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With the No. 56 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, the Edmonton Oilers could select… Caden Price?

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Liam Horrobin
9 months ago
The first day of the NHL Entry Draft is going to be a quiet one for the Edmonton Oilers. Of course, the future is not set in stone, so some activity is possible. However, as of today, the Oilers’ first-round pick belongs to the Nashville Predators.

NHL DRAFT CONTENT PRESENTED BY BETWAY


That exchange happened right before the trade deadline when Ken Holland pulled the trigger on a Mattias Ekholm trade. Heading to Smashville with the first-round pick were Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaefer, and a third-rounder for this year too.
With that, Holland and his team won’t pick until the second round at 56th overall.
The first round of this draft class is extremely talented, with the headliner being Connor Bedard. Despite having a later pick, the Oilers should still have good options available to them when the clock starts to tick.
Caden Price is an option for them at 56.

Caden Price Scouting Report and Profile

Position: Defenceman
Shoots: Left
Nationality: Canada
Date of Birth: August 24, 2005
Height: 6’1″ / 185 cm
Weight: 181 lbs / 82 kg

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Price is a left-shot defenceman currently playing for the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League. Now in his second season of junior hockey, Price has 112 games played with the Rockets scoring seven goals and 61 points.
According to draft experts around North America, the Rockets’ defenceman ranks anywhere from 29th to 57th, falling within the range of the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers have a deep(ish) prospect pool on the left side; however, Price brings a different flavour to what they already have. He is a modern-day defenceman that is mobile with the puck and can generate offence. He shows good intelligence with his play selection and his puck possession.
He plays a finesse game and likely won’t hammer a slap shot in from the blueline like Evan Bouchard Instead, he is creating space for himself on the blueline by keeping his feet moving with the puck, which is opening up lanes in front. From there, he’s able to create chances for him. Additionally, if he passes the puck rather than shoots, Price finds the open ice making himself an option. A high intelligence player in the offensive zone.
Defensively, he gets his stick on pucks often. It might not always be a perfect execution of knocking the puck away, but he is disrupting the play consistently. He doesn’t use his body much physically, instead, he positions his body well and utilizes his stick in battles.
At the NHL level, he may need to bring up his physicality a little more often. However, we have seen the Bouchard adjust his game more in that department in the last couple of years too, so there’s still plenty of time for Price to add that.
Price isn’t a perfect prospect by any means. However, he brings that offensive still that the Oilers glamour over. He won’t project to be a top-pairing defenseman but is more than likely a top-four player sometime down the road.
Price was a second-round pick in his WHL draft class and turned out to be better than projected. Perhaps the same tale can be told again if the Oilers take him at 56.

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