Day two at the draft and UFAs…

The Oilers didn’t have a 2nd or 3rd round pick due to the David Perron and Ben Scrivens trades. The trades look like this.

The Oilers dealt Magnus Paajarvi and Ivan Barbashev (33rd pick) for David Perron. 

The Oilers traded their 3rd round pick, 63rd overall to Los Angeles for Ben Scrivens. The Kings then dealt the pick to Columbus as part of the Marian Gaborik deal. Columbus then traded the pick to Detroit for the 76th pick and a 3rd rounder in 2015 and the Red Wings selected Dominic Turgeon (son of Pierre) from the Portland Winterhawks.

When the Oilers traded the pick, they didn’t know it would be 63rd, and neither did the Kings when they moved it. Considering the pick moved through four teams, if Turgeon becomes a good NHL player I don’t think you can say the Oilers lost the trade, because it is unlikely they would have made the same pick as the Wings.

The Oilers first pick on day two came in the 4th round. With the 91st pick they selected Swedish defenceman, William Lagesson (pictured above).

Lagesson is a left shot D-man who plays hard according to Hockeyprospect.com.

This is their scouting report on Lagesson.

The Oilers used their second pick in the 4th round, 111th overall, on goalie Zach Nagelvoort from the
University of Michigan. He had a 2.20 GAA and .929 SV% as a
freshman with the Wolverines.

Central scouting had him ranked as the 20th best North American goalie, however, ISS Hockey had him ranked as the 8th. That is a pretty big difference between the two draft services. It illustrates how much opinions vary on players late in the draft, especially goalies.

The Oilers went off the board with their 130th pick, selecting soon-to-be 20 year-old Liam Couglin.

He scored 18-27-45 in 53 games last year. He is a 6’3, 200 pound centre. Coughlin is committed to Boston University this fall, so he won’t be a factor for a few years, if ever.

I couldn’t find him rated in any draft publication. There is about an 8% chance of having a 5th round pick play on your NHL team, so going off the board here is much more palatable than doing it in the first or second round.

Tyler played for Omaha in the USHL. He is a small, skilled centre, 5’11”,180 pounds and was ranked 188th (North American players) by Central Scouting.

The 20 year old scored 33-38-71 in 49 games in the USHL. He was third in league scoring. Guy Flaming from the Pipe Line show said Vesel is committed to Nebraska of Omaha next year.

Vesel clearly has skill, and he should be able to develop and get stronger. The question moving forward will be did he dominate the USHL because he was 20, or is he a late bloomer?

Time will tell.

The Oilers clearly felt like their goaltending depth wasn’t very good. With the 183rd pick they selected netminder Keven Bouchard from Val D’or in the QMJHL.

Bouchard is 18 and stand 6’3″. As a rookie he posted a record of 17-6-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .887 SV%.

He was a back up for the QMJHL champs. Antoine Bibeau was the starter, you likely remember him from the Memorial Cup.

Bibeau was 21-18-1 with a 3.17 GAA and .907 SV%. Bibeau will turn pro this year, so Bouchard will be the starter next year.

I gave up trying to project how goalies would develop years ago, so I will just sit back and in four seasons see where he is at. The good news for Oilers fans is that many NHL goalies have come from the later rounds.

The Oilers got the guy the wanted on day one, Leon Draisaitl, and while late round picks are important, I don’t expect any of these guys to make an impact for at least four or five years, if ever.

Couglin was definitely a surprise pick, but only time will tell if it was a waste or a good gamble.

But now the real fun begins.

Teams will switch their focus to free agency and the salary cap. The $69 million cap means some teams need to shed some salary.

Philadelphia is already over the cap, and that is with only 19 players signed. Although they will get some relief after the first day of the season when they transfer Chris Pronger to LTIR. Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles have little room, and the Penguins only have $14 million to sign 9 players.

The Oilers have 17 players signed and they have $19.8 million in cap space. Craig MacTavish should be able to add some veterans in free agency or via a trade. 

I was reading parts of the CBA on Thursday — yes I’m a loser — and I noticed an odd rule pertaining to Taylor Fedun. Fedun had been listed as a UFA on capgeek.com and NHLnumbers.com, but it turns out he is actually an RFA.

Fedun would have been a Group VI UFA, and in order to fit in this group a player must meet the following criteria:

Technically, Fedun never played three seasons. He was injured in preseason in 2011/2012, and he never dressed for one regular season game, so he is deemed to have only played two years. Three years later that stupid icing rule is still screwing him over.

The Oilers need to qualify him before July 1st or he does become a UFA.

I wonder if they give Fedun a break and let him go free? If it wasn’t for that ridiculous injury he’d be a UFA.

On the other hand, the Oilers don’t have many right-shot defenders in the system. The Oilers have Martin Gernat, David Musil, Brad Hunt, Brandan Davidson, Jordan Oesterle and Dillon Simpson signed, but they all shoot left.

They need some right shot defenders, so it makes sense to qualify Fedun. They haven’t qualified him yet — often teams wait until the last moment to release their list — but it seems a bit strange that they haven’t.

I’ve noticed many Nation readers are pulling for Fedun and if he isn’t qualified I think they would be torn. You’d be mad that the Oilers let him go, but also happy to see him test the free agent waters.

I’m curious to see what route they take with Fedun. Based on the late season callups, I think he isn’t in the plans. Neither side would comment when asked, so I’m basing this on what I’ve seen on the ice.

I think he’ll be a free agent, which he should have been anyways. If an injury in preseason causes a player to miss a season, it should still count as a season played. That is just my opinion on the ruling and his status, and I will admit the reporter in me would like to see how other teams value him. 

The Oilers also need to qualify Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry, Luke Gazdic, Tyler Pitlick, Curtis Hamilton and Andrew Miller. I think they have to qualify Roman Horak to retain his rights now that he signed overseas, but I’m not 100% sure.

Schultz and Petry are no-brainers. Gazdic and Pitlick seem fairly obvious as well. The Oilers might not give up on Hamilton just yet, but he’s on the cusp for sure. I don’t see Miller as an NHL player, so unless they want him as AHL depth they could let him walk.

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