Despite missing out on the entire second round, the Oilers have decided to forego the third round as well as they have traded back in the draft order to pick up a pair of selections in the fourth and fifth round respectively.

Even though it’s felt like an eternity since the Oilers were able to participate at the draft, Ken Holland and his staff opted to skip the third round as well, picking up a pair of later selections in a move that surprised many fans that had spent the morning waiting for something to happen. Rather than give up the pick to Calgary as part of the Lucic/Neal trade, the Oilers instead traded the 76th overall pick to San Jose in exchange for pick #100 and #126.

Shortly before the pick, the Oilers issued the following statement:

While I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised to see the Oilers trade down for more picks, it is interesting that they were comfortable going through three rounds with only one player being added to their depth chart. That said, I fully understand that the later rounds of the draft can be more of a crapshoot, and having a pair of later picks to gamble on may make sense if the player they were targetting was already off the board.

With the 76th overall pick, the San Jose Sharks opted to choose Danil Gushchin from the USHL.

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