THINGS I THINK I THINK

THINGS I THINK I THINK

• The Oilers may trade out of the lottery position after their slotting is known. Ideally, Edmonton wins the lottery, but if they do, I think there is at least a chance the club deals down. No. 2 prospect Patrik Laine could be a better fit for Edmonton, and securing another draft pick—or a defenseman—might involve trading down. If the Oilers end up No. 3 or worse, trading down has some appeal.

• Peter Chiarelli’s ‘no-trade’ list is probably smaller than most of us would hope, or imagine. Connor McDavid is on it, suspect Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse are as well. I have mentioned this in the last few days, some pushback but for me the this trio is likely part of Chiarelli’s heart of the order. This is your future, Oilers fans.

Peter Chiarelli on getting defensive help: “I am reasonably 
confident I’ll be able to address it in a meaningful way, yes. If you 
asking whether in a trade or not, that’s probably the most effective 
way.” Source

• There are tons of Oilers fans running around saying ‘they won’t trade the Nuge’ but at some point you have to give in order to get. RNH is my favorite Oiler, full stop. I think he could be dealt this summer. Same applies for Jordan Eberle, although increasingly I wonder if his trade value (contract length, price point, value delivered) may not be enough to satisfy the ask from another team.
• I don’t think Taylor Hall is being shopped, but if one of these big names (Subban, Karlsson) shakes loose, you never know. It is also possible that an NHL team loads up an offer (Sami Vatanen, Nick Ritchie, Frederik Andersen) in an effort to acquire him. Note: This is not my preference.
• Although the possibility of trading down exists, I do not think Edmonton trades out. Why? The sheer number of picks dealt in 2014 and 2015 means adding selections (and using them) is imperative. Consider the picks who have been traded in the last two drafts:

2014

• No. 33 (Ivan Barbashev) to the St. Louis Blues in the David Perron trade.
• No. 63 (Dominec Turgeon) to the Los Angeles Kings in the Ben Scrivens trade.
• No. 93 (Nick Magyar) to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Mike Brown trade.
• No. 123 (Matthew Berkovitz) to the Anaheim Ducks in the Viktor Fasth trade.
• No. 137 (Tyler Bird) to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Nikita Nikitin trade.

2015

• No. 16 (Mathew Barzal) to the NY Islanders in the Griffin Reinhart trade.
• No. 33 (Mitchell Stephens) to the NY Islanders in the Griffin Reinhart trade.
• No. 57 (Jonas Siegenthaler) to the NY Rangers in the Cam Talbot trade.
• No. 64 (Dennis Yan) to the Anaheim Ducks in the Viktor Fasth trade.
• No. 79 (Sergey Zborovskiy) to the NY Rangers in the Cam Talbot trade.
• No. 86 (Mike Robinson) to the San Jose Sharks as compensation for Todd McLellan.
• No. 94 (Adam Musil) to the St. Louis Blues in the Magnus Paajarvi trade.
• No. 107 (Christian Wolanin) traded to the Ottawa Senators in the Eric Gryba trade.
• No. 184 (Adam Huska) to the NY Rangers in the Cam Talbot trade.

PROJECTED 2016 OILERS PICKS

1. No. 2 overall
2. No. 32 overall
3. No. 62 overall
4. No. 85 overall (Florida pick)
5. No. 87 overall (Pittsburgh pick)
6. No. 122 overall
7. No. 148 overall (St. Louis pick)
8. No. 152 overall
9. No. 182 overall