Tag Archives: 2018 NHL Entry Draft

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects

Full Oilers Mock Draft Using ISS’s Draft List

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We’re continuing our mock draft exercise with ISS’s list today. If you’re new to the blog or haven’t seen previous posts where we used Hockey Prospect’s draft list and Central Scouting’s list, click on the links and check them out. You’ll be surprised at how much variety there is this year at pick #10 through to pick #195 but that’s great because you’ll learn about so many different prospects.

THE ISS OILERS MOCK DRAFT

  • 10th overall: Joe Veleno (C), Drummondville Voltigeurs, 6’1″, 196lbs

Depending on who you ask, Joe Veleno is the second or third best available center in the first round. He’s a wonderful playmaker but scouts are concerned that his lack of goal-scoring will prevent him from being a top-6 player in the NHL. However, he has good speed and is an industrious worker down low. Akin to Matt Duchene, Veleno can turn on a dime. Scouts in the Black Book really were impressed with his character.

My Pick: I’d take Joel Farabee here if given the chance. He’s ranked #11 by ISS. A player who also has been heralded for his outstanding character and high-end motor, I feel like Farabee’s skating and scoring are a bit better than Veleno’s and I think he’ll be a top-6 forward without doubt.

  • 40th overall: Danila Galenyuk (D), St.Petersburg SKA, 6’1″, 200lbs

Galenyuk is a very effective but boring defenseman. No flash in his game whatsoever. ISS says he’s a “tough to play against two-way defender”. Mobile and powerful in his skating but imposing in front of the net. Maybe an Alex Petrovic-type?

My Pick: Ty Dellandrea is ranked 43 according to ISS and I’d be happy to have him here but it’d be tough because Calen Addison is here too and I know there are some that see him as a more offensively gifted dman long term than Ty Smith. I’ll take Addison because I know the Oilers have an organizational need there.

  • 71st overall: Kody Clark (RW), Ottawa 67s, 6’0″, 180lbs

I’ve been looking forward to seeing what Wendel Clark’s boy would turn out to be and he has a dusting of his old man’s game in him. Quite a good skater and shifty too. Clark uses that speed to effectively forecheck the opposition’s defenders. At times he was Ottawa’s best player. He’s a more complete player than his dad in my opinion but ISS has him topping out as a bottom-6 energy player.

My pick: I’d be happy taking Kody Clark here.

  • 133rd overall: Billy Moskal (C), London Knights, 5’11”, 185lbs

Moskal does many things well but nothing amazing. A very average player who isn’t physical, is sometimes faster than the other team’s players, more of a playmaker than a shooter, and one who shows a good level of compete.

My Pick: Kyle Topping is ranked 140th by ISS and I like what I read about him. One scout said that Topping was one of the most consistent players he’d watched all season. Black Book said Topping has above average hockey sense and strong compete level, he has great knack for knowing where to be in the gap of seam or being able to find teammate when either receiving or giving a pass and quite often his passes lead to easy goals for teammates. I like that. 

  • 164th overall: Dan Kowalczyk (D), Brno, 6’2″, 218lbs

Big-hitting Czech with a bit of a mean streak. Average puck skills and needs to work on his mobility. Very much a rugged stay-at-home defenseman. Not sure if he’d be a candidate to move on to North America from Europe with his poor boots.

My Pick: Paul Cotter, a left-shot centre playing for Lincoln in the USHL. Ranked 100th by the Black Book and 185th by ISS, he’s described as a hard working power forward who likes to play an up-tempo game. Projected to be a bottom-6 forward at the next level but his high Hockey IQ and work ethic could change that for the better. One HP scout said that Cotter has no weaknesses and could see an NHL team trading up to get him.

  • 195th overall: Linus Nyman (RW), Kingston Frontenacs, 5’9″, 156lbs

The little Finn could be compared to Vladdy Tkachev (remember him?) with the skill set that he employs. Strong puckhandler, good vision, and playmaking. Knows how to open up space on the ice for his teammates and is shifty! Not the fastest and gets overmuscled in the corners and puck battles.

My Pick: I’m happy with Nyman here. Solid gamble that could pan out but in the 7th round, who’s really hitting home runs here. That and there’s only 5 more players to choose from on ISS’s list, all of which I’m not as sold on reading their reports.

