I feel that the Oilers are unfairly criticized for their drafting

[Kamiccolo]

Lets start off by saying I am NOT talking about the poor drafting after the first round. This thread is specifically about their first rounders over the last several years. I will also not include any picks from McDavid - present as it defeats the purpose of this thread.

So it seems to be a common theme in the hockey world whenever the Oilers got a draft pick it was "Another forward? When are they going to take a defensemen??". Yes the most common thing we here "You always take the BPA regardless of need".

I want to make the argument that in theory, their drafting choices were fine, because had their picks developed as they planned, their current situation would be a lot different.

I started thinking about this with the Leafs. A young team, lots of young forwards and forward depth, lacking high end D. They do not look to be in a spot to draft a top D in the first few picks yet barring a lottery win. If you are the GM, if you do not feel there are any D better than the forwards, does it not make sense to take another forward and hope to move them later?

So lets look at how these guys were viewed.

Hall was going to be a top of the league winger.
RNH was looked to be a #1 C
Yakupov was looked at to be a 35 goal scoring winger in the mold of an Ovi-lite.
They then took a D in Nurse when they felt the potential was there
Draisatl had far more potential than the next projected D in Fleury and looked like a top C.

I don't feel that there were any different draft moves they could have made here aside from these picks. Sure, an argument can be made that development caused them to not reach their potential, but to say they drafted wrong like it seems to be as common " You will be the next Oilers" is unjustified.

Had these picks hit their projections, not only would they be a better team, but they would also have gotten a better return for D than Larsson for Hall (Not trying to open this can of worms, but it was rumored a Jones for RNH was rumored, which was turned down by the preds.)

So I question those of you critical of their drafting strategy, what more could they have done? At the times, they made all the appropriate picks, they did everything right. Why is there a seemingly double standard towards them for drafting mostly forwards with high picks vs other teams who do not get this treatment?

Does anyone believe if they reached for D, they would have been better? No one will trade a young top pairing potential D for a draft pick. So it's not like they could have moved the pick for a player who fit their rebuild.

Please keep in mind hindsight is not helpful in saying they should have drafted someone else. I believe they took the consensus guy each and every year.

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[A91]

Good post, nice to see other fans realizing we took BPA every time in those situations (Nurse is debatable).
Really our development has been lacklustre, people dont realize the negative effect Dallas Eakins had on this club, EVERYBODY regressed under him. Hall was the only one who improved/stayed consistent.

 

[The Macho King]

I mean - I think they get more **** for their development than their drafting. I don't remember any pick that was significantly "off the board".

RNH was seen as a weak #1, but its not like the other options were much better that year. Crap, he's still probably the 1st or 2nd best player drafted in the first round that year.

Yakupov is pretty much the same deal. Galchenyuk is the only one that has really developed well (and Reilly, I suppose although I'm not as high on him as Leafs fans), but he would have been a bit of a reach at 1 considering he barely played his draft year.

And I've never heard anyone really criticize the Hall pick beyond "maybe should have picked Seguin instead".

 

[hohosaregood]

How bout the rest of their drafts?

 

[Crede777]

The "they should have taken a D" argument is a bit overblown.

The problem with the Oilers is and has been four things:

1. Coaching/Systems issues. Poor personnel decisions (prior to McLellan) and a lack of accountability.
2. Poor drafting outside the 1st.
3. Player expectations. Again, until recently, either players were reluctant to sign there or accept trades there (meaning they had to overpay) and once they arrived it seems like players didn't give full efforts.
4. Development of young players. This plays into #1 and #3.

One could argue the Oilers should have packaged one of their top picks for a young defenseman. They essentially ended up doing this when they traded Hall for Larsson.

 

[Rugbyplayer*]

Why was Dallas Eakins so bad?

 

[Mike Jones]

When it comes to the Oilers' record at the draft table I've been critical of two things:

1) When they get past the first round they haven't drafted enough defensemen and goalies in rounds 2-3. While first round picks usually go BPA those next couple of choices can be used to balance out the positional needs.

