If the Oilers drafted the next player in each draft, would they be better?

[Kamiccolo]

So I was thinking.. Say they drafted the guy AFTER their pick instead, would the be a better team. I started in 2010 as that was the start of their rebuild really.

Seguin
Landeskog
Ryan Murray
Ristolainen
Bennett

Would they be a better team for the future with these players? They would have two high end centers, a potential top pairing, and a great heart and soul winger.

Click to read more...

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Assuming those players turned out the same, obviously.

But chances are, they wouldn't develop into the players they are today if they were with the Oilers.

 

[Brooklanders*]

So I was thinking.. Say they drafted the guy AFTER their pick instead, would the be a better team. I started in 2010 as that was the start of their rebuild really.

Seguin
Landeskog
Ryan Murray
Ristolainen
Bennett

Would they be a better team for the future with these players? They would have two high end centers, a potential top pairing, and a great heart and soul winger.

If the Oilers had listened to me they would have been a playoff team with potential to advance.

 

[Bps21*]

I feel comfortable enough concluding they wouldn't be worse.

Though, to be fair, you could have listed 5 fictional names you pulled out of a hat and the odds would still be decent that they wouldn't be worse.

 

[Frank the Tank]

What a new concept for a thread. As of now, the Oilers would have two players on the IR and the same problem of having young players in Seguin and Landeskog trying to drive the offense by themselves. They would perform no better than Hall and RNH with the current line-up. If you want to be a Monday morning QB, look at the poor drafting in the later rounds.

 

[Sarcastic]

Okay what about the rest of the team? This hypothetical is stupid because it assumes everything outside of the switched out players in each year remains constant which it won't as well as magnifying the performances of each rookie as the key to making the Oilers suddenly better.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

So I was thinking.. Say they drafted the guy AFTER their pick instead, would the be a better team. I started in 2010 as that was the start of their rebuild really.

Seguin
Landeskog
Ryan Murray
Ristolainen
Bennett

Would they be a better team for the future with these players? They would have two high end centers, a potential top pairing, and a great heart and soul winger.

Most likely yes. That looks very solid foundation for a good team.

 

[aufheben]

What is the obsession with the Oilers?

 

[FireBurningBin]

Assuming the players they would have picked turned out the same, yes.
But I don't think the difference between Seguin/Landeskog/Murray/Ristolainen is that much better than Hall/RNH/Yakupov/Nurse, to the extent that it would make them a playoff team.

Edmonton's problems are everything surrounding their top picks.

 

[Kamiccolo]

What is the obsession with the Oilers?

It's probably the first time in NHL history a team can pick first OA like 4 years in a row, should have been 5 without the short season, and STILL be the worst team in the NHL.

 

[Bob b smith]

What is the obsession with the Oilers?

Today? Probably the fact they've just completed an epic collapse a few minutes ago. With a bit more than 20 minutes to play at home vs the Star winning 5-2 to finish with a 6-5 loss. It looks like they'll be the odds on favorite to get McDavid.

 

[Mr Tadakichi]

Today? Probably the fact they've just completed an epic collapse a few minutes ago. With a bit more than 20 minutes to play at home vs the Star winning 5-2 to finish with a 6-5 loss. It looks like they'll be the odds on favorite to get McDavid.

It wasn't an epic collapse; it was just typical Oilers.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Don't forget Voracek and Ryan Ellis.

Eberle is better than Tyler Cuma so they got that going for them at least.

 

[WarriorofTime]

This just goes into how difficult it is to do what the Oilers have done. They've had to almost literally do everything wrong since Pronger leff.

 

[McAsuno]

You can argue with those who should have they taken, but the supporting cast in Edmonton has been an absolute gongshow. Would Seguin even be able to handle this crap, like Hall has, if he was selected instead of Hall? You can also see how "great" the oilers scouts has been outside the first round. They drafted Musil over the likes of Saad, Jenner, Kucherov, etc in the 2nd round, because dad's a good ol scout for the oilers. Results? All of those players are producing for their teams in the NHL. Musil's not even close to being nhl ready. Give me a break with this annual "if the oilers drafted ____ other than ___ in the first round."

