Team

Betting

OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA

Sunday Scramble: The Drop showcases Michael Parkatti and analytics in Oilers’ offseason decisions

Michael Parkatti during the latest of episode of The Drop, the Oilers+ behind-the-scenes show. CREDIT: Edmonton Oilers.

By Michael Menzies

Aug 23, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 23, 2026, 17:39 EDT

Comments

Curious about how involved Michael Parkatti is in the Edmonton Oilers decision-making process? You’d get a good sense watching The Drop.

The Drop is the Oilers+ behind-the-scenes, all-access show. In other words, it’s the treat fans get for their hearty $60 contribution to the OEG app for the season.

Until the latest episode of The Drop came out this week, I’d never watched it before. Usually I feel fulfilled about my Oilers intake during a season. But after going back through old Oil Change episodes on YouTube, hearkening back to Steve Tambellini grinning like a schoolboy at his signing of Kurtis Foster, I thought I’d have a peek and see what the buzz is about.

Plus, you never know what these shows can reveal. Sometimes you get a little juice, and there’s a free seven-minute insight the Oilers posted to their own channel (no payment required).

Admittedly, there’s little gossip revealed in this bit of state-sanctioned media, which goes behind the curtain into the Oilers draft room, through the Development Camps, and then the free agency war room on Edmonton’s busy July 1. But for those interested in the hockey ops side of running a team, it’s better than an episode of Big Brother this time of year.

The big revelation of the show is Michael Parkatti.

He was promoted to vice president of analytics and tracking this summer, and it’s clear from watching the show that the Oilers want to show off their man. He is everywhere. Parkatti gets nearly as much screen time and one-on-one asides in the diary room as Stan Bowman.

Parkatti was originally hired in 2023 in a data role and has been rising through the ranks since. Parkatti’s interview clips, along with Justin Mahe, director of hockey operations and player experience, and his brother Shaun Mahe, manager of hockey systems and design, are the bulk of the draft portion of the show.

It’s clear the Oilers want to showcase these cogs in the machine that don’t get the day-to-day spotlight, and it certainly looks good if the Oilers show off how analytically inclined they are. But I don’t think this episode is purely for image and keeping up with the Joneses (ie Hurricanes). There’s a concerted effort to have Parkatti and the data-driven systems the Oilers have in place part of player procurement.

That’s the takeaway of the episode. Few what-ifs or what-could-have-beens in terms of trades and signings. Nothing about the Nurse trade with the Boston Bruins that allegedly included Nikita Zadarov.

It’s the nerds they want to showcase. With how ingrained Parkatti is in the operations, you can squint and see a future general manager potential if he plays his cards right.

How much influence does analytics have on the Oilers draft?

Most of Parkatti’s appearances appear in the draft portion of the show, the first block, as the Oilers navigated the selection process by trading down in the second round and adding another pick. Here he’s speaking to your common fan about analytics in general:

“I think any organization that starts embracing analytics is going to have a period where, when they start doing it, it’s a different way of thinking, and a different lens to interpret the game and the concept of value. I’m coming into my fourth season now, and I feel like one of the ways that we embed ourselves further into the organization is you establish a track record over time. They can see, ‘Hey, this was good advice that we gave. Or this was a useful recommendation.’”

Parkatti on working with the scouting departments:

“The instances where I think we’ve found the most traction is we have a more traditional scouting-based viewpoint that is bolstered and accentuated by analytics. You have these Venn diagrams where if you find a situation where these diagrams converge, that’s where I’ve found the most traction. Whether that’s for the amateur draft or free agency. You’re looking for those situations where everyone is happy.
“There’s a disconnect now between what the fans have access to and what the teams have access to. And that wasn’t the case 15 years ago, but it’s certainly true now. So sometimes fans might not understand why we’re doing something. But there are lots of things happening behind the scenes that might be different than what the fan sees online.
“You gain trust with scouts, either amateur or pro, when you’re giving them something that they can go validate with their own eyes. Oh, that actually matches my interpretation of the player. Of course there is going to be instances where they disagree, but that’s just part of the business.
“Part of our objective is we’re trying to get intelligence on any player across the world, and you’re going to get different levels of fidelity for these players. We’re trying to innovate and get as much as we can. When we evaluate a player at the NHL level, we’re learning what things are important, and then we’re essentially trying to replicate that template…

The Oilers have their own app they use to track players, and Stan Bowman keeps Parkatti up late at night giving him ideas on how to improve the app’s interface.

“We have our own internal app essentially that we use. You can look at any player on the planet….I will get texts from Stan at one in the morning that he’s trying to do something, saying he’d love to have it like this, and then we get it into production the next day. It really is pretty tight.”

Parkatti on how the free agency process works from their analytics side:

“When we think about the type of value they can provide, you have to estimate their output. What are you going to provide for our roster? So we really translate these things into how many wins can they provide our roster. Wins over dollars. That’s the basic math.
“We live in a game where every dollar spent is important. More and more we’re thinking about how to translate that concept of goodness into how much that asset is valued at. We’re trying to maximize the amount of goodness on our roster at any given time given the dollar constraints we have.”