BLH’S PICKS

  • 1st round – Joel Farabee (LW), USNTDP, 5’11”, 164lbs
  • 2nd round – Calen Addison (D), Lethbridge Hurricanes, 5’10”, 180lbs
  • 3rd round – Kody Clark (RW), Ottawa 67s, 6’0″, 180lbs
  • 5th round – Kyle Topping (C), Kelowna Rockets, 5’11”, 185lbs
  • 6th round – Paul Cotter (C), Lincoln Stars, 6’1″, 190lbs
  • 7th round – Linus Nyman (RW), Kingston Frontenacs, 5’9″, 156lbs

I feel like this is the least favorable mock of the three we did up this year and that I had the team really adding some depth to the Oilers forward group whereas ISS had the Oilers taking a more bruising approach with their players.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below and don’t forget we’ve got some pretty rad draft videos up at the Beer League Heroes YouTube page. Please, go check them out and if you can, subscribe to our channel and that way you’ll be the first to know when a new video is up and you’ll be amongst the first 2000 to subscribe!!!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Drafting for the Oilers Using Central Scouting’s List + Two Vets I’d Like to See the Oilers Add

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Congratulations to Taylor Hall on winning the Hart Trophy last night. He had a helluva season no doubt. I’ve softened my stance on Hall a bit lately. He’s such an electrifying player and so entertaining to watch but I still am behind the Oilers moving on from him and I absolutely love what Adam Larsson brings to the Oilers and how important he is to the Oilers defence now. And I will maintain my belief that if Keith Kincaid hadn’t have been a top-2 goalie in the NHL from February on, the Devils wouldn’t have made the playoffs and Hall wouldn’t have been nominated for the Hart when McDavid should have or even Claude Giroux.

Okay, so in the last week or so I’ve read online that former Edmonton Oiler Jason Chimera would be willing to finish off his career in Edmonton with the team that drafted him and gave him his first crack at the NHL. I’ve also heard Bob Stauffer talk about adding a player like Zack Smith to the lineup in the event Milan Lucic is traded to add some of the leadership and sandpaper back into the team that would leave with Milan.

I’m for both of these moves and I’ll tell you why. I have thought that the Oilers have been going with youth for far too long. I’m a huge fan of having older players on teams to help with the ups and downs of a young player’s early years.

I look at Jason Chimera and I see a guy that is overflowing with character and leadership, a player that could bring so much to a young team not only on the ice but off of it. I see a player who the coaches would love to have on the team because they could lean on him a bit. And lastly, I see a player who’s played in Edmonton before and knows the ins and outs of the market.

Now, Chimera made $2.5M last year and that’s simply too much for a player his age and for the role that he’d play. I’d say anything sub $2M and I’d be happy with that. His career has never really been marred by injury, more or less a 70-82 game player and I’d say at this point he’s a 20-30pt winger at best.

Jason Chimera can still fly out there for 39 years old, so the speed of the game has finally caught up to him. I hope Chiarelli takes a long look at him.

As for Zack Smith, I’ve heard that the Sens owner might just be happy to get to the cap floor and see how things play out since they’re not going to be contending for a Cup any time soon. He feels there’s no point in paying premium dollar if the team isn’t going to be a premium one… Fair enough.

How that affects Zack Smith is that he’s a tad overpaid at $3.25M per year until the 2021/22 season. He’s also only a bottom-6 player but one that is slightly younger and can put up a few more points than Chimera. He’s a centre, so I reckon either Strome would be outtie 5000 or popped over to the wing to accommodate another Zack because they’re not dealing Khaira but I guess JJ could play 4C too…

That being said, you cannot question Smith’s compete level or dedication on the ice and that is something the team really lost when Matt Hendricks went to Winnipeg. A big-brother type for the locker room. A guy who can talk to everyone and hold the team together. A player who’ll stand in front of an oncoming bus for you.

Smith has a modified NTC. He has to submit a 10-team list to the Senators that includes the teams he wishes NOT to go to. Edmonton was on Karlsson’s, does Smith feel the same way?

At the moment and for whatever reason, the players that are on the Oilers who did that job two years ago forgot how to do it last year excluding Jujhar Khaira and Matt Benning I feel. We don’t know why that was as it could’ve been due to injury (concussion) or frame of mind but the team could use a bit more of it.

I wouldn’t see Chimera as a FT player though. Smith would be for sure but Chimera I’d try to manage his ice-time a bit so that the Oilers could use him down the road during the playoff run and in the playoffs because you need as many healthy bodies as possible, especially if they can skate.

Thoughts?

DRAFTING USING CENTRAL SCOUTING’S LIST

Yesterday, we did a little exercise using Hockey Prospect’s Black Book to draft for the Oilers and I’d like to do that again using Central Scouting’s list that I found on a Maple Leafs blog here.

  • 10th – Quinn Hughes (LD), Michigan Univ., 5’9″, 170lbs

I LOVE this kid! Best skater in the draft (Yes, even better than Dahlin). I call him the next Paul Coffey with the way he rushes the puck. His mobility/agility on the ice reminds me of Pavel Bure. I mean putting the comparisons to a player today, this is a defenseman who moves on the ice like Mitch Marner.

