The day of reckoning has come and tonight is going to be a beauty. Will the Edmonton Oilers “get lucky” and win the lottery and stay within the top three or will they “lose” the lottery and be forced down to the 4th or 5th spot?
I have to be honest, I could care less at this point. The team doesn’t really need to add another impact teenager to its ranks and we’ve done enough speculating to date that I’m numb to it all now. So what are we going to do? Well speculate some more of course. This isn’t going to take long. Is what I used to tell all my girlfriends back in the day.
If the Oilers Get the 1st Overall Pick…
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!! Then breathe… Then HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!… Then check to see if Toronto has burned to the ground. Then HAHAHAHAHAHA…
Auston Matthews all day long baby. You don’t think that Arizona, or any other team for that matter, will come knocking every year to see if they can shake Matthews loose? Would you trade him for Erik Karlsson?
If the Oilers Get the 2nd Overall Pick…
They take the Finnish Bazooka Patrik Laine! From watching him live and the clips online, it’d be hard not to take him. In the past he’s had issues with authority but he’s seemingly moved on from that. Put him on the wing, move Maroon down or to the right side and watch the fireworks!
If the Oilers Get the 3rd Overall Pick..
Jesse Puljujarvi and his vowel-happy name will be an Edmonton Oiler. Is it just me or is Laine-Puljujarvi the 2nd coming of Ovechkin-Malkin? Take a minute to think about that. Another thing to consider. Finns seem to do okay in Edmonton. Some better than others…
If the Oilers Get the 4th Overall Pick…
Matty Tkachuk is their man. I think a lot of people will argue that Dubois might be a better pick here but Tkachuk’s bloodlines and hockey IQ will set him apart here.
If the Oilers Get the 5th Overall Pick…
Olli Juolevi/Mikhail Sergachev/Jakob Chychrun. You flip the three-sided coin on this one. Sergachev just won the OHL defender of the year award but I’m not that impressed. The last Russian to do that in the OHL was former Oiler Alexei Semenov and he sure turned out. I mean Ryan Ellis won it TWICE!
So there you have it. Those are my thoughts. I don’t think they will trade it outright. Trading down to get Jake Bean or Dante Fabbro might be in their plans. Or if the elusive “Lindros” offer is out there, they might do that.
Let’s talk about that “Lindros” offer. According to Elliotte Friedman, the last major offer for the first overall pick was in Aaron Ekblad’s draft year of 2014. The Tampa Bay Lightning offered Jonathan Drouin (#3 in 2013) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (#19 in 2012) and were obviously turned down.
The one deal I’d consider is the one Bob Stauffer’s been mentioning on Oilers Now with the Coyotes. Dylan Strome, both of the Coyotes first rounders this year and one of their second rounders for the 1st overall pick. I went into detail on that offer here. I think this is the closest one might ever see to a “Lindros” offer in the cap-era.
Another thing that has been talked about on Lowetide’s morning show is how this draft will affect who the Oilers protect in the next expansion draft. If they trade any pick away for an NHL-ready dman this summer, that could drastically affect how they go forward in the expansion draft. So perhaps they are better off using the pick and saving themselves a little headache in a year’s time.
So that’s ‘er folks. Enjoy the playoff games today and enjoy the draft lottery. I’m thinking of doing a Blab for the lottery. Don’t know what a Blab is? Basically like Google Hangouts but using Twitter instead of Gmail. Check out this link and if you’re on Twitter you can join me and we’ll chat hawkey before and after the lottery!!
