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