Being in win-now mode, the Edmonton Oilers have sacrificed a lot of draft capital in recent years.
Their first selection in this summer’s draft comes in the third round at 83rd overall, by way of the St. Louis Blues as compensation for signing Dylan Holloway.
At some point, the Oilers need to start finding some hidden gems in later rounds. Drafting William Nicholl (seventh-round in 2024) and Connor Clattenburg (fifth-round, 2024) is a start. Finding diamonds in the rough will help extend their window of contention and give the team potential assets to trade for NHL players.
Let’s take a look at some players the Oilers could target with their top pick in this summer’s draft.
William Horcoff
Anything can happen, but the chances of William Horcoff falling to the Oilers in the 83rd overall slot are basically nil. So why include him? Well, Horcoff is the son of former Oiler captain Shawn Horcoff, and it’s a possibility that the Oilers make a trade to move up in the draft, as they recently received the 117th overall pick in the Evander Kane trade.
Last draft, the Oilers traded their 2025 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 32nd overall pick, using it to select Sam O’Reilly. The right-shot centre is one of the Oilers’ best prospects and could potentially be their third-line centre in a few seasons.
As for Horcoff, he’s rated as Daily Faceoff’s 45th-best draft prospect and is best described as a power forward. He has a good shot and is physical, putting up excellent numbers at the 2025 draft combine. As for his statistics, he scored four goals and 10 points in 18 games for the University of Michigan.
Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen
Looking at prospects who have a chance to be available around the 83rd overall pick, Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen is a right-shot defenceman who was a teammate of Horcoff’s at the University of Michigan. Like Horcoff, Rhéaume-Mullen has a notable parent, as his mother is Manon Rhéaume, the first woman to play an NHL game in any capacity.
Rhéaume-Mullen is a 6’1”, 182 lbs right-shot defenceman who scored three goals and nine points in 35 games for the Wolverines. He’s rated as Daily Faceoff’s 85th-best draft-eligible prospect and is considered an excellent skater and defender. His ceiling is that of a third-pairing defender.
Maxim Schäfer
The best German hockey player of all time has a good chance of being an Oiler for life. It’s a country that is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, and Maxim Schäfer is one of the best German players available in the 2025 draft.
Last season for the Deutsche Eishockey Liga’s Eisbären Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears), the 6’3”, 182 lbs winger scored a goal and three points in 31 games as they went on to win the league’s championship.
Schäfer is a big lad who doesn’t use his body for hitting because of his fantastic speed. He’s hard to move in front of the net and has a good shot, ranking as Daily Faceoff’s 87th-best draft prospect.
Tyler Hopkins
While it’d be wonderful to find a Nikita Kucherov or Brayden Point-type player with the 83rd overall pick, finding a forward for the bottom six isn’t a bad thing. A potential player that fits the mould is Kingston Frontenacs centre Tyler Hopkins.
Last season, the 18-year-old left-shot centre scored 20 goals and 51 points in 67 games, along with five assists in 11 postseason games. While the scoring touch isn’t quite there yet, Hopkins is a reliable two-way centre who has “third-line centre” written all over him.
The 6’1”, 178 lbs Campbellville, Ontario native is ranked as Daily Faceoff’s 89th-best prospect. A line with him and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be fun.
Jimmy Lombardi
Sticking with centres who play in the Ontario Hockey League, Jimmy Lombardi is another left-shot centre who could be available with the 83rd overall pick. Last season, Lombardi was teammates with the aforementioned Clattenburg, as well as Nathaniel Day, a netminder the Oilers drafted in the sixth round of the 2023 draft.
Overall, Lombardi finished with 13 goals and 45 points in 63 games, along with an assist in five postseason games. Standing at 6’0”, 175 lb, Lombardi is described as “an excellent” skater who is a two-way forward. Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis ranked Lombardi as his 90th-best draft prospect and noted he could be a hidden gem.
Maxim Agafonov
A National Hockey League team should always try to find the next great Russian in every draft. The Oilers have two interesting Russians in their early 20s, defenceman Nikita Yevseyev, who was a sixth-round pick in 2022, as well as Maxim Berezkin, a winger who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
Berezkin, in particular, is a player I wish the Oilers would bring over. Last season with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, the 23-year-old scored 15 goals and 42 points in 66 games, along with nine goals and 14 points in 21 postseason games to help win the Kontinental Hockey League’s Gagarin Cup. He’d fit well in the Oilers’ middle six.
Tangent aside, the Russian I’d like to highlight for the 83rd overall pick is right-shot defenceman Maxim Agafonov (not to be confused with Maxim Afinogenov). Standing at 6’2”, 198 lbs, Agafonov ranked as Daily Faceoff’s 104th best prospect and is described as a puck-moving defenceman with solid defensive abilities according to his Elite Prospects’ scouting report.
Aganovo split his time between Russia’s junior league and their version of the American Hockey League. In the former, he scored six goals and 14 points in 35 games. In the professional league, he scored a goal and three points in 12 games.
Lucas Beckman
I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight at least one goalie. Last season, the Oilers drafted Eemil Vinni with their second-round pick, a Finnish netminder who missed some time in 2024-25 due to back surgery. He played a total of nine games, performing well in the U-20 league, but not so great in his two professional games.
A netminder who could be available when the Oilers pick 83rd overall is Lucas Beckman, a 6’2” netminder who played for Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He’s a little reactionary, but has good mobility between the pipes along with great results.
Beckman played 52 games in 2024-25, posting a .914 save percentage and 2.65 goals against average, with a 31-18-2 record. In 11 postseason games, his save percentage increased to .922 while his goals against average dropped slightly to 2.57.
This article is dedicated to Bill Grady, a long-time friend of my family. Bill passed away on June 20 at the age of 58. He was a massive Oiler fan, and whenever he’d visit, we’d get lost in conversation about what the Oilers should do in free agency or how the latest season went. Bill was not just an Oiler fan, but one of the nicest individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was a father, a grandfather, a friend, and a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. Gone, but never forgotten.