Scouting reports tell us that he’s so calm and composed with the puck. He has the ability to make plays while going top speed and he walks the line better than any Johnny Cash song could. Kidding! The Edge work on this player is out of this world. McDavid/Dahlin-like. His offensive awareness is off the charts and while he might not have the best slap shot, his wrist-shot is deadly.

As with most small offense-first dmen, he can be outmuscled off of the puck IF the opposition can catch him. When he doesn’t have the puck he’s not amazing and he’ll need to shore that up once he hits pro.

I believe he’s going to be a superstar in the NHL and Montreal would be wise to select him at 3rd overall.

BLH’S PICK: This is definitely a player I’d take at 10th overall. I’d only take Dahlin or Svechnikov ahead of him if I were the Oilers.

“He’s so creative and the vision is unreal…he mixes in the use of the way he skates with those edges to get so much production out of his talent. I don’t think he’s ever seen a patch of open ice he didn’t exploit. I love that he uses so much ice in the offensive zone to create offence.He’lljumpinto aplayseeminglyoutofnowhereandeitherscore,oratminimumcreatea great scoring chance. His play in his own end can be a big adventure but I think as he matures it will improve.”

  • 40th – Curtis Douglas (LW). Windsor Spitfires, 6’8″, 234lbs

We’ve seen big players come through the pros before but not many as big as Curtis Douglas. He’s nearly 7-feet tall on skates… That’s insane. Could become a better skating Brian Boyle when all is said and done.

The wheels are a tad rough on this big rig and he’ll have to shine those puppies up if he’s going to be in the NHL. The reports tell us he’s quite smart on the ice and knows where to go on the ice to maximize his effectiveness. He could be a massive physical presence on the ice and use that body to simply barge his way into producing but that’s not the case with Douglas. He knows when and when not to use that size to his advantage.

BLH’S PICK: Douglas is not the player I’d take here. I don’t think the Oilers require this type of player in the 2nd round and in reality I reckon his skating drops him into the 4th or 5th round. If we’re picking players around Douglas on Central Scouting’s list, I’d probably be more apt to select one of hulking power forward Albin Eriksson, tricky puck wizard Jesse Ylonen, or Bo Mironov 2.0 Alexander Alexeyev.

“Once you look past Douglas’s skating from a stand-still position, there’s a rare and talented center who has the potential to develop into something more than a lot of previous draft selections that were based on their size could develop into.”

  • 71st – Marcus Westfalt (C), Brynas, 6’3″, 205lbs

The Swede is a multi-positional player who can serve his team not only at centre but also the wing. Quite a smart player who excels on the PK due to his long stick and broad physical presence. To add to that, he uses both those attributes to become a formidable player on the PP where Sweden uses him as the goalie screen.

As with Douglas, Westfalt’s skating is less than stellar and everything about it will have to improve if he’s to make an impact on North American ice anytime soon.

BLH’S PICK: I’m not a huge fan of players who don’t skate well and Westfalt sounds like a bigger version of Anton Lander whom I loved as a player but couldn’t make it as an NHLer due to his boots. I’d go with Jonathan Berggren here because I love his speed, his aggressiveness, and that he reminds me of Viktor Arvidsson a bit.

“He’s a big kid, played smart hockey and a pretty good skater. He’s responsible defensively… played a lot of PK minutes and his coach trusted him with key icetime. On the ice in the last minute with a one goal lead. Not a bad sign for a young kid. Didn’t show me much in the way of skill when I saw him.”

  • 133rd – Anderson MacDonald (LW), Moncton Wildcats, 6’1″, 205lbs

I thought I read about him at the beginning of the season as a possible 1st round pick but it seems that things have really gone south for MacDonald. He is a goal-scoring power forward without a doubt. He’s potted 56 goals in the last two seasons for Sherbrooke and Moncton of the QMJHL but he’s also a combined -50 in that time.

Our reports tell us that he has compete issues and that his skating won’t cut it at the pro level. He’s not a good enough skater nor is he a fast enough one which hurts his stock as a power forward because one of the great pluses of being a player with a big body is that you can be very effective on the forecheck. MacDonald isn’t fast enough to even be effective there.

NHL release on the shot but everything else is below par. Teams may pass him over completely and wait to see how he improves doing into next year’s draft…

BLH’S PICK: What’s with the poor skaters? I wouldn’t take this guy either. His size is nice and the shot is cool but there’s nothing else there. Jack Drury is rated 159th on Central Scouting’s list and I’d have him here no doubt about it. ISS has him at 41… He’s simply a much better player and according to ISS, they’ve got him pegged as a top-6 playmaking forward. Yes, please!

