Right now the Oilers have four picks at the NHL Draft but are there more coming?

Happy draft day, everybody, this year the Oilers are picking late in the first round and won’t be picking until 158 on day two. Will Ken Holland do something to address the lack of picks in the early rounds?

As we saw last year when Ken Holland traded down and grabbed Xavier Bourgault at 22nd overall, he’s already shown a willingness to move back in the order if it means grabbing more picks to use. And considering the Oilers won’t have much to do between pick 29 and the fifth round on day two, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Ken Holland decided to make a move that lands him an extra bullet or two for his scouts to play with or as add-ons for potential trades. We’ve already seen him throw this pitch on a few separate occasions, so maybe we should even expect it? Either way, as it stands right now on July 6th, the Oilers have four picks in the bank to play with and we shall see where we go from here.

At last year’s draft, Ken Holland moved the 19th overall pick to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for the 22nd overall pick and the 90th overall pick, and that makes me wonder how likely it is that we might see something similar again today? I know we’re picking later than normal this time around, but who knows what the draft boards look like around the league, and maybe someone will get all hot for whoever is available by the time Edmonton gets on the clock. If you think back to last year, the Oilers moved down a few slots and ended up with Xavier Bourgault and Luca Munzenberger, which seems like an okay haul in hindsight and I wonder if Ken Holland will want to do it again.

Over the last couple of drafts, the Oilers picked up players like Carter Savoie, Tyler Tullio, and Matvey Petrov in the latter rounds of the draft, and that makes me hopeful that the scouting department can keep adding some skill to the depth chart as the draft wears on. In my humble opinion, Edmonton needs more skilled forwards in the mix for down the line and it would be very nice if they could manage to find a diamond in the rough. If Ken Holland thinks that his scouting team can keep the (maybe) hits coming, why wouldn’t he try to swing some deals that take advantage of their work?

If you’re looking to get caught up on some of the players that may end up available to the Oilers in the first round, Cam Lewis has been putting some draft profiles together over the last couple of weeks that you should check out below.