Look back at Oilers 3 first overall picks #2

[CornKicker]

if we look at the 2007 draft where we took gagner, plante and nash. if that were changed to Ryan McDonaugh, Max Pacioretty and PK Subban we probably arent in the spot we are right now.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

RNH all day...I can't imagine our center depth without him

RNH is only 20...20! this guy has so much room to grow and once he fills out his frame he's gonna be excellent
he's probably gonna finish with 20 goals and 65 points...that's pretty darn good!

 

[ekcut]

When they picked Hall instead of Seguin, it became clear that they had to pick a center the next year, and the Nuge was the best one available.


Given those two picks over again, I'd rather have Seguin-Landeskog than Hall-RNH, though.

My thinking I the same, in that who you take with the 2nd pick, depends on who you took with the 1st.
That said, I cant decide if I prefer Hall&RNH or Seguin&Landeskog...

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

RNH still.

 

[SoftDumps]

RNH. Probably even more important to this team than Hall down the road. Very cerebral player, not even close to his potential yet.

Furthermore, after picking a winger the year previous, Landy was definitely off the table.

 

[ManByng]

i'd pick a center every time! he's not big, but Nuge is the best center we've had here since Doug Weight.

 

[oilers_guy_eddie]

i'd pick a center every time! he's not big, but Nuge is the best center we've had here since Doug Weight.

Talk about damning by faint praise.

And that, by the way, is one of the things that has really bugged me about Kevin Lowe's direction for this franchise. You'd think a guy who played most of his career with guys like Gretzky and Messier would understand the importance of the center ice postion, but Lowe just doesn't get it.

We were, briefly in 2006, pretty strong at center with Horcoff, Stoll, Peca, and Reasoner/Murray all being capable of playing against anybody, but even then none of those guys were legit offensive threats. Since then, we've had Horcoff along with various combinations of midgets, plugs, grinders, rookies, gimps, and failed experiments.

Even after 2006 when Lowe was running around with his checkbook chasing big-name players, none of the guys he pursued was a center. Unless you cound Mikhail Nylander as a big name player, and thank goodness we didn't succeed in signing that guy because he was washed up.

So yes, it's great that RNH looks to be developing into a top-line center. And if he gets there, it'll be awesome because we haven't really had one for over 12 years.