Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As per tradition, I’ve got a brand new mailbag set to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their takes. This week, we’re discussing the NHL Draft, Oilers off-season plans, contracts, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

I can’t answer. I don’t have enough information on players to make a valid evaluation. But I will admit I never read the winner or loser articles, because most authors base it on how they viewed the players. If team A drafted a player they like they get a better grade. To me the winners of the draft were teams who traded picks for legit, proven NHL players. We don’t know how good any of the top picks will be. When Macklin Celebrini was picked no one said he’d be a top five scorer in his second season.

I’m not a draft guy so I might, but I liked what they did. According to their director of amateur scouting, Rick Pracey, they stuck to their guns in terms trying to find hidden values. That screams the Oilers have implemented their analytics department into their draft process.

Seems fairly ho-hum, which happens when you don’t have a top-50 pick. They were able to trade down and get another player, so that’s a bonus. Tried to take some swings deeper in the draft. But this is a loooong term proposition type of draft. Ultimately, their move to make at the draft was the Darnell Nurse trade, and it didn’t happen.

It was obviously a pretty quiet weekend. I thought we might see something like the Darnell Nurse trade on day two of the draft but that didn’t happen. I liked their decision to move down in the second round and grab another pick later. That was solid. I don’t know enough about these prospects though to give you any analysis though.

I like the idea of picking a big centre with the #58 pick. Outside of that I don’t really have much of an opinion. We’ll see how this latest batch of scratchers plays out. Big day for the kids.

I can’t answer. I don’t have enough information on players to make a valid evaluation. But I will admit I never read the winner or loser articles, because most authors base it on how they viewed the players. If team A drafted a player they like they get a better grade. To me the winners of the draft were teams who traded picks for legit, proven NHL players. We don’t know how good any of the top picks will be. When Macklin Celebrini was picked no one said he’d be a top five scorer in his second season.

Again, not a draft guy, but the Sharks seemed to have killed it. The Nation Network’s draft expert Steven Ellis, highlighted how all three of their first-round picks, Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Ryan Lin, entered the season as top-10 prospects. They’re going to be a very dangerous team very quickly.

Wouldn’t you know it, but the teams who picked one and two won the draft. But seriously, both Toronto and San Jose appear to have extracted some value beyond those two picks, so they look like winners. Losers? Boston trading two firsts for Peterka. Good lord, if the Mammoth are trading him away after the haul they used to trade him for, something is rotten in Salt Lake.

I liked Utah going out and getting Sebastien Cossa. It’s a great gamble for them, considering they have Vejmelka to carry the load for a few years and they have a bunch of young pieces already in their system so they didn’t need another first round pick. For a loser, I’ll say Columbus Blue Jackets fans. It’s a shame that Zach Werenski might be on his way out. That fan base deserves better.

The Sharks seemed to be the default winner on the broadcast, so I’ll go ahead and take that as my answer.

Currently (Sunday night) they only have one NHL goalie under contract, so I have to go with goalie. You need two.

It would be goaltending in my eyes. They need to find a way to improve on Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram.

All pucks point to the crease on this question, but I fear Bowman will belligerent on his Jarry trade, which then compromises the crease whoever the other goalie is. I’m a fan of Ingram, and would welcome him back because I believe he has more to give. However, you’re going to get Iyla Mikheyev and be forced to like it because this is a team of Chicago Blackhawks ex-pats, apparently.

Well, it kind of has to be a goalie, no? They could go into the year with this current group of defensemen, although I still think Nurse will get traded, but they need to add another goalie. I guess if that just ends up being Connor Ingram, then maybe the bigger, flashier add comes to the forward group. Maybe someone like Jake DeBrusk.

Goalie for sure, but then I would say impact forward. Also depends if Nurse is back or not.

I guess McDavid and Draisaitl since they claim they need to be coached.

I think it’s going to be Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Babcock and Bowman talked a lot in his opening press conference about getting more out of the bottom of the roster, opening up the ability for the big two to reduce some of their minutes. That’s going to pay dividends for them.

In theory, you could say Tristan Jarry, with the thinking that improved structured play will help the Oilers goaltending the most. Of the skaters, I’m fascinated to see how Evan Bouchard responds to Babcock’s coaching, and whether they can continue removing those facepalm plays that keep him out of some people’s elite defenceman discussions.

Trent Frederic and Tristan Jarry come to mind. Knoblauch really leaned on Ingram over Jarry down the stretch and was surprisingly vocal about Ingram being their guy. A fresh start for Frederic is probably a good thing too, hopefully he takes advantage of it.

I’m gonna go with Trent Frederic. No one needs a fresh start more than him, and maybe a new voice can get some more out of him.

A seven year deal for a bottom six winger.

Based on the last two July 1’s, it seems like any contract signed on opening day is destined to fail.

A bottom-six winger around the age of 30 to a six or seven year deal with a no-move clause. We have one at home.

Overpaying for middle-six wingers. It’s been killing them the last number of summers with moves like Skinner, Arvidsson, and Mangiapane not working out. Obviously, I’d like to see them add someone, but they just need to be sure that whoever they sign is going to be a good fit. There’s always risk in free agency, but the Oilers can’t be in a spot where they’re paying to get out of a deal again. Any depth player getting a lot of term instantly scares me.

Probably “any” is the answer. Long memories, you know?