Edmonton Oiler 2020 Draft: These Three Players Are on Edmonton’s List

Not sure if you listen to a lot of Edmonton sports talk radio shows like Oilers Now or read Oilers blogs like The Cult of Hockey, but they’ve been dropping names like crazy over the last two weeks or so and I would like to take a closer look at them for you.

IMO the @EdmontonOilers need a FWD at #14

These names might be there:

Seth Jarvis-RW, Portland
Dawson Mercer-RW, Drummondville
Anton Lundell-C, HIFK
Hendrix Lapierre-C, Chicoutimi
John-Jason Peterka-LW, EHC Munchen
Connor Zary-C, Kamloops

Wild Card:

Yaroslav Askarov- G, KHL

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) August 10, 2020

This tweet by Oilers play-by-play colorman Bob Stauffer, who incidentally is VERY connected throughout the west thanks to his connections via the University of Alberta hockey program. was sent back on the 11th of August.

There are two names on this list that he spoke to this morning on his daily radio show, Oilers Now, Seth Jarvis, and Anton Lundell.

The other name that is constantly coming up is that of Prince Alberta Raider defender Kaiden Guhle. This is what Cult of Hockey scribe and Oilers insider Kurt Leavins said in his latest blog,

 Fair to say most people think the Oilers have good depth in the organization on the blue line. That has many thinking that Edmonton should take a forward at #14 in the upcoming draft. Well…not so fast. What if you subscribe to the “take the best player available” theory? A run on forwards in the first 10 rounds could send a guy like Kaiden Guhle as low as 14. The 6’2 LHD out of Prince Albert has a tantalizing mix of size and speed. People who have seen him play lots say Guhle’s skating is more than a plus-asset. More like “plus-plus” boots. The Sherwood Park native went 11-29-40 in 64 games for P.A. last year and was a +23. Food for thought.

That mirrors what Stauffer has been saying on his show as well.

Guhle, being raised 5-minutes outside of Edmonton in Sherwood Park and related to a current member of the U of A Golden Bears, it makes sense that he’d be on Stauffer’s radar. Bob also has a lot of ins with some big agents like Gerry Johansson (reps Jarvis) and Allain Roy (reps Guhle). As far as I know, Lundell is represented by Acme World Sports, Markus Lehto’s old company, but now that agency falls under the Wasserman umbrella. Can’t say I know of a relationship between Stauffer and Lehto there.

Anyways, what I’m getting at is maybe these well-respected hockey media men are scratching some backs. Not to take anything away from those three players, but as we know, hockey is all about who you know and what you can do for them.

Let’s get to the scouting reports though.

Seth Jarvis

Right Wing/Centre — shoots Right
Born February 1st, 2002 — Winnipeg, Manitoba
Height 5’10” — Weight 172 lbs
NHL Comparable: Brayden Point

He produced at an excellent rate, despite playing about 18:30 minutes per game. Marco Rossi averaged around 21:00 and Jack Quinn at about 20:00 minutes as examples. He’s a versatile, well rounded, line-driving winger who had a tremendous second half of the year. Jarvis is a player who is willing to make the on-ice sacrifices, by putting his body on the line to make plays. He has the hockey sense, the skating, the skillset and the mental approach needed to make him one of the safest picks in the draft.

The only real drawback, is that Seth’s offensive ceiling caps just slightly lower than some of the talent we have featured both in-front of him as well as a couple of prospects placed behind him on our list. That said, if we were on the draft floor and drafted Jarvis, we wouldn’t think twice if we could take him where we have him ranked. He’s the type of player you win with, and he can lead by example out on the ice. –  (Hockey Prospect Black Book)

What scares me off of this player is the fact that there have been many skilled prospects that have come through the program in Portland and have failed to make the impact everybody thought they would because they tore up the WHL. I’m thinking of players like Nic Petan, Cody Glass, Brendan Leipsic, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Sven Baertschi.

What I do like about this player is that he gets in the muck. He’ll go to the dirty areas to get the job done and I love players who will sacrifice themselves to make a play. His speed combined with his tenaciousness allows him to win puck races which in turn gives him the ability to make a play before the opposing team’s defense can. A small player without determination and drive and fearlessness is going to have a really tough time making it at the NHL level and we see it all the time. Look at Jeremy Bracco in Toronto of Josh Ho-Sang in Long Island for example. Those guys have a metric tonne of talent but he can’t get out of the AHL.