“Not a player that impressed me this year. His compete level is very low. Not sure I’d want to draft him at any point of the draft, just not my cup of tea.”

  • 164th – Xan Gurney (LD), Chicago Steel, 6’3″, 185lbs

ISS doesn’t even rank this fella and the Black Book just mentions him in the scouting reports to which we’re told Gurney doesn’t do too much to get you excited but he’s got good size, moves well enough, makes a nice 1st pass, and likes to hit. Basically Eric Gryba.

BLH’S PICK: No… No Gryba’s here thank you… I’ll take British skiller Liam Kirk. Hockey Prospects has him ranked 113th and tells us he’s a creative and skilled player that uses his speed and fast reads to make plays happen around him.

  • 195th – Peter Stratis (RD), Sudbury Wolves, 6’0″, 190lbs

Stratis is a smaller defender who helps out on the Wolves’ PP due to his good awareness and low accurate shot. He’s very gritty in his own end and doesn’t shy away from a battle in the corners. High work ethic probably makes him a coach’s favorite.

The Black Book’s description of this player is basically Kris Russell.

BLH’S PICK: Probably not taking this guy either. He sounds like the kind of player the Oilers could sign out of the NCAA on any given year. Probably go with Matej Pekar out of the USHL on this one. The Black Book has him at 103 and says,

“despite being a PPG player for Muskegon, he’s a hard-working 2-way forward that can provide quality minutes in all situations for his team.”

“He has an inconsistent first pass, there will be games where he’s moving the puck out on the breakout quick to teammate, but then there are also a lot of times where he gets the puck on his stick with time and space and he goes glass and out when his teammate is open. He holds onto the puck too long, effectively closing off his window which takes away opportunities to make a quick first-pass”

My list at the end of this exercise is as follows:

  • 1st round – Quinn Hughes (D)
  • 2nd round – Alex Alexeyev (D)
  • 3rd Round – Jonathan Berggren (W)
  • 5th round – Jack Drury (C)
  • 6th round – Liam Kirk (W)
  • 7th round – Matej Pekar (C)

So there you have it! Let me know what you think in the comments section!

We’ve got some pretty rad draft videos up at the Beer League Heroes YouTube page. Please, go check them out and if ya can, subscribe to our channel and that way you’ll be the first to know when a new video is up and you’ll be amongst the first 1000 to subscribe!!!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Using the Hockey Prospect’s Black Book to Draft for the Oilers + The Parayko Rumors

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First off let’s get into that Colton Parayko tweet that Stauffer sent out. I think that it’d be a lovely time in Edmonton if the Oilers could find a way to acquire the big defenseman from St.Louis without having to send a top-6 forward to them but I simply can’t see any reason why the Blues would want to do that. Their problems are down the middle and possible between the pipes.

Why the Oilers feel the need to shake up that roster is beyond me at the moment. If the team starts slow, I could definitely see movement then but there are going to be teams that miss out on trades or signings this summer and that’s when Chiarelli should pounce.

But on the other hand, and I’ve been saying this for months, what happens if SJ does get Tavares and Kovalchuk? What if Erik Karlsson gets traded to Las Vegas? Is there a possibility that Joe Thornton could stay within the Pacific and sign with another team as a UFA? The Oilers would be in very tough to make the playoffs if they don’t make a move.

So what does a GM do in that instance? Edmonton doesn’t have a lot of assets to go out there and make deals with but they do have a young team that will definitely be looking to show the world that last year was a fluke and the year before was the real team. I think if I were GM, I’d sit on the roster for the time being. There’s no point in pushing on a closed door, right?

A healthy Oilers team has the pieces to compete with the best teams in the NHL on any given night and I’d go into the new season with that in mind.

THE HOCKEY PROSPECTS BLACK BOOK

Yesterday, we talked a bit about draft guides and what players they have slotted where the Oilers are picking and I’d like to look closer at those players in order to give not only you the reader some more exposure to other draft-eligible players you might not have heard of but to educate myself a bit on those players too!

Another reason I’d like to see how this exercise goes is that I’ve heard if you went by Central Scouting’s rankings and just selected who they had (we’ll do that tomorrow probably) that you’d be better off.

So let’s see if that’s true…

Edmonton has the following selections to use on Friday in Dallas,

  • 10th
  • 40th
  • 71st
  • 133rd
  • 164th
  • 195th

No pick in the 4th round because they gave it up for Al Montoya.

