Edmonton Oilers land Jake Sanderson in blogger mock draft
By Zach Laing
3 years agoA few days ago I received a DM on Twitter asking me to take part in a blogger mock draft and was asked to draft on behalf of the Edmonton Oilers.
Last night, I hopped on a call and off we went with the draft. The first 10 picks have already been made, so I was taking part in the 10-20 picks.
Here’s how the first 10 picks shook down:
1) NYR – Alexis Lafreniere
2) LAK – Quinton Byfield
3) OTT – Lucas Raymond
4) DET – Tim Stutzle
5) OTT – Marco Rossi
6) ANA – Jamie Drysdale
7) NJD – Alexander Holtz
8) BUF – Anton Lundell
9) MIN – Yaroslav Askarov
10) WPG – Cole Perfetti
2) LAK – Quinton Byfield
3) OTT – Lucas Raymond
4) DET – Tim Stutzle
5) OTT – Marco Rossi
6) ANA – Jamie Drysdale
7) NJD – Alexander Holtz
8) BUF – Anton Lundell
9) MIN – Yaroslav Askarov
10) WPG – Cole Perfetti
Going into it, I had a few players I was targeting for the Oilers: Jack Quinn and Seth Jarvis. I feel that the Oilers are best served to target a potential impact top-six winger for the Oilers in the years to come, but I was quite surprised that Jake Sanderson hadn’t been drafted in the top ten. On top of that, I was surprised to see Perfetti fall to the 10th spot.
11th overall was the Nashville Predators and the blogger took Quinn. Target one off the board.
12th overall was the Florida Panthers and their blogger took Jarvis. Pain.
At this point, I thought that the Carolina Hurricanes blogger would take Sanderson and add to an already impressively deep roster. If that would’ve happened, I probably would’ve looked to the likes of Dylan Holloway, Rodion Amirov, or Dawson Mercer.
Instead, the Hurricanes blogger took Nico Daws — a decent enough goaltending prospect, but one who likely would be available in the second or third rounds.
With the Oilers and my choice on the board, I opted to go with Sanderson. It wasn’t my first choice, but it’s a move that would solidify the Oilers blueline for the next decade.
Our own Cam Lewis did a profile of Sanderson last week and I liked what I read. Here’s what Cam wrote about Sanderson:
Much like his father, Geoff Sanderson (who had an 1104-game career in the NHL, including a short stop in Edmonton right at the very end), Jake Sanderson is a very good skater, allowing him to be effective on both ends of the ice as a defender.
He’s more oriented towards being a minute-munching, defensive stalwart. Sanderson’s quick feet and good footwork allow him to have excellent gap control and his strong skating makes him virtually impossible to beat wide on a rush. On offence, he can use his wheels to jump into the play and also create offence quickly from the blueline.
Taking Sanderson would be considered a big win for the Oilers for a few reasons. First, he’s going to be a great NHL defenceman in the NHL and that’s big for the Oilers. The more the merrier on a defence that has struggled for decades.
On top of that, it could free up the Oilers to trade one of @Evan Bouchard or @Phillip Broberg for immediate help in the top six. I’d rather Broberg over Bouchard given Sanderson, like Broberg, is a left-shot defenceman.
Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how the mock draft played out and how Sanderson slid to the Oilers.
Big thanks to the team at DevilsInsider for having me on. For those interested in listening (link here) I talked about the Oilers starting at the 33 minute mark where I break down the organization, and the draft pick.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
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