What Edmonton Oilers fans want from the 56th overall pick

The 2023 NHL Entry Draft gets started tomorrow in Nashville. In previous seasons, the draft has been an exciting time for Edmonton Oilers’ fans after years of disappointment in the regular season. However, this time around, the Oilers won’t even have a pick on day one of the draft.

Instead, Ken Holland won’t make a pick until 56th overall in the 2nd round. After that, it won’t be until rounds six and seven that we hear the Oilers voices again. Of course, there’s always the possibility of trading up or down in the draft, which Holland has done in the past. Don’t be surprised if the Oilers move down from 56 to gain more in the 2nd and 3rd.

Either way, we wanted to hear your voice on who the Oilers should take with the 56th overall pick. Over the past month or so, we have looked at a bunch of potential prospects lingering around that area on draft boards and explained why they could be great players at that point. Caden Price from the Kelowna Rockets, Etienne Morin from the Moncton Wildcats and Luca Cagnoni from the Portland Winterhawks are just a few names reported on.

With that, let’s take a look at who you want to pick at 56th overall.

Kalan Lind was the overwhelming favourite answer. Lind is a Red Deer Rebels from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, who had a great third year in the WHL, scoring 16 goals and 44 points in 43 games. His numbers are good but don’t jump off the page heavily at you. However, it is more about everything else that he brings, especially his willingness. Lind goes everywhere he needs to on the ice and shows no fear when doing so. He will go into every battle, drive himself towards the need and doesn’t back down from a fight. The energy he can bring to the game every night is infectious and something that could make him a fan favourite in Edmonton.

We mentioned this off the top as a real possibility for the Oilers. With only three picks in the draft, Holland might want a few more pieces to play with, plus scouts work all year for this event and sometimes you’ve got to throw them a bone of an extra selection. Last year, the Oilers traded down from 29th to 32nd with Arizona and also in the 2021 draft went from 20th to 22nd taking Xavier Bourgault. It will depend on what’s on the board and who the Oilers want. The draft is deep so there’s a good chance there are a few players then like at 56th that could still be there at 60, let’s say.

The idea of drafting another goaltender seems to come from how it performed in the playoffs. However, we are here to tell you if a goalie was picked they would likely take five years to develop, like Stuart Skinner. Edmonton has a good goaltending pool right now with Skinner (24) leading the way, Olivier Rodrigue (22) bounceback in Bakersfield, Ryan Fanti (23) showed promise in the ECHL and Samuel Jonsson (19) is developing nicely in Sweden. There are a few goaltending prospects within the range of the Oilers late in round two, Michael Hrabal is the highest-ranked netminder on Steven Ellis’ list at 44, Adam Gajan follows him at 49 and Trey Augustine at 52.

All in all, the Oilers can’t really miss if they pick any of those options. Lind is a prospect with a bright future and a place not even two hours away from Rogers Place, trading down brings more talent to the organization and the top goaltenders all fall within the Oilers range.

It really is too bad they won’t have a 1st round pick this year for excitement purposes on night one. However, we would all rather have Mattias Ekholm than a 1st round pick, right?

What do you want Holland to do with the 56th overall pick? Be sure to let us know.