Monday Mailbag – How did the Oilers do at the NHL Draft?

Welcome, friends, to another edition of the Monday Mailbag where we answer all of your Oilers related questions and give you a few minutes of time killing distraction from whatever you have going on. With another NHL Draft in the books, there’s plenty to talk about as the Oilers had a very good weekend in Dallas. This week, we take a look at the Oilers haul from the weekend, the winners and losers around the league, and whether or not things played out as we thought they would. As always, I need your questions to make this work. If you’ve got one, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk and I’ll get to you as soon as we can.

There was only one trade, so the lack of activity was a surprise. I didn’t see any major surprises. Every scouting service I spoke to leading up to the draft said picks #3-#12 were all very close, and it came down to teams near the top needing centres and taking them, thus leaving some D-men to be available later. It was the least exciting draft, as far as trades, or surprise picks, that I have covered.

Having the choice of Dobson, Wahlstrom and Bouchard with the 10th pick. It was no sure thing that any one of them would be available there. Having all three was easily the biggest surprise for me.

Bouchard being there at ten is the best surprise the Oilers could have asked for. He’s exactly what they needed and he fell right in their lap.

Biggest surprise — for me — was that I really liked what the team did. I went into Friday evening with a sense of overwhelming dread based on the rumours about potentially moving Klefbom. Instead, the team made really sound picks and maybe even prevented bad trades down the road because of it.

I didn’t think Calgary would trade Dougie Hamilton, but they did and arguably sold low.

I’m surprised I’m so satisfied with what the Oilers got done this weekend. I mean, Bouchard fell onto their lap, but they went the whole draft without making a mistake, and that’s a win in my book.

I still can’t believe that Bouchard was still available for the Oilers at 10. To take it a step further, I would have never predicted in a million years that they would have had their choice of Bouchard, Wahlstrom, and Dobson still available but you’ve gotta thank the Coyotes and Rangers for going way off the board.

They need to find some value contracts in free agency, specifically a veteran right winger.

With QO’s already out to Nurse and Strome (and Slepyshev), I’d be following up on any trade talks in Dallas. Was there something close that didn’t get done? Any initial inquiries? The other thing is obviously free agency.

Acquire wingers. I don’t know how anyone could disagree with this. If anyone doesn’t say wingers I will meet them in a barn.

I still firmly believe that the Oilers should be doing everything in their power to move Lucic and Russell. That’s $10M in cap space that likely won’t be delivering value to the team. Beyond that, they should be looking add some veteran wing depth with legitimate scoring potential

Upgrade the defence.

I think everything they did this past weekend was near the bottom of the to-do list. They need to start at the top now, acquiring some NHL-ready D-men and wingers that will actually add value to our team and playoff chances this year.

The Oilers obviously need wingers right now and I wonder if Chiarelli might look to add another depth defenceman as well. I don’t like the idea of rushing Bouchard into the NHL and the AHL isn’t an option so it would be nice to have a backup plan there.

They did fine. I expected them to make their first two picks. They got a forward and a D-man, which they were hoping for. Bouchard fills a big organizational need, and McLeod gives them some depth at C/LW. Rodrique might become a very good goalie, and he was chosen right around where he was ranked, but the optics aren’t great on the Oilers drafting a son of someone in their organization. They do this more often than other teams, and it has yet to work out. In five or six years we’ll see if it was the right move. Maybe it will be an advantage to have their goalie consultant work closely with a goalie, but fairly, or not, it looked like a decision the Oilers make that other teams don’t.

As well as anybody could have reasonably hoped. They got one of the players they coveted with the 10th pick and they didn’t rush anything on the trade front.

They did exactly what I expected them to do. They’ve done an excellent job at the draft since Chiarelli took over and they did that again.

