Oilers hire Burda as director of European scouting

The Edmonton Oilers have hired Vaclav Burda as their director of European scouting, a role he has held with the Ottawa Senators since 2008.

Burda, a native of Prague, Czech Republic played pro hockey in Europe for over a decade. He played for HC Sparta Praha in the Czech league, then later Luleå HF in the SHL.

He was hired by the Senators as a scout in 2004, a role he held until 2008 when he was promoted to his role he had prior to leaving.

He will report to the Bob Green, the Oilers Director of Player Personnel.

Burda has seen success in drafting European players.

While in Ottawa, he was partially responsible for selling the 15th overall selection of Erik Karlsson to the Senators in 2008. Karlsson was playing for the Frolunda Jrs in Sweden at the time.

The Senators selected Jakob Silfverberg in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft, then Robin Lehner that same round.

Silfverberg has played in 342 NHL games, scoring 169 points while Lehner has played in 166 NHL games.

Mika Zibanejad was selected in the first round in 2011 and has gone on to play in 337 NHL games, scoring 188 points.

There has been a drop off since then and they’re hasn’t been a ton of Euro players drafted by the Sens.

However, in 2016 they selected Jonathan Dahlen in the second round who appears to be tracking to a successful NHL career.

In the past decade, the Oilers haven’t done a great job of drafting and developing European players, so hopefully Burda will be able to turn that ship around.