THE GRADUATES!

11 years ago

Another year, another astonishing rookie crop. Since 2010, the Edmonton Oilers have added exceptional young talents to their roster and watched them play major roles on the young team. This year promised to be very good, and it did not disappoint in terms of quality rookies.

2010-11

Jordan Eberle 69, 18-25-43
Taylor Hall 65, 22-20-42
Magnus Paajarvi 80, 15-19-34
Linus Omark 51, 5-22-27
Jeff Petry 35, 1-4-5

2011-12

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 62, 18-34-52
Anton Lander 56, 2-4-6
Teemu Hartikainen 17, 2-3-5
Colten Teubert 24, 0-1-1

2012-13

Nail Yakupov 48, 17-14-31
Justin Schultz 48, 8-19-27

That’s an amazing cluster of players. There’s no goaltender, but two fine defensemen, a center with a wide range of skills, and the marquee position (winger) delivered three outstanding players (Hall, Eberle, Yakupov) and a nice one in Paajarvi. All in a three year span!

OILERS HAVE DONE BETTER IN THE PAST!

Sure, the best rookie cluster in a three year period was probably 1979-1981, and it stopped traffic:

THE ROOKIES 79-80

Dave Lumley (80, 20-38-58)
Kevin Lowe (64, 2-19-21)
Peter Driscoll (39, 1-5-6)

THE ROOKIES 80-81

Jari Kurri (75, 32-43-75)
Glenn Anderson (58, 30-23-53)
Paul Coffey (74, 9-23-32)

THE ROOKIES 81-82

Grant Fuhr (48, 3.31 .899)
Charlie Huddy (41, 4-11-15)

The list of players who were not considered rookies because of WHA games played (Gretzky, Messier, etc) would make this three year cluster the best all-time for any team. As it is, that’s a handful of HOFers plus very nice pieces on top of it. Fuhr in goal, Coffey, Lowe, Huddy on the blue and Kurri, Anderson and Lumley up front is glorious in a three year span.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

This may not be the best three season rookie cluster in team history, but it’s certainly worthy of a double take. I do think the three number one picks will reach exceptional levels of play, so we should re-visit the conversation a few years down the road. Add in Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz and a fine young player in Petry and we could be looking at something very special building here.

These kids are just getting started.