So the Hockey Prospects Black Book has the Oiler selecting these players in those spots,

  • 10th – Evan Bouchard (RD), London Knights, 6’2″, 198lbs

I’m of the belief that the Oilers have been watching this player all season long. I can’t be 100% sure if he’s the guy at the top of their list anymore mind you but he’s definitely a player I wouldn’t complain about IF they were presented with the chance at 10th overall to select him.

Evan Bouchard racked up 87 points in 67 games for the London Knights and that’s without the likes of Robert Thomas who was dealt to Hamilton for the OHL playoffs. He was the leading scorer on his team… AS A DEFENSEMAN!

Personally, I think that’s damned impressive given he’s not a pure offensive defenseman. He’s not really a puck rusher like Quinn Hughes or Noah Dobson but he can shoot the puck very well and he’s widely known as the best passer in this draft. Good news for the Oilers if they pick him right?

I’ve read that sometimes Bouchard isn’t as intense as you’d like him to be for a guy with size and that sometimes he might look “lazy” on the ice. Of course, that could be because his coach played him upwards of 35 minutes a night on some evenings.

Evan Bouchard could play in the NHL next season on the right team.

Bouchard is a very skilled defenseman but might not be quite as dynamic as a few of the other defenders at the top of this stacked class for high end defenseman. If he can improve his first few steps and compete more regularly on a shift- to-shift basis, that would go a long way towards fulfilling his potential of becoming a top-pairing defenseman who can quarterback a powerplay at the NHL level.

  • 40th – Jake Wise (C), USNTDP U-18, 5’10”, 195lbs

Wise is a left-handed pivot who is known for his playmaking, his vision, and his two-way play. He was on the IR with a broken clavicle but ended his season with 39pts in 33 games played.

He’s not the biggest player nor the shiftiest one either but he works hard and has high-end hockey sense. He has a habit of surprising his opponents by making plays out of nothing and that’s always a plus in my books. He can skate north/south well but agility is where he runs into issues. Not really the Mitch Marner type, if you will.

For me, I probably wouldn’t take this player here. He sounds more like a 3rd round pick to me and there are other players like Calen Addison, Niklas Nordgren, Liam Foudy, and Jack Drury in the same range according to The Hockey Prospects’ rankings.

He didn’t miss a beat when he came back from injury and was instantly one of the best players on that U18 squad. His vision of the ice is as good as anyone in the draft in my opinion.”

  • 71st – Milos Roman (C), Vancouver Giants, 5’11”, 196lbs

Roman was injured for much of the season but when he was in the lineup he was the Giants no.1 centre and he scored 32 points in 39 games. He displays a strong compete game and is quite responsible at both ends of the ice. He’s the kind of player who can keep the pressure on the opposition due to having such a strong motor. A very positionally sound player but has troubles on the faceoff and gets muscled out from time to time along the boards.

This player sounds like the kind of player you’d want in your bottom-6. As he gets older he’ll get stronger and more technically skilled and that’ll lead to him winning more faceoffs and board battles.

I don’t mind this selection but I have to wonder if heart-and-soul players like Jonathan Gruden or Riley Sutter would be better for Edmonton here. What about gifted Europeans like Philipp Kurashev or Alexander Khovanov? Then there’s the new Brian Boyle, 6’8″ Curtis Douglas, in the range too…

“He always looked to be in the right spot because his skating was sneaky good. More of passer than a shooter but would love to see him diversify his offence by shooting more.”

  • 133rd – Erik Portillo (G), Frolunda Jr, 6’6″, 207lbs 

I’ll be honest here, I’ve never heard of this guy before. Which is kind of surprising, right? He’s HUGE! And to top it off he played in three different leagues last season, so maybe that’s why we never heard about him.

His stats told an interesting story though. Check them out.

Frolunda J18 (J18 elit) – 10 gp 2.41GAA .931%
Frolunda J18 (J18 Allsvenskan) – 11 gp 3.08GAA .907%
Frolunda J20 (Superelit) – 2gp 0.71GAA .974%

He absolutely dominated at the higher level but that could be due to playing with a better defense too.

According to The Black Book, one of the things that really separates Portillo from other big goalies is his reflexes. He’s an aggressive goalie who likes to cut down the angles on the shooter as soon as possible but he has trouble with rebounds and sometimes that uber-aggressive play gets him into poor positions. Remember Fleury for Vegas in the Cup final?

If the Oilers selected him I’d be happy as he’s more of a project than an immediate solution. They could leave him in Sweden to develop more and bring him over when he’s older to marinate in the minors.

