On Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers traded Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a fourth-round pick, giving them another dart to throw in the middle of the draft.
This was the second time the pick had been traded between the two teams, as it was the asset the Oilers gave up in the trade for Vasily Podkolzin. Edmonton originally acquired this fourth-rounder from the Ottawa Senators last summer.
In this article, we’ll look at the history of the 117th pick, looking at who the Oilers have drafted with the selection, as well as any notable players from around the league. Let’s dig in!
Oilers select Caleb Jones in 2015
The 2015 draft was a weird one. Edmonton won the Connor McDavid sweepstakes, landing him first overall, but then Peter Chiarelli traded the 16th overall pick and the 33rd overall pick to the New York Islanders for Griffin Reinhart.
As bad of a general manager as Chiarelli was, the Oilers always seemed to draft well when he was at the helm. That draft saw them select Ethan Bear in the fifth round and John Marino in the sixth round, two players who’ve played 200 or more games.
Another late-round pick for the Oilers was the fourth-round pick, the 117th selection. They used it to draft Caleb Jones. Like Bear and Marino, Jones has played more than 200 games in the NHL, scoring 14 goals and 55 points in 248 games. Jones has played for four teams in his career: the Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, and, most recently, the Los Angeles Kings.
He spent only three seasons with the Oilers, scoring five goals and 19 points in 93 games. In the summer of 2021, they sent him and a third-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks (the team his brother Seth played for) in exchange for Hall of Fame defenceman Duncan Keith, who was recently inducted.
Notable players selected 117th overall
I’ve done a whole lot of these “history of a draft pick” articles in recent times, and will do more for the upcoming MLB draft. Keith was the only Hall of Famer taken with a pick I covered, as he was taken with the 54th overall pick. Well, that was until the Oilers acquired the 117th overall pick, as the most notable player drafted in this spot is Brett Hull.
The Calgary Flames selected Hull in the 1984 draft. Thankfully, he didn’t make a name for himself in Calgary, instead playing the bulk of his career with the St. Louis Blues. One of those seasons saw him score an incredible 86 goals, something we’ll likely never see again.
In 1999, he won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars, followed by winning a Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2001-02. Overall, he finished with 1,269 games, scoring 741 goals and 1,391 points. In the postseason, Hull scored 103 goals and 190 points in 202 games. In 2009, Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame thanks to an outstanding career, joining his father Bobby as the first father/son duo in the HOF.
Although Adrian Aucoin didn’t have nearly the career that Hull did, the defenceman played over 1,000 games, no small feat for a 117th overall pick. The right-shot defenceman was drafted by the Canucks in the 1992 draft and went on to played 1,108 games with 121 goals and 399 points. He retired after the 2012-13 season.
Jones may have been the only player the Oilers drafted 117th, but he isn’t the only 117th overall pick to have played for the Oilers. The most notable is Jaroslav Špaček, who played just 31 regular-season games with the Oilers in 2005-06, scoring five goals and 19 points. However, he helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals, scoring three goals and 14 points in 24 games. The defenceman retired after the 2012-13 season.
Other than Hull, there was only one other Stanley Cup winner selected 117th overall, Donald Dufresne. He won the Cup with the Montréal Canadiens in 1993, and later played 64 games with the Oilers between the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. The defenceman retired after the 1997-98 season.
Hull, Aucoin, and Špaček are the big dogs selected 117th overall, but there are some other players with over 100 games played who have retired. Perry Anderson (1980) played 400 games with 50 goals and 109 points. Cam Janssen (2002) played 336 games with six goals and 14 points after being drafted by the New Jersey Devils. He wasn’t the only Devil drafted 117th that went on to play NHL games, as Matt Halischuk (2007) played 280 games, scoring 33 goals and 75 points.
Other notable retired players drafted 117th overall with 100 games played are Jack Carlson (1974), Dale Purinton (1995), and James Write (2008). Additionally, Evgeny Namestnikov (1991), Rob Robinson (1987), and Olli Malmivaara played at least one NHL game before retiring.
There are a handful of players drafted 117th overall still playing, the most notable of which is Michael Bunting, who was selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2014 draft. He’s up to 344 games with 95 goals and 219 points in 344 games. Emil Bemström, Bunting’s teammate in Pittsburgh, was one of two players selected 117th that played NHL games in 2024-25, as he has 34 goals and 75 points in 242 games. The other was Jones, who played just six games.
One of the oldest drafted players who still played hockey in 2024-25 was selected 117th in the 2002 draft. Julien Sprunger was drafted by the Minnesota Wild, but never came to North America; in fact, he never left his native Switzerland. The 39-year-old is the captain of HC Fribourg-Gottéron and played with former Oilers Robert Nilsson and Marc-Antoine Pouliot in 2013-14.
There are others still playing as well. Goaltender Edward Pasquale (2009) played three NHL games and played in Austria in 2024-25. He’s one of a few players drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers who are still playing. Morgan Ellis (2010) played three NHL games and played in Germany last season. Another player drafted 117th in Germany is Taylor Leier (2012). Damien Riat (2016) plays in Switzerland, unfortunately, not with Sprunger.
Linus Cronholm (2018) plays in Sweden’s second tier. Kim Nousiainen (2019) plays in Finland, and Bogdan Trineyev (2020) won the Calder Cup with the AHL’s Hershey Bears in 2023-24, a team he still plays for. Philip Svedeback (2021) and Larry Keenan (2023) each played in the NCAA last season, while Cole Spicer (2022) returned to the United States Hockey League after two seasons in college.
Lastly, Blake Montgomery (2024) won the J. Ross Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup with the London Knights in 2024-25, alongside Oiler prospects Sam O’Reilly and William Nicholl.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
