Holland/Wright the Worst Drafting Duo of the Century?

[Spawn]

Larkin makes up for all of it

Is he gonna get traded to Edmonton?

Cause it sure as shit ain’t worth it for Oiler fans lol

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Is he gonna get traded to Edmonton?

Cause it sure as shit ain’t worth it for Oiler fans lol

You make a fair point...

Larkin for McDavid!

 

[Lacaar]

The Oilers incredibly bad drafting outside of lottery picks basically since the beginning of the Decade of Darkness is why they haven't already won the cup with McDavid.

It's true. The Oilers are dogshit drafters and have been for decades.

I have no explanation why. Maybe they don't spend in that area.

As of Today the Oilers have 3 players on the team that weren't drafted top ten. Ok there's a fine line where we want to draw as Bouchard was drafted 10th. And they don't really move the dial at all.

That leaves
1. Ryan Mcleod - very fast player that does not physically engage with absolutely no consistency. He's good for a bit and non existent for stretches.

2. Dylan Holloway - That player that looks good and accomplishes nothing of significance. Hasn't improved since his first day in the NHL for the most part.

3. Vincent Desharnais - A fan favorite. We love his approach to the game, his compete and work ethic. But the reality is he's a 6th d-man who is 27 years old. He's still improving in steps though.

That's it. Well Stuart Skinner is a good pick but I feel goalies are just a different song and dance all together. That and this is the first drafted goalie that has pissed a drop for the team in years? decades?

I think it will be the number 1 reason if they don't win a cup. They can't find players beyond the first 10 picks that really move the needle for them. They've got two players treading water and one that can't stay in the pool.

Being on this board for years I used to love reading and hoping for Oiler draft picks. But over the decades I've become jaded and accept that this team is a f***ing disaster at the draft floor.

My only hope is they know it as well. Hence all the the internal stuff that went down last summer. Then again they've done this over and over again. Fire staff... draft shit.. repeat.

 

[Ezpz]

Tinordi isn't even AHL good. We're just that bad.

He's still on pace to collect his nhlpa pension which seemed laughable a couple years ago.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Larkin makes up for all of it

What Pastrnak was still on the board?

 

[Zarzh]

Sakic is the worst and it's not close. At most you can give him credit for not passing on the consensus picks in Makar/Rantanen.

 

[Toene]

Habs scouting is even worst. Check from 2008-2021.

No, it's not. It's bad, but not Holland-bad. Active NHLers, since 2014, without counting '22 and '23 :
Juulsen, Sergachev, Evans, Poehling. Kotkaniemi, Ylonen, Struble, Harris, Caufield, Pezzetta, RHP, Guhle
Off the top of my head.

And a bunch of guys from 2019 to 2023 that are promising.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

Sakic is the worst and it's not close. At most you can give him credit for not passing on the consensus picks in Makar/Rantanen.

During his 9 years as GM, he picked 3 times in the top 5 and got two of the top 3 players in the NHL today, plus Byram. And he also made the single best 10 OA pick since Selanne in 1988. I agree he hasn't done much beyond those 4 guys, but there's teams out there that would kill to have drafted any single one of them, let alone all 4.

 

[Zarzh]

During his 9 years as GM, he picked 3 times in the top 5 and got two of the top 3 players in the NHL today, plus Byram. And he also made the single best 10 OA pick since Selanne in 1988. I agree he hasn't done much beyond those 4 guys, but there's teams out there that would kill to have drafted any single one of them, let alone all 4.

I don't think he deserves credit for making the consensus pick when a 10 year old would have made the same pick.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

I don't think he deserves credit for making the consensus pick when a 10 year old would have made the same pick.

I think an empty net goal still counts the same as any other goal. It might be easier, but you still need to puck the puck in the net. A truly bad GM would have found a way to Stefan those tap ins.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The Oilers have probably had the worst drafting in the league for the past 30 years.

Holland has made it worse.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

What Pastrnak was still on the board?

Pasta was 22 on McKenzie's list, 25 on Button's, 23 on THN's, 33 on ISS, 17 on HockeyProspect, and 25th on McKeen's list.

There's plenty to criticize Holland for. Picking a stud (Larkin) who developed to be better than his draft position over an even better player (Pasta) who was ranked well below Detroit's pick range is not one of them.

If Pasta was ranked in the teens and Holland blew that pick on a shit player, sure.

 

[zar]

Their pro scouting is no better… FML!

Actually, might be worse.

The Oilers have probably had the worst drafting in the league for the past 30 years.

Holland has made it worse.

40 years. They had arguably the best drafting ever during their first few years in the league, best back to back draft classes without a doubt, then they have absolutely shit the bed. Just brutal.

 

[Lolonegoal]

Habs scouting is even worst. Check from 2008-2021.