 

[Gene Parmesan]

No because they still have to learn how to play as a team. A bunch of individually talented players doesn't mean you will have a great team.

 

[KCC]

No because they still have to learn how to play as a team. A bunch of individually talented players doesn't mean you will have a great team.

The supporting cast is a gong show though as the above poster mentioned. It's all about the supporting cast and I've been saying it since day 1. Drafted who they were supposed to (at least in the first round) and then threw the kids to the wolves. You need to give them the talent around them to succeed. They've had to do it all on their own and it doesn't work that way during a rebuild unless you get a generation type player. At least that's what some people seem to believe.

 

[Aceonfire*]

Cool.

Let's pick apart every teams prior drafts in hindsight to see if they would perform better.

They took the BPA every time.

You can argue Nurse/Risto but Nurse has been doing great. Either one wouldn't be helping the Oilers right now though.

It was the Oilers drafting in the later rounds and poor asset management and development that should be questioned.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Cool.

Let's pick apart every teams prior drafts in hindsight to see if they would perform better.

They took the BPA every time.

You can argue Nurse/Risto but Nurse has been doing great. Either one wouldn't be helping the Oilers right now though.

It was the Oilers drafting in the later rounds and poor asset management and development that should be questioned.

I'm not doing that though. You can do that for every league in the NHL. See if they took the next player after instead of the one they took, if they would be in better shape or not.

It can show the quality of drafting.

 

[Aceonfire*]

I'm not doing that though. You can do that for every league in the NHL. See if they took the next player after instead of the one they took, if they would be in better shape or not.

It can show the quality of drafting.

But this is why we need another all encompassing Oiler thread. It seems like after every loss 2-3 more threads start up about the team.

And like I posted before, how does it show the quality of drafting when nearly every time they took the BPA?

That doesn't make sense at all.

It certainly shows the quality of the teams player development though.

 

[Sarcastic]

I'm not doing that though. You can do that for every league in the NHL. See if they took the next player after instead of the one they took, if they would be in better shape or not.

It can show the quality of drafting.

One player doesn't make a team which you fail to acknowledge. It doesn't matter who the Oilers picked if the rest of the roster was still garbage as it is now. Crosby and the Penguins sucked their way to 29th place his first season.

 

[Kamiccolo]

But this is why we need another all encompassing Oiler thread. It seems like after every loss 2-3 more threads start up about the team.

And like I posted before, how does it show the quality of drafting when nearly every time they took the BPA?

That doesn't make sense at all.

It certainly shows the quality of the teams player development though.

BPA to who? A team with better scouting or worse will have their own BPA. For example, Carolina taking a D with their pick and passing on Ehlers, Nylander etc this last draft. He wasn't the BPA

Also it's not like those pieces were moved, so people can even go with the "what ifs". The team would be no different if they picked the other guys, except swap out the core.

I'm asking if the core of guys picked right after is better.

 

[Kamiccolo]

One player doesn't make a team which you fail to acknowledge. It doesn't matter who the Oilers picked if the rest of the roster was still garbage as it is now. Crosby and the Penguins sucked their way to 29th place his first season.

Right, but now Pitts has/had

Crosby
Malkin
Fleury
Staal

What if they had picked

Bobby Ryan
Cam barker
Eric Staal
Toews

Instead?

Big difference there. That's the point I am making.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Right, but now Pitts has/had

Crosby
Malkin
Fleury
Staal

What if they had picked

Bobby Ryan
Cam barker
Eric Staal
Toews

Instead?

Big difference there. That's the point I am making.

Crosby and Malkin were gimmes. The other two would have improved their team.

 

[viceroy]

But chances are, they wouldn't develop into the players they are today if they were with the Oilers.

Agreed. Are Katz-Lowe-MacTavish-Eakins running the show when they got them? Then a big fat nope to the OP's question. No system, no discipline, no support staff, entitling young kids with no effort required on their part and bad habits not denounced or punished.

Better players but a gong show nevertheless.