The 2012 NHL draft (so far) has been an absolute show stopper: wonderful script, top drawer acting, stunning plot twists and a range of emotions for the viewer. What’s next?
For the Edmonton Oilers, yesterday was an epic day in the team’s history–adding another elite skill player to add to the (now) fab four of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. The mind boggles with the possible line combinations, and Ales Hemsky, Sam Gagner and other forwards have to be looking forward to playing with another #1 rocket.
Now comes the hard part. Day two. This is the point in the draft where even great teams miss a lot (especially from round 3 on) and the Oilers have to make these selections count.
WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT?
I think we can look forward to a couple of things today. First, Stu MacGregor’s draft history suggests the players called out today will (for the most part) come from the top 100 available names overall. We know this because of the team’s attention to the combine invite list over the last couple of seasons:
- 2010 (7): Tyler Bunz, Brandon Davidson, Taylor Hall, Curtis Hamilton, Martin Marincin, Ryan Martindale, Tyler Pitlick.
- 2011 (6): Travis Ewanyk, Oscar Klefbom, David Musil, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Samu Perhonen, Tobias Rieder
An average team would have three or four names from the combine list each season, Edmonton is almost double over the last two seasons. What does that mean? Well, the list is here and chances are several Oilers are on that list.
WHAT ELSE?
Oilers Nation has been killing it from the draft, giving us outstanding information. Jason Gregor’s most recent item gives us an excellent road map for today’s action. The money quote:
- Steve Tambellini: "On the defensive side we have a lot of young D coming into the system over the next couple of years who we know are going to play. I think where we do need to get better is to have that heaviness, and not just from a physicality standpoint, but the heaviness of being able to play with our top-six or top-nine. We need some of that in our organization. Most of the time, the players that are that strong and that skilled, you have to draft them to get them and we are looking for something like that."
I take that to mean size up front with some skill attached. Names from the Combine List that might fit the bill include Mitchel Moroz, Brian Hart, Lukas Sutter, Scott Kosmaschuk (both mentioned by Jason in his article), Colton Scissons and Brandon Troock.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
The Oilers under Stu MacGregor often spend their 2nd rd picks on defensemen and forwards with a 2-way game; the third round has been devoted to goalies and coke machines and then the team looks for gems like Martin Gernat in rounds 4+. Amazingly, 13 of their last 20 selections were combine invites. We should expect more of the same today.
This is a great day to be an Oiler fan!
NATION RADIO
As I write this, the draft is one round old. With so much yet to be decided, we plan on having an enormous number of guests to cover every possible angle. Scheduled to appear:
- Jason Gregor from the JG show on Team 1260.
- Dustin Nielson from Nielson and Fraser on Team 1260.
- Thomas Drance Managing Editor of Canucks Army.
- Kent Wilson, Nations Overlord and managing editor of Flames Nation.
- Cam Charron, Leafs Nation managing editor.
- Robert Cleave from Jets Nation.
- Corey Graham, Team 1260 ESNL host and Oil Kings PBP.
- Kent Simpson, Team 1260 and Oil Kings color commentator.
- Andrey Osadchenko from All Hockey.
Day two of the most wonderful time of the year. Hope you can tune in.
FIST to say I like the FIST overall pick. Go OIL!
Greatest. Movie. Ever.
The Stu abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Stu. Draftin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners.
Absolutely best movie ever made! As you can tell!
I say the Oilers go after Finn first.
I got to tell you though, I like what I read about Sutter too, you know he is going to bring it every night and could be a replacement to Horcoff in the near future.
Dansk might be worth taking a shot at as well, suppose to be the best of the lot I read somewhere.
I still think Tambellini will make a trade for a quality defensemen before the draft is through.
I got this awesome feeling in my gut that we are going to land Schultz too.
18-year olds, dude. 18-year olds.
Matt Finn if you may.
interesting how tambo has gone from saying he wants to add one, possibly two top 4 defencemen to wanting to add a depth defencemen to the big club. looks like it could be another year of winning games only when all the stars line up and losing the rest. tough to win consistently in the nhl trying to run and gun every night with a group of undersized forwards. once again, does tambo have a clue what it takes to assemble a hockey team that can compete on a nightly basis?
i find it disturbing that almost the first words out of the mouths of the tsn guys was, better get this guy signed in case there is a lockout because the khl looms. wonderful, that will always be hanging over this guy. further, what happens when this cocky prima donna starts griping about his pp minutes or ice time in general because hall or ebs is getting the extra shift. how long till there is a rift in the dressing room because this is taylor halls team and yakupov has no interest in playing second fiddle to anyone? does this russian seem like a hometown discount guy when the time comes? who is more likely to bolt as soon as ufa status is available to be the man somewhere else? a management team and fanbase mesmerized by some speed and fancy stickhandling once again. this player might help us score a few more goals, but the right player to take in order to make our TEAM better was a solid character leader from white city saskatchewan.
first big oiler headline of the summer – yakupov hesitant to sign with the oilers due to pending labour dispute, wants to keep khl option open.
better be prepared for alot of drama with this guy.
non…
…is the sky falling already? i had the same fears months ago and our takes on that white city SK native were the same …
this kid looks nuts to me and all that you’ve said just kinda solidifies my reservations on taking him…he needs to score a stupid amount of points asap for me to trust him on a few levels…and he needs to keep his cakehole closed as well…
@non descript
Sounds like a bunch of conjecture to me. You must be a shoot bird as well.
hey boris …that’s what we do here isn’t it ? conject?
ah…what’s a “shoot bird”
You’re out of your league, Stevie.
This is a league game, Steve.
Dalton Thrower from the Blades @ 32
I just love Throwers game. Multi Dimensional Dman who loves to get involved in the play at both ends of the ice, can put up points and has a mean streak.
To early yet to assess this draft until after tomorrow probably . Nothing wrong or to risky with taking Yakupov first . Now , if only Management can finally compliment the draft to make us a contender , something they seem never to accomplish . Will this be the year of the breakthrough -let’s hope ?
Will Oilers draft L.Sutter with NBR.32 ? Don’t recall any Sutter thats failed to be a reasonable force in NHL .
Nail Yakupov and my sister inlaw had a son born yesterdat 8lbs6 oz. Could it get any better? Absolutely. The Oilers are going to call Mitch Moroz’s name with that 32cd pick. Life is good in The Nation.
Michael, your first sentence just kills me…I read this as your sister in law just had Nail’s kid…LOL!
(Its all good though – we know both drafting Nail and the new arrival in your family were blessings!)
What was Feaster doing to the Flames with their pick ? Iginla probably wants out if that’s the best they can do . Maybe Jerome will now demand a trade to Oilers ! Like Montreal and Winnipeg’s picks a lot – good for them . Burke’s pick somewhat troublesome considering they have Phaneuf and Garrison already . Maybe they are looking to dump Phaneuf ? Burke looks to be on the bubble .
Phillip Di Giuseppe! “Phillip is a good sized winger who plays a hard driving game and makes it difficult for defenders. He is a very good skater with quickness, that may be better than his speed, and allows him to create opportunities for himself and his team. His agility and balance is strong and he’s very difficult to push away from where he desires to go. He has an assertiveness in his play and doesn’t allow himself to be denied. He will drive the net and will pay the price to score.”