I thought they did great. In terms of team needs, I think the Oilers added exactly what they needed in the first round and snagged a talent that was supposed to go higher. Bouchard was the most offensively proficient defender in the draft, has decent size, has a great first pass, was supposed to be going six-ish and fell to 10. The McLeod kid was rated as a first rounder by some and Rodrigue (despite concerns about family connections) was the top rated goalie. All said that’s great work in the first two rounds.

I like their first two picks. I’m not the biggest fan of drafting goalies high but it didn’t seem like they went too much off the board with their picks.

I’m satisfied. They are definitely a better organization now then they were before the draft. What’s not to be happy about that?

I’m pumped actually. The Bouchard pick was pretty awesome and I’m also into McLeod and Rodrigue in the second round. McLeod was ranked by many to go in the first round and Rodrigue was the highest ranked goalie in the draft, so I don’t see how you can be anything but happy about how this went. No more reaches for Coke Machines in the early rounds under Keith Gretzky and that’s very good news.

The winners were all the kids getting drafted. That is a huge thrill. Losers were fans and media with only one NHL trade to discuss.

Based on expectations going in, I’d again mention the Oilers for having those three choices with the 10th pick. We’ll see how/if that works out with Bouchard. Will also be interested to see how Arizona’s pick of Barrett Hayton works out. The analytics crowd is rooting for GM John Chayka, but I think taking Hayton where he did was a reach. Lastly, I won’t call LA the big losers, but I don’t have a lot of faith that Ilya Kovalchuk can live up to the three-year contract he got from the Kings.

Islanders were the winners. Possibly Detroit as well. Losers, Flames.

Winners were New York Islanders (Edmonton runner up) and losers were the Flames. Thanks to the Hamonic trade the Flames gave NYI the pick that let them take Dobson right after Wahlstrom. Neither was supposed to be available at the 11 or 12 spot.  The Flames didn’t draft until the fourth round and then gave away their best young defender in a trade because he likes museums more than getting ripped with the boys at Moxies.

The Islanders and Leafs had good drafts. Calgary had no picks and lost a significant trade so they’re my losers.

I’m going with my fav team, the Oilers as the winners. Having so many options with the #10 pick was huge. Continuing on with the Oilers theme, I thought the Flames were the losers of the draft.

Detroit had to be a winner. Zadina being available at #6 was wild and even having the chance to take Veleno last in the first round was a win for them. Losers are the Flames. They didn’t have a pick in the first three rounds and ended up trading away the league leader in scoring on defence in Hamilton. I know Hanifin is a damned good player, but Dougie Hamilton is better and they sent him out of town for reading too many books or something.

I believe he said he was open for a trade, but didn’t “technically” demand one. There were conversations and how it was worded isn’t a big deal to me. Lucic has no trade value right now, so if he wants out he will need to have a bounce-back year, play well, and then more teams might be interested next summer.

Why does “no comment” start a fire? Doesn’t make sense for Chiarelli to say one way or another. What’s the upside to him saying yes or no? I think Lucic is open to the idea of a trade but that doesn’t mean he has asked for one. Let’s not forget, he’s a family man and that, as fans should know, is a factor. He’s not the only one with a vote regarding where he plays.

I do not believe for a second that Lucic wants to return to Edmonton next season. Oilers trying to put out a fire. Fail. Even if he returns it’s not because he wants to.

I believe the agent was lying through his teeth because there’s a great chance that Lucic’s boat anchor deal is unmovable until he proves that he doesn’t suck and Lucic will have no choice but to play in the city until that happens.

There’s way too much out there for Lucic to not have asked out in some form. Feels like damage control by Lucic’s agent.

I’m sure this wouldn’t be the first time an agent lied to a media member. This is definitely some damage control happening just in case Lucic doesn’t get traded. I don’t blame him.

I don’t buy it for a second. The Oilers were doing damage control by having the agent go on the rights holders station the next day to try and put the fire out that Chiarelli started with the ‘no comment’ answer to a very easy question. Now, just because I think he’s asked for a trade doesn’t mean that he won’t be back here next year — those are two separate issues.

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