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

The Edmonton Oilers moved on from another draft pick earlier this week; acquiring Jayden Grubbe from the New York Rangers for a 2023 5th round pick. After moving the pick, Ken Holland now has three picks to play with in the draft, including the 56th overall pick.

Caden Price, Hunter Brzustewicz, and Felix Unger Sörum all seem like good options for the Oilers in the 2nd round. Another name the team should look at is Koehn Ziemmer.

Koehn Ziemmer is a third-year player with the Prince George Cougars in the Western Hockey League. Throughout his time in Prince George, Ziemmer has scored at a 0.5 rate with 80 goals in 160 games. From the 2021-22 to 2022-23 season, only seven players outscored him in the WHL.

The Cougars forward would fit nicely into the Edmonton Oilers prospect depth pool. Currently, the franchise has Xavier Bourgault, Tyler Tullio, and Maksim Berezkin down as right-wingers. The three of them also play other positions with Bourgault and Tullio as centres and Berezkin can play the other wing. Adding Ziemmer brings a different flavour to the organization for years to come.

Along with his scoring abilities, Ziemmer would bring a power-forward style to the game too. He knows how to use his body to his advantage in scoring situations along with protecting the puck around the boards and executing from there.

He isn’t just a goalscorer either. Ziemmer wrapped up his second full season in the WHL with a career-high of 48 assists in 68 games. Combined with his previous totals, he has 78 assists in 160 games helping round out his game.

Steven Ellis from Daily Faceoff released his top 100 prospects for the upcoming draft. Ellis has Ziemmer ranked at 50 only six ahead of where the Oilers could pick. Here is what he said about the Prince George forward:

With everything that Ziemmer does on the ice, he feels like a great fit for Edmonton. Off the ice, the story gets better with Ziemmer being from Mayerthorpe, Alberta, just a couple hours outside of the city. He played his minor hockey a little closer to the City of Champions splitting time between Spruce Grove, St Albert, and in the OHA Edmonton program.

It would be a great pick if Ziemmer fell to the Oilers at 56. However, a player of his talents feels like someone a team will take a flyer on earlier in the second round.

With that said, if he is available at 56, the Edmonton Oilers need to take Koehn Ziemmer.