2) They're track record past round 1 is terrible and that points to (As someone has already mentioned) scouting, development and leadership issues within the organization.

The Oilers basically blew a rebuild (Perhaps the equivalent of two) at the draft table and deserved all the criticism they received.

 

[A91]

How bout the rest of their drafts?

2007 - Gagner at 6th was an average pick, solid NHLer.
2008 - Eberle at 22 was a great pick
2009 - MPS busted, was a highly touted prospect, not off the board as most mock drafts had him going earlier than 9th overall. Game just couldnt translate to the NHL.

 

[Butch 19]

Come on, it just makes you wonder what any competent management team could do with that many top 5 picks.

There are teams out there that have never had a #1 pick, or just a few - spread out over many years.

No team in my lifetime has got so much "drafting luck" and then kept failing. Imagine the threads if Phx, Florida or other southern team had all these top 5 players drop in their lap and they still sucked.

They've earned their criticism.

 

[SprDaVE]

There are more rounds in a draft than the first one. That's been their problem for a long time now.

Atrocious drafting no matter how you look at it. (And yes, I know which team I root for and I know their situation of the last 2 decades.)

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Problem there is the coach. TM isn't a very good coach at all, people are finally starting to realize it. RNH/Eberle should be producing much more than they are, they still look lost defensively and the constant line juggling doesn't help at all.

 

[A91]

Come on, it just makes you wonder what any competent management team could do with that many top 5 picks.

There are teams out there that have never had a #1 pick, or just a few - spread out over many years.

No team in my lifetime has got so much "drafting luck" and then kept failing. Imagine the threads if Phx, Florida or other southern team had all these top 5 players drop in their lap and they still sucked.

They've earned their criticism.

Florida has had a lot of top 5 picks dont kid yourself...

2014 - 1st
2013 - 2nd (Barkov is better than anyone in 2011 and 2012 drafts)
2011 - 3rd
2010 - 3rd

 

[bleedblue1223]

Their development has been awful, the drafting was just unlucky to suck during years with meh drafts at the top.

Sometimes you get lucky like Pittsburgh and come away with generational level guys, and sometimes you suck and get unlucky with an Erik Johnson, RNH, Nail Yakupov, etc. Drafting at the top when you suck is pure luck, you just have to hope you suck in the year that has a good draft class.

 

[Yamborghini]

I mean - I think they get more **** for their development than their drafting. I don't remember any pick that was significantly "off the board".

RNH was seen as a weak #1, but its not like the other options were much better that year. Crap, he's still probably the 1st or 2nd best player drafted in the first round that year.

Yakupov is pretty much the same deal. Galchenyuk is the only one that has really developed well (and Reilly, I suppose although I'm not as high on him as Leafs fans), but he would have been a bit of a reach at 1 considering he barely played his draft year.

And I've never heard anyone really criticize the Hall pick beyond "maybe should have picked Seguin instead".

I generally agree except for the things I bolded.

Obviously hindsight is 20/20 so only some of these were viable #1 pick options, but I would (now) take Landeskog, Larsson, Scheifele, Gibson (2nd rd.), and Gaudreau (4th) over RNH. EDIT: Realize now you said in the first round. Definitely a fair debate to be had.

Out of the viable options at the time of the Yak draft, they probably should have taken Murray or traded down to ~4th and taken either Rielly or Lindholm.

I'm nitpicking, but generally I agree with the premise of this thread. The draft choices themselves aren't really the problem, it's the development mostly. That being said, some courageous trade-downs from first overall could have really helped things.

 

[Butch 19]

Florida has had a lot of top 5 picks dont kid yourself...

2014 - 1st
2013 - 2nd (Barkov is better than anyone in 2011 and 2012 drafts)
2011 - 3rd
2010 - 3rd

they've also made the playoffs and had success there recently.

