If You’re Not First, You’re Last

We’re about two weeks away from the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, or as Oiler fans have become accustomed to calling it “The Most Competitive The Oilers Will Be This Calendar Year”. As Oiler fans we’re super well-versed on top 10 picks, and the first round in general. But what about those guys on the complete opposite end of the HockeyDB list? Today we’re taking a look at the LAST picks in the draft!

In the NFL they’re known as Mr. Irrelevant. In the NHL they’re mostly known as “the guy that fixed my plumbing who said he was drafted by the Nordiques but didn’t make the show because of politics”. Today we’re going to look at the members that have joined this club since the 2010 draft.

With the 210th overall pick, the Boston Bruins are proud to select, from Lake Superior State, Zach Trotman.

 

Zach Trotman is one of those stories we seem to hear about every year, but I feel like he should get an extra nod for being 2010’s Mr. Irrelevant NHL®. After being picked last in the draft, Trotman returned to Lake Superior State for two more season, playing alongside former Oiler great Will Acton! He continued his steady progression with some solid years for the Baby Bruins, followed by a cup of coffee with the B’s, before playing 38 games in the NHL this season.

So right now we have two options: Trotman will either go on to be one of those heartwarming stories of perseverance and not letting your draft position define you as a player while going on to have a solid NHL career. OR he’ll wash out of the Bruins system in a couple years, go to the KHL and live in a city that’s a mix of new high rises and smouldering piles of rubble.

With the 211th pick, the Chicago Blackhawks are proud to select, from Sodertalje Jr in the Swedish league, Johan Mattsson.

After years in the Swedish Elite League system, Mattsson moved to North America to play for the Sudbury Wolves following his Mr. Irrelevant win in 2011. He won a gold medal with Sweden at the World Juniors before going back to his home country in 2013.

Mattsson put up really strong numbers last year in the Swedish version of the AHL, and has been generally solid his entire career up to this point. Unfortunately for our boy Johan he doesn’t have the traditional Swedish supermodel looks of a Henrik Lundqvist or pretty much any Swedish woman I’ve ever seen, so he won’t be able to fall back on a career of being really handsome if this hockey thing starts to fall through. According to this chart the most common job in Sweden is a nurse/home care worker, so he can trade in his goalie pads for scrubs and start blocking projectile vomit rather than pucks!

With the 211th pick, the Los Angeles Kings are proud to select, from the Windsor Spitfires, Nick Ebert.

Ebert spent 4 years in the OHL before making his full-time pro debut for the Kings’ AHL affiliate in 2014. He’s probably still a longshot to make the NHL, but I don’t think a healthy AHL career is out of the question. Thankfully for Ebert though, if this hockey thing falls through he can join the family business of reviewing movies, just like his uncle Roger before him!

With the 211th pick, the Chicago Blackhawks are proud to select, from Sodertalje in the Swedish league, Robin Press.

Since his draft year, Press has played 2 games in the AHL, while spending the majority of his time bouncing between the top two tiers in the Swedish league. He’s an unheralded defenseman in the Chicago Blackhawks organization, so you know what that means; within 4 years he’ll have two Stanley Cup rings and be on the bubble for Norris consideration.

With the 210th pick, the Los Angeles Kings are proud to select, from the Ottawa 67’s, Jacob Middleton.

Middleton had a solid final year of junior with Ottawa, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to entice the Kings to sign him to an entry level deal. Thankfully for him his timing couldn’t be better; with Penguins on the cusp of winning a Stanley Cup he can go around telling everyone he’s the underachieving brother of Stanley Cup Winner Justin Schultz®.

*Not a Photoshop

With the 211th overall pick, the Chicago Blackhawks proudly select, from the Frolunda Jrs, John Dahlstrom. (Hmm, there seems to be an abundance of Kings and Blackhawk picks at the bottom of the draft. Perhaps there’s some sort of pattern here I’m not seeing??)

Since 2014, Dahlstrom has played 14 games of professional hockey, racking up one assist total. Now NORMALLY that may raise a few red flags for most franchises. However this is the Blackhawks we’re talking about, so there’s a 85% chance he plays in Europe until he’s 31, comes over to the NHL, plays with one of the league’s best players, does well because he has 11 seasons of professional hockey experience, and steals the Calder away from whichever first overall pick the Oilers are propping the entire turnaround of the franchise on at that time. NO I’M NOT BITTER THAT MCDAVID MORE THAN LIKELY WON’T WIN THE CALDER THIS YEAR, YOU ARE!

There are few certainties in life – we can always count on the sun coming up in the morning, Edmonton winters being dreadful, and the Oilers missing the playoffs. As such, we present the annual OilersNation Draft Party! It’s time to honour the the anniversary of drafting our beloved Connor, celebrate the rewards of another failed season, and raise some money for charity.

Here’s what you need to know…

The party is happening at the Pint Downtown on Friday, June 24th. The goal is to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross and their efforts to bring normalcy back to Fort McMurray, and have a little bit of fun while we’re at it. For $30 you get a Draft Party t-shirt, a $10 Pint GC, a $10 Oodle Noodle GC, a draft party collectors cup, and a chance for prizes and eternal glory.

All proceeds from tickets sold will be donated directly to the Red Cross so bring your friends, get involved, and help us support a community in need. Tickets are still available here.

One day, the Oilers will be a good hockey team and we’ll all be able to laugh about this. Until then, we party.