Could you imagine having Stuart Skinner AND this Portillo fella developed and guarding the Oilers nets? Couple of big boys right there…

Portillo is a very tall, yet coordinated and fluid goalie, giving him one of the better bases in this year’s draft class. Despite his rangy build, Erik likes to cut off his angles aggressively. This allows him to take up a tremendous amount of the net

  • 164th – Blade Jenkins (LW), Saginaw Spirit, 6’1″, 201lbs 

Tough to go wrong with a hockey player named “Blade” right? Well, from what info I’ve gathered, he’s had a tough go of it so far in junior hockey. Jenkins was the 4th overall pick in the 2016 OHL draft and this past year only managed to score 44pts in 68 games. Probably not what the GM of Saginaw was expecting when he took him over the likes of Ty Dellandrea, Barrett Hayton, or Aidan Dudas.

It’s not what this player does with the puck that is slotting him so low in the rankings. He’s well-built, quite strong (with room to get stronger), and he’s difficult to contain below the goal-line. He’s been praised for having silky mitts, great hockey sense, and excellent vision but…

It’s away from the puck that has scouts concerned. I guess he started the year as a centre and ended it a wing because he simply couldn’t get a grasp of where he needed to be on the ice defensively. Sometimes he takes shifts off and is invisible for long periods of time.

Not a player I’d pick here for me. A guy like Nando Eggenberger is around this range, Alexis Gravel is hovering around 164th ov for The Hockey Prospect, and perhaps Nathan Dunkley out of London would be a better pick.

“Good individual skill, good size but really needs to learn how to play the game the right way.”

  • 195th – Isaac Johnson (LW), Tri-City Americans, 6’2″, 186lbs 

Johnson is an overage player that went unselected in last year’s draft. He’s a complimentary player who can benefit playing with skilled linemates because he likes to do the perimeter work along the walls. He’s got busy feet and has no qualms heading into traffic to get things done.

I’m thinking that Johnson’s game sounds like an AHL game but in the 7th round, there’s not much more a team can expect at that point, right?

The 7th round is a place the Oilers did fine in last year with their selection of Phil Kemp. Could they do it again? Probably not with Johnson but there aren’t many options left on the Black Book’s rankings here.

One option I do like here though is Ryan O’Reilly (yes, he’s got the same name). He’s ranked 196th by The Hockey Prospect but he was the USHL rookie goal leader last year. He’s got an NHL shot already but simply lacks the boots.

Johnson displayed good physical tools with his size and reach but in our evaluation, there’s aspects of Isaac’s game that are lacking

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments!

You can get your copy of The Hockey Prospect’s Black Book here.

We’ve got some pretty rad draft videos up at the Beer League Heroes YouTube page. Please, go check them out and if ya can, subscribe to our channel and that way you’ll be the first to know when a new video is up!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Reviewing the Latest Oilers Trade and Draft Speculation

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Happy draft week folks! The rumors are a flyin’, aren’t they? By the time the Oilers are playing their first game over in Europe they’ll be rid of Cam Talbot, Milan Lucic, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Andrej Sekera, Oscar Klefbom, and Jesse Puljujarvi but at least they’ll have a random guy in net, Torey Krug, Erik Karlsson, and Justin Faulk playing D and Jeff Skinner flanking Connor McDavid.

BRUTAL!!!

THE SPECULATION

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/1006969977167941632

  • Jim Matheson has the Oiler talking to Ottawa about Erik Karlsson this week…

It’s not happening folks. The talks start with Leon and go up and the Oilers finally have a great 1-2 punch down the middle, they’re both young, and they’re both under contract for the next 7 years. I’m not dismantling that for a 30-yr-old Erik Karlsson who is on the last year of his contract. Not one bit folks!

  • The Fourth Period has the Oilers sending Cam Talbot and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the Hurricanes for Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk

WTF?! Seriously? What are the Oilers going to do in net then? Is Koskinen going to take over the reigns? We’ve seen what this team is like when it doesn’t get goaltending and I do not see them dealing for any all-stars.

That said, Lowetide and Alex Thomas were talking about Tuukka Rask over the weekend and that is probably a guy I would send a package that included Talbot for. Do you think Lucic would go back to Boston? What about a blockbuster sending Lucic, Klefbom, and Talbot to Boston for Krug and Rask?

Getting back to that TFP post… Skinner has one year left on his deal and I believe Faulk has two years whereas Talbot’s on the last year of his and Nuge has 3 years left IIRC. The money is a bit of a wash but I don’t believe the talent is.

Nuge is going to be a revelation on McDavid’s LW this season. Book it!

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/1008330578427404290

  • Another player Jim Matheson has been tweeting about is Julius Honka.

I like this guy quite a bit and he’s at that age where a player’s game starts to become more refined. And to add to that, he doesn’t have to play for Ken Hitchcock anymore. He hasn’t put up a lot of points in his career so far (9pts in 60+gp) but I believe he’d be a fair bet to help the Oilers transition game if they acquired him. I mean, can you really see Dallas playing him over Johns, Klingberg, or Pateryn? Plus they’ve got Miro Heiskanen starting next year…

Honka’s on the way out and the Oilers should try to grab him.