With the brief view into the war room on July 1, you can see how Parkatti’s department would advocate for a player like Ryan Shea. President Jeff Jackson asked some questions about the player. Why did it take till the age of 29 for him to pop? He spoke to the fears the Oilers might be signing a player dining off one career season. Although not explicitly shown, this is where the analytics people allayed Jackson’s concerns.

As Stan Bowman has said, and as writers on Oilersnation have written, Shea’s underlying numbers on the penalty kill were some of the best in the league last season. In the show, Shea’s original ask was $4.5 million for four to five years. Eventually, they meet at a $4 million figure for five years, just a tick below the deal they gave to Connor Murphy.

What other front office secrets were revealed on The Drop?

Bowman said trading down from the 52nd pick to the 58th pick while also getting the 133rd pick was a calculated gamble that paid off, considering they were still able to draft Rudolfs Berzkalns.
The Oilers seemingly planned heading into July 1 to run a three-goalie system. Talks with Frederik Andersen were in the four million range as they were negotiating with Buffalo on Devon Levi. The question would be, what if Andersen stood on his number, and the Oilers don’t sign him? Would they still be targeting another goaltender? I tend to think they would.
Bowman on the three-goalie tandem: “This was probably going to be the ideal approach. To get a young goalie who wants to get cemented in the NHL and you don’t want to be too much pressure on them. Then you’ve got Freddie Andersen, who’s had a tremendous NHL career. Then you have Tristan, who is looking to have a rebound. In our instance, when you add it all up, it made a lot of sense.”
There’s snippets of the Nurse trade situation, as you can see eyes light up in the room once Nurse says he’ll listen to San Jose. The ball got moving quickly to figure that out, and as we know, the signings came fast afterwards.
The Oilers originally told Kasperi Kapanen they’d only be able to do $2 million, but again, once the Nurse trade went through, things changed. They were able to bump the dollars to $2.6 million, and AGM Bill Scott says they gave Kapanen the option of one to three years. Kappy took one.
Bowman liked how Kapanen played under Mike Babcock in the past. “I think Mike is very comfortable with what Kappy can bring to the table. He was excellent for us in the playoffs. But we wanted to find a way to make that work.”
Edmonton was asking about Claude Giroux from the get-go, as was reported a couple of times in the early free agency period. He’d end up going back to Ottawa on a $2 million salary with up to $3 million in bonuses. “Giroux is likely staying east. But doesn’t sound like he’s going to make any decision today,” said Scott.
A humorous one. Bowman is blown away that agent Allan Walsh played with Babcock at McGill.
The Oilers inviting Abbey Murphy, Chloe Primerano, and Caitlin Kraemer to Development Camp, as well as PHWL coach Erin Ambrose, was a cool touch. They spoke highly of their experience.

Was Darryl Sutter ever an option to coach the Oilers?

One other thing I caught this week that’s worth a mention. Darryl Sutter was on The Cam & Strick podcast recently, and a clip of him talking about Johnny Gaudreau and Matt Tkachuk leaving the Flames went viral. He said it shouldn’t have been a surprise that those American boys left, considering how COVID went. It’s a great listen overall, as his book will come out in October.

When the Bruce Cassidy saga rolled on in May and June and the list of Stanley Cup-winning coaches is short, some wondered whether Sutter would coach in Edmonton. He wasn’t asked, and wouldn’t have said yes.

“I didn’t talk to them and I really wasn’t interested at all,” said Sutter.

“My wife and I decided three years ago that we were pretty much done with that. We were gone 45 years other than summers. We just said, it’s time for the grandchildren and for us to take a step back and do what we want to do. Being from Alberta, you gotta pull for Edmonton and Calgary, but in terms of the coaching part, I don’t have any desire to do that day-to-day thing. If somebody just wanted me for playoffs, or the home games, I’d be there.”

A junior team celebrates 35 years

This weekend, I went back to Bonnyville to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Junior A Pontiacs in the AJHL. They had their first alumni game in franchise history, and although they didn’t have some of the greats like Mark Letestu, Justin Fontaine, or Bobby McMann there, some tremendous people came back to town for the first time in ages. A good handful from the capital region, too.

Included in this picture is Pontiacs franchise leader in points Andy Doktorchik, who played from 1995-1999 with the Pontiacs. That’s a total of 210 games, scoring 117 goals and 268 points. Doktorchik jumped right into the ECHL after his Junior A playing days, and carved out a pro career for a handful of years until his retirement.

He drove from Texas to attend, having not been back since 1999. It’s cool moments like that which make working in the game great.

Bonnyville Pontiacs 35th anniversary teams pose a picture on Friday night at the RJ Lalonde Arena in Bonnyville.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

PRESENTED BY NATION GEAR

THE OFFSEASON SOCIAL CLUB HAS ARRIVED! The new era of Nation Gear starts here. Introducing the Nation Gear x Levelwear Offseason Social Club Collection — a limited edition collection built for the fans who know the sports lifestyle doesn’t stop. Designed for golf rounds, patio hangs, weekend trips, and every plan in between, this collection blends premium performance with everyday leisure. It’s versatile enough to dress up, comfortable enough to live in, and made for wherever the offseason takes you. Because being a sports fan isn’t a season — it’s a personality. Welcome to the club. Shop the Offseason Social Club now. nationgear.ca