Ellis: Oscar Fisker Mølgaard could be a top five player from this draft class
1 year ago
The NHL draft isn’t as exciting as it once was for the Edmonton Oilers fans. Luckily for this city, it is because the ambitions have changed from chasing the #1 pick in the draft to becoming one of the best teams in the NHL.
We have all heard the name Connor Bedard a little more over this past season, and rightfully so. Bedard had a tremendous year with the Regina Pats in the Western Hockey League, scoring at over a two-point per game rate with 71 goals and 143 points in 57 regular season games. You can add 20 more points to that tally from seven playoff games.
Incredible stuff from the soon-to-be first-overall pick.
While he sits atop everyone’s draft board, teams continue to seek out players later on that could help change the form of their franchise. I am not talking about finding a Joe Pavelski in the 7th round, which every team would, of course, love to have, but instead someone towards the later end of the first and early second round that has room to grow.
In recent memory, the Dallas Stars found Wyatt Johnston at 23 in 2021, who then scored 24 goals in his rookie season. The Stars did it a few years before that too, taking Jason Robertson early in the 2nd round, who now has 104 goals in 210 games.
Outside of Dallas, the Rangers took K’Andre Miller 22nd overall in 2018, Chicago found Alex Debrincat at 39th in 2016, and Carolina went Sebastian Aho at 35th in 2015.
On Oilersnation Everyday with Tyler Yaremchuk, Liam Horrobin asked Steven Ellis from Daily Faceoff who could be the next future star from outside of the big names.
“He (Oscar Fisker Mølgaard) is somebody who could go late in the 1st round. He has the speed, the skill and is incredibly competitive. He played for Denmark at the World Champions, he didn’t put up any points ut he was creating chances, always buzzing or fighting for the puck. I would say in five years, there is a good chance we are talking about him being a top-five player from this draft class. With that, he might not even be a first-round pick because he didn’t put up a ton of points this year. However, the raw skill is definitely there.”
Mølgaard spent most of his time in the SHL last season with HV71, with former Edmonton Oilers defenceman/forward Joey LaLeggia. His numbers won’t jump off the page with only seven points in 41 games; however, as Ellis said, it is the raw skill that makes Mølgaard appealing.
Ellis has Mølgaard ranked at #40 on his 2023 NHL draft rankings, one below Caden Price, who could be a possible target for the Oilers at 56. He had this to say about him in his rankings:
“Mølgaard didn’t produce much in the SHL, but the fact that a 2005-born played more than 40 games against some of the best competition in Europe is nothing to sneeze at. He was excellent against U-20 competition, and, honestly, the smart, controlled centre could end up becoming one of the biggest steals of the draft given his pro-ready tools.”
While it is expected that Mølgaard goes in the late 1st and early 2nd range, the idea of him falling to the Oilers shouldn’t be completely counted out. Last season, Daily Faceoff had Tristan Luneau ranked at #40, and he fell to the Anaheim Ducks at #53.
The NHL draft is a challenging event to predict outside of the top 5 or 10 picks. Could Mølgaard go in the 1st round? More than likely. With that, if he falls and the projections are accurate, Holland needs to find a way to make Mølgaard an Oiler.
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