Bergevin/Timmins is unrivalled

Doesn't seem comparable:

Gallagher (147th overall) - 731 GP, 413 pts
Beaulieu (17th overall) - 471 GP, 98 pts
Hudon (122th overall) - 134 GP, 41 pts
Galchenyuk (3rd overall) - 654 GP, 354 pts
Lehkonen (55th overall) - 504 GP, 229 pts
Evans (207th overall) - 247 GP, 84 points
Segachev (9th overall) - 475 GP, 257 points
Mete (100th overall) 248 GP, 45 pts
Pezzetta (160th overall) 158 GP, 36 points
Poehling (25th overall) 196 GP, 56 points
Primeau (199th overall) 35 GP, likely Habs back-up for the next few years
Kotkaniemi (3rd overall) 302 GP, 155 pts
Ylonen (35th overall) 101 GP, 28 pts
Romanov (38th overall) 268 GP, 55 pts
Harris (71th overall) 112 GP, 26 pts

So there's quiet a few of late round steals there. Not stars, but getting a guy like Evans or Gallagher late is a huge win. Their big mistakes are their high picks, but they were unforunate to pick high when they did. Sure they could have picked Brady instead of KK, but the 5th and 6th picks were Hayton and Zadina, and the surprise was that they didn't pick Zadina, not Thachuk. Galchenyuk is still the 5th highest scoring player from that draft, he was the consensus pick and the player drafted after him was Griffin Reinhart. I wouldn't really attribute these too too much to scouting errors.

Then of course, poor asset management. They traded away the good picks, so we don't associate them much with the team. But Sergachev and Romanov are great defenseman and Lehkonen is flourishing in Colorado. At least they turned Romanov into Dach. But most significantly, other than the flops on the top 3 players, they were drafting pretty late in the 1st because the team was making the playoffs. They drafted in the top 16 three times during that time period, and picked in the top 25 six times over a decade.

You also handpicked a time frame immediately after they drafted Subban, Pacioretty and McDonagh in one year, and a year prior to drafting Caufield and other roster players in Struble, Harvey-Pinard and Guhle and Roy, and some other prospects that are likely to be NHLers like Mailloux and Farrell. Same scouting team and management, so no other reason why to do that other than make your point look better. Definitely not worse than Holland.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Doesn't seem comparable:

Gallagher (147th overall) - 731 GP, 413 pts
Beaulieu (17th overall) - 471 GP, 98 pts
Hudon (122th overall) - 134 GP, 41 pts
Galchenyuk (3rd overall) - 654 GP, 354 pts
Lehkonen (55th overall) - 504 GP, 229 pts
Evans (207th overall) - 247 GP, 84 points
Segachev (9th overall) - 475 GP, 257 points
Mete (100th overall) 248 GP, 45 pts
Pezzetta (160th overall) 158 GP, 36 points
Poehling (25th overall) 196 GP, 56 points
Primeau (199th overall) 35 GP, likely Habs back-up for the next few years
Kotkaniemi (3rd overall) 302 GP, 155 pts
Ylonen (35th overall) 101 GP, 28 pts
Romanov (38th overall) 268 GP, 55 pts
Harris (71th overall) 112 GP, 26 pts

So there's quiet a few of late round steals there. Not stars, but getting a guy like Evans or Gallagher late is a huge win. Their big mistakes are their high picks, but they were unforunate to pick high when they did. Sure they could have picked Brady instead of KK, but the 5th and 6th picks were Hayton and Zadina, and the surprise was that they didn't pick Zadina, not Thachuk. Galchenyuk is still the 5th highest scoring player from that draft, he was the consensus pick and the player drafted after him was Griffin Reinhart. I wouldn't really attribute these too too much to scouting errors.

Then of course, poor asset management. They traded away the good picks, so we don't associate them much with the team. But Sergachev and Romanov are great defenseman and Lehkonen is flourishing in Colorado. At least they turned Romanov into Dach. But most significantly, other than the flops on the top 3 players, they were drafting pretty late in the 1st because the team was making the playoffs. They drafted in the top 16 three times during that time period, and picked in the top 25 six times over a decade.

You also handpicked a time frame immediately after they drafted Subban, Pacioretty and McDonagh in one year, and a year prior to drafting Caufield and other roster players in Struble, Harvey-Pinard and Guhle and Roy, and some other prospects that are likely to be NHLers like Mailloux and Farrell. Same scouting team and management, so no other reason why to do that other than make your point look better. Definitely not worse than Holland.

Galchenyuk was a bad pick. Rielly and Forsberg were still on the board

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

I'd say Columbus has been the worst since they entered the league

 

[Lolonegoal]

Galchenyuk was a bad pick. Rielly and Forsberg were still on the board

Forsberg was picked 8 picks later at 11th. There was no world where they were taking him. McKenzie also had Reilley at 8th. A lot of people were surprised he was taken over Dumba.

 

[logan5]

Benning and whoever drafted Virtanen at #6 overall in 2014 and Juolevi at #5 overall in 2016. Two big busts that make (or made) him the worst drafter in the league.

 

[12ozPapa]

Wright isn’t in EDM anymore, right?

 

[GrumpyKoala]

The odds at drafting players that get to play at the nhl level is quite lower than most of us think they are.

Less than 25% of all second rounder play a single game.
Less than 12% of all third rounder see any nhl time.

I don't know the stats by heart for playing a season or more but they are quite abysmal

 

[GrumpyKoala]

No, it's not. It's bad, but not Holland-bad. Active NHLers, since 2014, without counting '22 and '23 :
Juulsen, Sergachev, Evans, Poehling. Kotkaniemi, Ylonen, Struble, Harris, Caufield, Pezzetta, RHP, Guhle
Off the top of my head.

And a bunch of guys from 2019 to 2023 that are promising.

Not to disagree with the initial statement specifically but at least half if not 2/3 of thoses guys wouldn't had make it past training camp if drafted by the Oilers in the Holland era

Ok maybe not half - 2/3 but you get the essence.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Wright isn’t in EDM anymore, right?

No,,,fired in August