And really, only one #1?? add a few more and we'll talk.

 

[djdub]

They should have taken Murray over Yakupov. Apprently the club wanted to do just that but were vetoed by the owner, Katz.

A fair argument can be made that they should have taken Larsson instead of RNH as well, that would of been a bit of a reach but they sorely needed D men at the time (But yes, they also did need centers).

 

[CornKicker]

Why was Dallas Eakins so bad?

do you like to read novels?


if not coles notes

- he tried to come in with a sword and change the whole culture of a team from the dressing room to the ice
- he rubbed everyone the wrong way
- he tried to use an "innovative" defensive system that 1. was a complete disaster and 2. forced young skill player to adapt to.
- he believed he was smarter than everyone else
- played players where he wanted and felt they should be instead of catering to their strengths (think quenville asking kane to play a 4th line checking role)
- his tirades with the stars of the team (hall water bottle incident)

this could go on forever tbh.

the only caveat i will give is the GM at the time gave him garbage to work with as well.

 

[CornKicker]

they've also made the playoffs and had success there recently.

And really, only one #1?? add a few more and we'll talk.

that was a product of the draft lottery, not the oilers. they only finished dead last x2. yakupov was a lottery win, mcdavid was a lottery win

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

You can tell when this teams PP is doing well they are very mobile. The defense wasn't moving much at all on the PP last couple of games. Crisp simple passes and lots of foot work.

 

[djdub]

Problem there is the coach. TM isn't a very good coach at all, people are finally starting to realize it. RNH/Eberle should be producing much more than they are, they still look lost defensively and the constant line juggling doesn't help at all.

Not trying to derail this thread but I have to address this moronic post from a Leafs fan who has just come out to the peanut gallery because of a Leafs win last night against the Oilers.

The Oilers have held their division lead and 2nd place in the West until yesterday. For the first time in how long? A decade or more at least?

Give me a break, these guys under performing is not the coaches the fault. That solely rests at their feet.

 

[Hennessy]

I've heard few complaints about their drafting other than people annoyed with all the firsts they got. Mostly the bash has been on the development of those riches.

 

[A91]

they've also made the playoffs and had success there recently.

And really, only one #1?? add a few more and we'll talk.

After being proven wrong you bring up success, nice.

They got a #1 Dman in 2014, Oilers never had that luxury.
Barkov is a 2-way big #1C thats better than any 1st overall we selected ignoring 97.
Huberdeau, Landeskog, Larsson and RNH were pretty close in 2011.
2010 they got the short end of the stick for sure.

Truth is the 2011 and 2012 draft lacked true elite talent. If the Oilers had drafted from 2007-2010 and had Kane, Tavares, Stamkos and Hall I promise the rebuild would have been over long ago.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

What about non-first round picks? For a long time, (just like my Flames), they had very little success from prospects taken outside the 1st.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

After being proven wrong you bring up success, nice.

They got a #1 Dman in 2014, Oilers never had that luxury.
Barkov is a 2-way big #1C thats better than any 1st overall we selected ignoring 97.
Huberdeau, Landeskog, Larsson and RNH were pretty close in 2011.
2010 they got the short end of the stick for sure.

Truth is the 2011 and 2012 draft lacked true elite talent. If the Oilers had drafted from 2007-2010 and had Kane, Tavares, Stamkos and Hall I promise the rebuild would have been over long ago.

That's one of the whiniest posts I think I've ever seen on HF.

I'm not convinced some of those players have as much success in Edmonton as they have elsewhere. Development has still been a key problem.

 

[A91]

Problem there is the coach. TM isn't a very good coach at all, people are finally starting to realize it. RNH/Eberle should be producing much more than they are, they still look lost defensively and the constant line juggling doesn't help at all.

This opinion is 50/50 on the Oilers boards. I am in the 50% who agree that Tmac is very overrated, everything you said is true just not coaching well enough.