  • Bob Stauffer has the Oilers having their pick of Ty Smith, Vitali Kravtsov, Barrett Hayton, or Adam Boqvist at #10 overall. His choices being Hayton or Smith.

Listen, Hayton will be a fine 3rd line centre. He’s a lunch bucket guy that Stauffer likes to compare to Bo Horvat for some reason (It’s ridiculous if you really dig into things). But ISS says that Hayton has excellent Hockey IQ and that’s something that if you’ve been listening to his show for the last couple of weeks he’s been saying that Keith Gretzky really likes…

I’m also not sold on Ty Smith. When I watched him I didn’t like his skating or his engagement in the games. Maybe I picked the wrong games mind you but Stauffer likes to bring up his locker room presence and how much his teammates like him as reason to pick the kid. Not good enough for me. Stauff also brings up the Kris Russell comparable and I love me some Kris Russell but not at #10 in the draft.

Vitali Kravtsov, scratch him just because he’s based out of Russia. For whatever reason, and I’m not saying Russians are bad players or bad people or whatever, a few of my favorite players growing up were Russian, they simply don’t turn out for the Oilers unless they’re brought in from other organizations. The only way I think the Oilers would take another Russian in the first round is if they made a deal with the Hurricanes for #2 overall and took Svechnikov.

So that leaves us with Adam Boqvist.

If the Oilers cannot find a way to draft Quinn Hughes (Paul Coffey 2.0 IMO) then they should be taking Adam Boqvist. His offensive upside is unreal. He’s right-handed. The way he works his edges and how well he rushes the puck is outstanding! Add to that the planet destroyer he’s got for a shot… He’s a MUST PICK at #10 if he drops.

People are talking about Boqvists injury history and to that, I say two things,

  • Have you seen Oscar Klefbom’s injury history?
  • I’d be surprised if none of the top prospects in any draft didn’t get concussed once before now.

I do want to say this though, I don’t think that Boqvist will be there at #10. He’s simply too good. Now, if that happens I could see one of Bouchard, Tkachuk, or Wahlstrom being available and that’s a very hard decision for me. I like all three for different reasons but it’d be hard for me not to take Tkachuk simply because his brother plays for Calgary and he’s not a perimeter player.

Stauffer has Zadina falling to #9 and if that scenario takes place, the Oilers best be doing their damnedest to trade up to pick him. Unreal if that guy dropped to #9…

We’ve got some pretty rad draft videos up at the Beer League Heroes YouTube page. Please, go check them out and if ya can, subscribe to our channel and that way you’ll be the first to know when a new video is up!

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Oilers/Red Wings Draft Day Trade Speculation

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We’re so very close to the 2018 NHL entry draft that I can taste it and with that I can also smell the rumors coming from the kitchen. I’m of the belief that the Oilers and Red Wings are looking to make a deal at the draft.

Yesterday morning on Oilers Now one of the guests was former Oilers head coach Todd Nelson and what makes him significant in this is that for the last number of years he was the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. During the show, Bob Stauffer asked Nelson a number of questions regarding some of the Red Wings top prospects like Anthony Mantha, Evgeni Svechnikov, and Filip Hronek.

Honestly, I expected more questions regarding Nelson joining the Dallas Stars coaching staff. Mind you they did touch on that and Nelson’s history with new Stars coach Jim Montgomery but it was the attention to those other three players that got me thinking.

The talk over the weekend has been how Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi has flown up the draft rankings and Craig Button has said if the Habs want him so bad, take him at no.3 overall! That’s insane to me… But other teams that took extra interest in Kotkaniemi at the combine in Buffalo were Detroit and Edmonton.

I don’t think that Kotkaniemi is on the Oilers radar but it’s become clear that he IS on the radar of the Red Wings, Canadiens, and according to John Shannon, the Blackhawks.

It’s going to be an interesting draft, eh? After #2 overall, it could be a crapshoot. Nobody knows what Montreal is thinking. They should take Zadina there but Brady Tkachuk has been a rumored selection for them. Ottawa will take whoever is available between Svechnikov, Zadina, or Tkachuk but may very take Noah Dobson since their head scout is based where Acadie-Bathhurst plays. Will Arizona take another American born player in Hughes or will the go with the dynamic Swede in Boqvist?

Then we come up to Detroit at #6 overall, would they take Kotkaniemi that early? How badly do they want another pick in the top 10 because Hughes and Bouchard would look great wearing the winged wheel for the next 15 years.

