended up playing some good hockey for us before losing confidence behind one of the worst defensive cores of all time and then was a vezina runner up for Minny at one point.

We are betting 100 % 1 for 1.

see I can do that too

 

[Beerfish]

Okay?
So Wallstedt is Guarenteed to be a starter? Cause there is a 50% chance of that happening in the first round.

Also from the heavy sounds of it Cossa WAS their guy so he saw what Yzerman saw and didn't see that in Wallstedt, either did Yzerman so maybe this doesn't make the point you think it does

NO ONE IS GUARANTEED TO BE A STARTER OR WORK OUT.

If you refuse to draft top prospects at the position your changes are lessened to get a franchise guy.

I'll take Steve yzermans method over ken hollands thank you very much. Hell yzermans just went out and got a goalie and then drafted another one. Its the most important postilion on a team in an ongoing basis. The oilers treat it as an after thought.

 

[Mickelsnitz]

What I’m interested to see going forward is if prospect development of the organization has improved. Draft picks are a crap shoot outside of the first half of round 1. I really believe we need to get better at developing our assets. Be it through utilization in the minors, player specific training or whatever. Oilers have been pretty bunk at this last forever. High profile D coming and some forward prospects as well.
Man I’d like this team to figure out player development.

 

[CycloneSweep]

NO ONE IS GUARANTEED TO BE A STARTER OR WORK OUT.

If you refuse to draft top prospects at the position your changes are lessened to get a franchise guy.

I'll take Steve yzermans method over ken hollands thank you very much. Hell yzermans just went out and got a goalie and then drafted another one. Its the most important postilion on a team in an ongoing basis. The oilers treat it as an after thought.

Very few teams draft goalies in the first round. Almost all teams use later round picks for them

 

[Tobias Kahun]

NO ONE IS GUARANTEED TO BE A STARTER OR WORK OUT.

If you refuse to draft top prospects at the position your changes are lessened to get a franchise guy.

I'll take Steve yzermans method over ken hollands thank you very much. Hell yzermans just went out and got a goalie and then drafted another one. Its the most important postilion on a team in an ongoing basis. The oilers treat it as an after thought.

Its unfortunate that Holland didn't draft Cossa.