LEON DRAISAITL
The Oilers went into this 2 Day Draft knowing full well that their big moment would come early and there wouldnt be much else to do except perhaps continue to pursue the trade market. The Oil dont own another pick until they get down to 91st Overall and in total have just 5 picks to make today.
The fact is they got their guy in Leon Draisaitl who as of today stands 6'1", weighs 213 lbs, and plays the Center position. More importantly, though, the German born pivot is extremely talented and proficient as a puck-protector. He was technically the highest scoring player in the Draft with 38-67-105 in 64 games with PA raiders in the WHL, so this isnt just another Coke Machine on skates, he's a real player.
The über useful website ExtraSkater.com recently added a lot of CHL statistics and functions, one being the estimated time on ice and
points per 60 minutes in which Draisaitl ranks 3rd out of the entire Draft eligible kids. This should hopefully help bring around the extreme minority that might be upset (for unexplained reasons) that the Oilers opted for the big German instead of Bennett. Note that Bennett and Draisaitl are extremely close by this metric which is still based on an estimation. The Oilers by no means sacrificed talent for size yesterday.
What they did do was grab a player who should be a 1 or 2C on the Oilers for years to come and it is not unreasonable to expect that from the recent 3rd Overall pick. He might not crack the Oilers this year because unlike a lot of teams that might find themselves Drafting 3rd Overall, Edmonton doesnt necessarily need LD to step into the lineup. At least not right away.
There is however the distinct possibility that the Oil play Draisaitl right away in a sheltered role. MacT wasted no time saying he would love to see the adept puck-protector play with David Perron. It's clear that the organization sees him contributing in very short order.
For a team that has been accused of rushing its prospects they dont have much reservation about appearing to continue that trend further. That said the Oilers need at least 1 more C and still need to keep Gagner if they want to create enough competition to keep him off their opening night roster. As it stands right now the Oilers forward lines might look something like this:
Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Arcobello - Gagner - Perron
Yakupov - Draisaitl - Joensuu
Hendricks - Gordon - Gazdic
Hall and company will be facing the toughest opponents, Gordon and Hendricks are destined to be sacrificed in their own zone all the time, Gagner or Arcobello with Perron are capable against the 2nd tier opposition, and a Draisaitl-Yak combo would be getting soft minutes.
Will that happen? No clue, but if the Oilers cant nab another pivot then that's a strong possibility.
CAP LIMIT SHORTFALL
Yesterday news broke that the NHL's Salary Cap would be 69M and not the 71M that people had assumed. That isnt an issue for the Oilers who have close to 20M in space but for Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago it's a problem. Chicago and Philly are already over the Cap and the Bruins have less than 2M to sign about 5 guys. It's a bad situation that has been dubbed Cap Jail.
These clubs dont have a choice but to shed salary and the Oilers are in the perfect position to accept it. That is a scenario that we should keep an eye on today and up to the UFA period. The fact is the Oilers have definite holes they want to fill. At least 1 more Defenseman and forward spots held by Joensuu and Arco in the current depth chart could be beefed up (although I like Arcobello).
If you're a team that needs to shed salary then you may have more potential trading partners before July 1st when the Free Agent Frenzy begins. That Cap space starts that the other teams have starts to disappear on Canada Day and that's a scary prospect.
Could the Oilers see themselves land Boychuk for a late pick or something of the sort? I think it's very likely, especially now that GMs have had a chance to sleep on the news of the Cap shortfall and what that means to their situations.
DRAFT
91: Oilers take 6'2" 196lb Defenseman William Lagesson. Lagesson went 44GP, 8-12-20 with the Frolunda J20 team in Sweden.
His
Elite Prospects profile says:
A strong defenseman that can put up some points, but plays more convincingly in his own zone. Likes to get involved in the rough stuff and has a pretty good physical game. Strong positionally, but could work some on his skating skills. (EP 2014)
Lagesson will be coming to the USHL and then the US College system unless the Oilers can convince him otherwise. With the UFA age at 27 a 4 year stint in College can eat a lot of years out of club control and this kid has decent size so it's not like they're waiting for him to physically mature. We'll see how this plays out.
111: Zach Nagelvoort. An overaged goalie out of the University of Michigan. Sure. Why not. He was the Freshman starter for the team and finished with a .929sv%. He has decent size and is further along in his development. I'm not a fan of drafting Goalies in general but this is hope and prayer territory, so what could it hurt?
130: Liam Coughlin. 6'3" 200lb forward from the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. He put up some OK offensive numbers. He's 19 now and will be 20 in September. Skill or Size? Not sure this isn't a Coke Machine. 53GP, 18-27-45 and 70PIM.
Less than a point per game as a 19yr old in the BCHL and headed to College. I'm not getting a good vibe here about young Coughlin.
153: Tyler Vesel of the USHL Omaha Lancers. 49GP, 33-38-71 as an overager in the League. He is already 20 years old. Stands 5'11".
183: Keven Bouchard. Goaltender. 6'3" 205lb. Backup for Val d'Or. Won some games but had a .887sv%. Not impressive. Oil pass on a lot of skill. Not happy.
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