The Oilers have three picks at the NHL Draft but are there more coming?

Happy draft day, Internet compadres! This year, the Oilers do not have a pick in the first round and won’t be picking until the 56th slot on day two, but that doesn’t mean Ken Holland won’t be working the phones to try and pick up a little more ammunition.

As we saw a year ago when Ken Holland traded down to grab Reid Schaefer at 31st overall as part of the Zach Kassian trade, he’s already shown a willingness to move back in the order if it means grabbing more picks for his scouts. And considering the Oilers don’t have anything going on until pick #56 in the second round, it wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever if Ken Holland tried to make a move that lands his scouting department an extra bullet or two to play with or as add-ons for potential trades. We’ve already seen him take this approach a couple of times in his time as the Oilers’ GM, so maybe we should expect another chapter in the same story. Either way, as it stands right now on June 28th, the Oilers have only three picks in the bank to play with and we shall see where we go from here.

A couple of years ago, Ken Holland traded back in the first round from 20th overall to 22nd overall (Xavier Bourgault) to pick up an additional selection in the third round. Back in 2020, Holland traded the 76th overall pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for picks #100 and #126… you get my point. Even though the Oilers don’t have many picks to trade down from or to necessarily use as bait, what I am saying is that we probably shouldn’t be surprised if the Oilers are actively trying to get more than the three draft selections they currently own. There’s also the opportunity to trade current roster players for picks as a pure cap dump, which is probably what they’d like to do with Kailer Yamamoto if he is indeed on the chopping block. So when it comes to having only three picks available over these next two days, I’ll be very intrigued to see if adding only three prospects is actually the move or if the Oilers are going to be aggressive to try and change that.

If you’re looking to get caught up on some of the players that may end up available to the Oilers by the time #56 rolls around, the crew at Nation HQ has been putting some draft profiles together over the last couple of weeks that you should check out below.