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UPDATING THAT CRAZY TRADE
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Lowetide
Jun 6, 2016, 21:45 EDTUpdated:
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This is Anton Slepyshev. He was part of an unusual set of trades at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. GM at the time Craig MacTavish took the advice of his scouting department and traded down—twice—in order to add selections. I found it interesting at the time, and decided to follow it every season for five years (we are now through three seasons) to see how things turn out. Here is this summer’s look.

THE TRADE

  • June 30, 2013—Oilers trade No. 37 overall to
    Los Angeles Kings. LAK use selection to draft Valentin Zykov. Oilers
    acquire selections 57, 88 and 96.
  • June 30, 2013—Oilers trade No. 57 overall to St.Louis Blues. STL use
    selection to draft William Carrier. Oilers acquire selections 83, 94
    and 113.
So, bottom line is this:
  • Edmonton traded Valentin Zykov to Los Angeles for Bogdan Yakimov, Anton Slepyshev, Jackson Houck, Kyle Platzer and Aidan Muir.

LAST YEAR

I wrote about this deal a year ago, coming to this conclusion:
  • The three Oilers prospects playing pro hockey (Slepyshev, Yakimov,
    Platzer) are all on par (or higher) compared to Zykov. The LAK’s
    prospect being called a power forward (AHL site lists him at 6.0, 209)
    seems a little hopeful but his 12 shots in five games suggests we may be
    looking at an interesting offensive player. MacT won this deal based on what we know today.
  • Source

THIS SEASON’S PROGRESS

  • Valentin Zykov. The young man was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the deadline. He was the major piece in the LAK trade for Kris Versteeg. He played only 45 games in his pro debut, scoring 7-7-14 (NHLE: 12 points) and of course getting traded. He was highly thought of as a prospect on draft day, but there has not been a great deal of progress. I think you have to wait five years on a prospect, and he still has time. A new organization may give him a chance to flourish in a new role.

OILERS

Jackson Houck was not signed by Edmonton, so is no longer a part of the conversation. Here is a quick update on each player still in play or signed by Edmonton.
  • Anton Slepyshev. A strange year for the winger, as he made the NHL out of camp (11, 0-1-1) but was found wanting and sent down. In the AHL (49, 13-8-21. NHLE: 17 points) he struggled with injury and could not find the offensive range. He has size and speed, the skill seemed to be missing for long stretches this season. He was dynamite early in the pre-season, so I would rank him as the most impressive prospect in the trade at this time.
  • Bogdan Yakimov. He played most of the season in Bakersfield, and some in the KHL. When a Condor
    (36, 5-10-15. NHLE: 16 points) he ran in place year over year. When in
    the KHL (11, 3-1-4. NHLE: 24 points) he performed a little better
    compared to his now (mostly) two AHL seasons. We are unsure about his future as a prospect but he has some promise.
  • Kyle Platzer. Turned pro after a strong finish to his junior career, and sat a bunch in Bakersfield. When Platzer did play (48, 6-11-17. NHLE: 14 points) the results were reasonable. In some ways, he is the most interesting prospect from the Oilers side, but the organization has to commit to him and play him as a regular.
  • Aidan Muir. His scoring totals (35gp, 2-6-8, NHLE: 8 points) at Western Michigan was halved year over year, but all is not lost. According to Chris Dilks (link below) he created more scoring chances this year but was a victim of a ghastly shooting percentage.
  • Source

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

As with all trades, monitoring by calendar is better than by clock (source: Brian Burke). Two of the Oilers kids have played in the NHL, but their path to full time employment is not clear at this time. Platzer and Muir are still making progress—uneven to be sure—and we hope to find out more in the coming months.
The race at this point is not quite over, but Zykov needs to have a recovery season in 2016-17. At this point, with miles to go, I think we can argue that Craig MacTavish made a good trade on the draft floor in 2013.
Photo by Mark Williams.
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