Oilers drafting history

yababy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2015
3,441
828
this is where it all starts to go wrong.

I won't get into how poor the 2nd round and later picks are - focus on the long history of 1st round failures.
1st round is supposed to be where a team can find the most success at picking an NHL player

1982 Jim Playfair (20)
1983 Jeff Beukaboom (19)
1984 Selmar Odelien (21)
1985 Scott Metcalff (20)
1986 Kim Issel (21)
1987 Peter Soberlak (21)
1988 Francois Leroux (19)
1989 Jason Soules (15)
1990 Scott Allison (17)

Here is where it starts to look horrible (high picks)
1991 Tyler Wright (12), Martin Rucinsky (20)
1992 Joe Hulbig (13)
1993 Jason Arnott (7), Nick Stajuhar (16)
1994 Jason Bonsignore (4), Ryan Smyth (6)
1995 Steve Kelly (6)
1996 Boyd Devereaux (6), Matthieu Descoteaux (19)
1997 Michel Riesen (14)
1998 Michael Henrich (13)
1999 Jani Rita (13)
2000 Alexei Mikhnov (13)
2001 Ales Hemsky (13)
2002 Jesse Niniimaki (15)
2003 Marc-Antoine Pouliot (22)
2004 Devan Dubnyk (14), Rob Schremp (25)
2005 Andrew Cogliano (25)
2006
2007 Sam Gagner (6), Alex Plante (15), Riley Nash (21)
2008 Jordan Eberle (22)
2009 Magnus Pajaarvi (10)
2010 Taylor Hall (1)
2011 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1)
2012 Nail Yakupov (1)
2013 Darnell Nurse (7)
2014 Leon Draisaitl (3)
2015 Connor McDavid (1)
2016 Jesse Puljujarvi (4)
2017 Kailer Yamamoto (22)
2018 Evan Bouchard (10)

Beukaboom, Arnott, Smyth, Hemsky, Cogliano,, Eberle, Hall, Draisaitl, McDavid
Are all on par with expectations.
Every other player is well below or bust.
That's 9/44 success rate

2007 a particularly brain dead year. 3 picks are supposed to set up Edmonton for a decade

No wonder this team has been horrible for so long.
Check the draft history
 
  • Like
Reactions: Game 8

missinthejets

Registered User
Dec 24, 2005
4,734
618
Being too harsh on some picks as well. RNH is fine when you look at the other guys taken around that spot he matches up with them, Nurse is a top 4 D and still young enough to improve so his pick isn't a bust either. Still too early on the guys after McDavid as well in my mind. Also, 2007 they got 2 guys who had long NHL careers, Nash never played in Edmonton but that doesn't mean the pick was totally useless, and Gagner is an OK player, just more of a complimentary player than a driver. Not the best pick but not the worst pick either. Wasn't the greatest draft that year so can't be TOO harsh on it. Hell even Dubnyk eventually looked like a decent pick, just wasn't here.

I think part of the problem is fans have sky high expectations and no patience, and I think management has been the same way.
 

Stoneman89

Registered User
Feb 8, 2008
27,205
21,402
I think "Development" is a huge factor that your are also missing. I'm sure there are players there that could of had an impact if they were developed properly.
Development is very important, but many of those drafted were beyond being saving by development. Many just went on to other teams and failed, and then were shuffled out of the league, or just flat out disappeared.

The one stretch was particularly bad, with Kevin Pender)ghastly) at the helm. The Oilers had an arrogance about them that had them drafting players that were nowhere near slotted where they drafted them, but the organization had an attitude that they were smarter than everyone else.

The Barry Frazer years were clown show. After hitting several homeruns in the early years of the team, he basically sat on the proverbial laurels and did squat all. Mind you, it might be kind of hard to get good assessments of potential picks while watching them on some games via satellite TV in Mexico.

The ones in more recent years look a lot better because our suckage was so much greater and allowed for multiple #1 overall picks and very near #1 picks.
 

Bank Shot

Registered User
Jan 18, 2006
11,330
6,842
For sure its the drafting.

Between 2013-15 the Bruins traded away Seguin, Lucic, Boychuk, and Hamilton.

Today they are solidly a playoff team.

Can you imagine how long it would take the Oilers to recover from trading away four players of that calibre?

The Oilers have a serious drafting problem, and have since the 90s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Game 8 and McDrai

Draiskull

Registered User
Oct 26, 2005
23,320
2,160
Tampa
Winnipeg
Anaheim
Ottawa
Nashville

IMO they are the best at it
Tampa 1st picks since 2000: Alxeev, Svitov, Henrich, Egener,Rogers, Mihalik, Helenius, Tyrell,Stamkos, Hedman, Connolly, Namestnikov, Koekkoek, Drouin, DeAngelo, Stephens, Howden, Foote.

NSH last few first picks: Tolvanen, Fabbro, Trennin, Fiala, Jones, Aberg, Hellberg,
 

Draiskull

Registered User
Oct 26, 2005
23,320
2,160
In defense of Yakupov everybody over hyped him.
Yakupov for many was better than Nuge in his draft -1 season and could have been drafted before Nuge if he was eligible. His first NHL season was also very impressive when he should have won the Calder.
 
  • Like
Reactions: B33K33PING

GodPucker

Registered User
Sep 27, 2017
7,092
3,689
Tampa 1st picks since 2000: Alxeev, Svitov, Henrich, Egener,Rogers, Mihalik, Helenius, Tyrell,Stamkos, Hedman, Connolly, Namestnikov, Koekkoek, Drouin, DeAngelo, Stephens, Howden, Foote.