Let’s bring this back around to the Oilers and those prospects now.

  • Would the Red Wings be willing to part with Anthony Mantha for the #10?
  • Would the #30, Svechnikov and Hronek for the #10 be an overpayment or an underpayment?

I think those are pretty Oilers-leaning proposals if I’m being totally honest. That being said, the Oilers are in need of some depth on the wing and they do need a right-shot dman.

Anthony Mantha is an RFA this summer who is coming off of his entry-level deal with the Red Wings. He hasn’t come along as quickly as he was expected to after absolutely dominating the QMJHL. In his last season with Val D’or he was a goal-per-game player to put it into perspective. As for his NHL production, last year was a breakout year for him as he put up 24g and 24a in 80gp.

I’m not sure how much he’ll cost to re-sign but I’d be surprised if it didn’t start with a 4.

Evgeni Svechnikov has one year left on his ELC and hasn’t quite made the transition to the NHL yet. I’m not sure if he will or not as he’s not exactly lighting up the AHL. His first season was a bright one, he had 51 points in 74 games but the totals slipped a bit last season where he managed 23 points in 57 games… Not a good sign, especially when you’ve got Todd Nelson as your coach. He did play 14 games for Detroit though and had 4 points in that time.

Filip Hronek is a former 2nd round pick. A smaller dman at 6′ tall and merely 164lbs… He spent his junior career in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit where he was a high-scoring right-shot defender. In his inaugural season with the Red Wings AHL club he had 39 points in 67 games which was tops on the club.

I do find it interesting that Bob Stauffer would be asking about Hronek after making comments about how the reason Hughes and Boqvist might be slipping is due to size… I guarantee you, if the Oilers pick Hughes or Boqvist at #10 and put him in the AHL next season, that player will get at least 39 points.

Hell, they might get that in the NHL depending on the club.

Detroit has four draft picks in the top 36 of the draft. What if the Oilers were to trade down with the Red Wings?

  • #10 for #30, #33, and #36

I think that’s probably too far to drop for Edmonton, especially if Boqvist, Bouchard, Hughes, or Wahlstrom are right there but it’d give them 4 picks from #30 to #40 where they could possibly add players like,

  • Ty Dellandrea (C) – Has all the tools to become an everyday NHLer. Draws comparisons to Toews.
  • Ryan Merkley (RHD) – One of THE MOST talented players in the draft but off-ice issues and defensive IQ is holding him back from being a top-5 selection. Had great interviews at the combine.
  • Calen Addison (RHD) – RH’d offensive dman who can skate very well and is an excellent playmaker. Ex-teammate of Stuart Skinner in Lethbridge.
  • Jonny Tychonick (LHD) – Smooth puck-moving dman who can quarterback the PP. Massive character guy.
  • Liam Foudy (C) – Massive speed. Might be fastest in this draft class. Excellent puck skills and shoots with great scoring efficiency.
  • Aidan Dudas (C) – Brendan Gallagher clone. Very small but fast, skilled, and aggressive.
  • Niklas Nordgren (RW) – Shaped and plays like a bowling ball. Very VERY fit player as he had one of the lowest body fat calculations at the combine. He’s a shooter first and foremost. His shot is his #1 attribute but he’s also a tireless worker on the ice. Smaller player though.

I know that it’s hard to miss out on a potentially elite talent that a team could get in the 10-spot but If the Oilers came away with any four of those players above, I’d be stoked. I’m a prospects guy though and I think that teams should try to add as many early round picks as possible. I mean, this is daydreaming but a draft where the Oilers could have 4 picks in top 40 would go so far in terms of the team’s long term future. I don’t know if Edmonton has ever had a time where you could say year after year they have high-end players who are showing great potential getting ready to join the club.

But as I said, that scenario is probably a pipe dream or maybe it’s just a dumb idea but to be clear, I’d would rather have a game-breaker like Quinn Hughes, Adam Boqvist, or Oliver Wahlstrom. There’s a much higher chance of them becoming 1000 game players than the 2nd rounders mentioned above. My reasoning is simply organizational depth with that proposal.

Maybe something a bit more realistic would see both teams swap RFAs and draft picks/prospects. Detroit has to re-sign Dylan Larkin, Athanasiou, Frk, Bertuzzi, as well as the aforementioned Anthony Mantha and have about $17M to do it.

I’m just Rishaug-ing here. What do you think?

Last thing, I’ve heard that the Oilers are possibly looking to add someone to their front office. Someone who would oversee the coaching and coaching development. Meaning if the coaches get out of line or are slow to change things up, there’d be a person to hold them accountable. No names have come up but this is a position of great importance to Bob Nicholson.

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