NSH last few first picks: Tolvanen, Fabbro, Trennin, Fiala, Jones, Aberg, Hellberg,

People just like putting these teams up top then it gets parroted.

It's about development as well and then filling in holes with pro scouting.
 

TheRebuild

Bold as Boognish
Jun 12, 2014
2,165
405
Winter
I would argue the drafting since 2013 has been a lot better.

2016 Jesse Puljujarvi (4)
2017 Kailer Yamamoto (22)
2018 Evan Bouchard (10)

were all excellent picks for their spot. Anyone who doubts that needs to go back and look over the enthusiasm for these guys on a draft-day thread. JP literally fell in our laps at that draft and everyone would have been screaming if we had not picked him. But now that he's a "bust" we somehow should have "known better" back in 2016... give me a break. Yakupov and RNH were also consensus #1 picks, EVERY team in the league would have taken them in those spots.

First round drafting isn't where this team has failed. It's every round after the first round that's problematic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: McNuge and nuck

CantHaveTkachev

Legends
Nov 30, 2004
49,433
29,170
St. OILbert, AB
Tampa 1st picks since 2000: Alxeev, Svitov, Henrich, Egener,Rogers, Mihalik, Helenius, Tyrell,Stamkos, Hedman, Connolly, Namestnikov, Koekkoek, Drouin, DeAngelo, Stephens, Howden, Foote.

NSH last few first picks: Tolvanen, Fabbro, Trennin, Fiala, Jones, Aberg, Hellberg,
now do picks other than the 1st round..
 

Draiskull

Registered User
Oct 26, 2005
23,320
2,160
now do picks other than the 1st round..
that was not the point of OP.
OP is about how bad Oilers did with 1st picks. I would take Oilers first round picks over just about any other team since 2000. Its not due to good scouting but how badly we finished in standings.

If OP was about 2nd round onwards drafting then i would buy it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CantHaveTkachev

CantHaveTkachev

Legends
Nov 30, 2004
49,433
29,170
St. OILbert, AB
that was not the point of OP.
OP is about how bad Oilers did with 1st picks. I would take Oilers first round picks over just about any other team since 2000. Its not due to good scouting but how badly we finished in standings.

If OP was about 2nd round onwards drafting then i would buy it.
ah fair enough
 

Fourier

Registered User
Dec 29, 2006
25,444
19,579
Waterloo Ontario
Part of the problem is defining expectations. They are almost always too high for all but a very few picks. For example Gagner was picked 6th as an offensive forward. Most would say he under performed his draft slot. Yet he is 780 games into an NHL career and he sits 8th in his draft class in total points. Dwight King is the 25th highest scoring forward in that draft class.

Nuge sits third in his draft class in points. If you look at the forwards that are definitely better you have Kucherov (58), Gaudreau (104) and Scheifele (7) and a group of 4 or five others that are on the same tier. The problem is that not all first overall's are the same. So yes, we all probably expected more but he is really not so far off of his relative position to his draft class. I'd also argue that Dubnyk has fulfilled his draft expectations. He just did not do so for the Oilers, but this is one of the issues with picking goalie high in the draft. Even good ones make take too long to develop for the drafting tea to actually benefit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Nuge

yababy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2015
3,441
828
I think "Development" is a huge factor that your are also missing. I'm sure there are players there that could of had an impact if they were developed properly.

tough to define whether it's drafting or developing - in the end you get an underwhelming player regardless what the reason is
 

Pass the Saitl Sauce

Registered User
Apr 30, 2015
1,827
3,247
Yakupov for many was better than Nuge in his draft -1 season and could have been drafted before Nuge if he was eligible. His first NHL season was also very impressive when he should have won the Calder.
Firing Kruger ruined yakupov imo 17 goals to lead the team in scoring as rookie in the lock out year was impressive
 
  • Like
Reactions: 48g90a138pts

Joey Moss

Registered User
Aug 29, 2008
36,153
7,997
The Oilers drafting is not good but the development is the real problem. The only prospect you could say they didn't rush was Eberle and that was because we had our most competitive teams from 2008-2009 and didn't need him in the lineup. Other then that they've always been desperate for someone to step up and save OBC's ass due to their incompetence of assembling a good roster.

I don't think Yak and Puljujarvi are good players because of their hockey sense but I'm confident they would be much better if they were drafted somewhere else.

Gagner, Paajarvi, Yakupov, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto last season.. It's been like this for 10 years. Even Draisaitl was rushed.
 

syz

[1, 5, 6, 14]
Jul 13, 2007
28,849
12,240
now do picks other than the 1st round..

Stoll, Brodziak, and Petry are the only significant names I can think of since the 90s.

Meanwhile for a lot of the 90s they pulled at least one significant later round player most years but consistently wasted every first round pick.
 

Bangers

Registered User
May 31, 2006
3,919
868
Jason Soules might be the worst draft pick of all time. They drafted a guy who literally told NHL teams prior to the draft that he didn't want to play hockey anymore. With a 1st rounder.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GOilers88

thadd

Oil4Life
Jun 9, 2007
26,717
2,718
Canada
Drafting most likely has little to do with the problem.
We've had a horrible developmental system.
For many years we didn't have our own farm system and when that BS was going on our prospects were 2nd priority for minutes. Not to mention the farm team itself follow the philosophy of a different NHL club. How can you expect to succeed in those conditions?

After Katz bought the team and we had our own farm team things progressed rather slowly not just in player development but in development of the team. This year woodcroft has been doing some good things down there and I hope it converts to us finally knowing how to develop players.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->