Would I take him 14th overall? It’s a really tough call. You’d hate to be the guy who skips over him and he turns into Brendan Gallagher or something to that effect, right? But you don’t want to be the player that was mesmerized by his skill in junior and end up with another Nic Petan either…

Kaiden Guhle

Defense — shoots Left
Born January 18th, 2002 — Sherwood Park, Alberta
Height 6’2″ — Weight 186 lbs
NHL Comparable: Darnell Nurse/Jacob Trouba

Guhle is a physically mature, highly-mobile, two-way defenseman. He’s a tenacious and imposing defender who can dictate on the defensive side of the puck by using his physical gifts. He’s most aggressive when looking to step-up on players crossing his own blueline, showing a tenacious defensive approach that some defenseman fail to initiate very often. He has a wide frame that gives him a lot of leverage when he’s attempting to stick press his opponents and was consistent with ability to pin along the boards. This extends to the penalty-kill, where he’s willing to use his frame and leverage to his advantage to box out opposing players near the front of the net. When projecting his game, the most enticing element to this player is his willingness to make life difficult for his opponents when they cross his line. There’s an overwhelming and swarming aspect to how he defends in one on one situations, generating a lot of pressure as a result.

The main concern is with his hockey sense. He can anticipate the play to the degree necessary to find the first option when it’s presented clearly in front of him, but he sometimes lacks the poise and processing ability to recognize what options could be available if he held the puck slightly longer than what seems to be his current comfort zone. Don’t get us wrong, we like it when a player can immediately assess his defensive partner and use him to swing the puck around the boards and get it out of harms way during an incoming forecheck. But, in the case of Guhle, he relies too much on his initial take of a play unfolding. It puts him in a position where he doesn’t always evaluate what could be available to him if he used his tools to hang onto the puck longer.

Sometimes Guhle shows an inability to assess risk as it relates to his aggression. We welcome his tenacious and almost throwback-like physical approach. But he sometimes steps-up without analyzing where his teammates are positioned as he’s about to do it.

We see Guhle as an effective shutdown defender with second pairing upside. – (Hockey Prospect Black Book)

I can’t believe we’re even talking about the Oilers taking another left-shot defender with their first-round draft pick. If it was Jake Sanderson, I could see it. But I don’t see the hullaballoo with Guhle.

What I don’t like about this player is stated above. His hockey IQ isn’t there and I’m not impressed with his skating to be honest. He skates very very well, don’t get me wrong, but a player with 2nd pairing upside who is a shutdown defender should not be taken this early in the draft. If the Oilers are hell-bent on taking a defenseman who can skate and is a defense-first player, there are plenty of those that will be available in the later rounds like Tyler Kleven.

What I do like about this player is that he’s a mean SOB than can keep up with the best skaters in the league.

I would not take this player with the 14th overall pick.

Anton Lundell

Center — shoots Left
Born October 3rd, 2001 — Espoo, Finland
Height 6’1″ — Weight 185 lbs
NHL Comparable: Mikko Koivu

Lundell is a two-way, physically mature center whose attention to detail is among the best we’ve seen off the puck in recent years. His anticipation without the puck is what separates him, and it’s also what allows him to maintain excellent positioning. That anticipation allows him to intercept passes across the slot area in his own end, as well as anticipate what the defense is attempting to do when he’s on the forecheck. He’s a takeaway machine. When he’s not looking to intercept passes, he has consistently shown the ability to support his defense. Specifically, at the U20s last season, we thought given the competition he was up against and for his age he looked very comfortable and poised when helping his defenseman break-out of the zone.

The biggest concern regarding Lundell is his skating. You can make a legitimate argument that he was a better skater last season than this season. We know that sentence looks off at first glance but let us explain: This past season, Lundell has gotten bigger and heavier, yet his coordination has not matched his growth spurt as of this writing. The result is a clunkier stride than what we had seen previously. He now relies less on his mechanics which were already average, and more on his power. The good news is that Lundell is as strong as an ox, and this helps him compensate when accelerating or when switching gears in a straight-line.

There’s always room for a two-way center who can shutdown an opposing teams top-line, and that’s exactly what Lundell projects as. – (Hockey Prospect Black Book)

I never thought Lundell would be a player that might be available for the Oilers. At the beginning of the year I had him in the top-7 at least and I still really like him.

What I don’t like about this player is that there’s no guarantee that his skating comes around and in this age of hockey skating is so important if you want to be an impact player.

What I like about this player is that he’s so smart and defensively responsible at such a young age. He’s a big body and he’s shown for two years now that he can compete with men much older than him and excel. Plus there’s potential for some Selke consideration with this player down the road.

I would definitely take Lundell if he was available at 14th overall.

Here’s the thing with this pick, it’s a gift. Edmonton was supposed to be picking in the 20s and now they’re closer to the top-ten.

The Oilers do not have any high-end forward prospects coming through the pipeline. Question marks remain with Tyler Benson, Cooper Marody, Kirill Maksimov, and Ryan McLeod. We’re waiting to see what Rafa Lavoie is going to turn into as he’ll be lacing them up for Rogle in the SHL.

Ideally, they’d be able to select a center with their pick but unless Lundell falls to 14 (highly unlikely) or they really believe in Hendrix Lapierre or Connor Zary, they’ll be looking at a winger.

There is a generational right-catching goalie from Russia available they could take too but who wants one of those? Say, has anybody been watching Tampa recently? Don’t they have a Russian goalie? Like a really good one that was picked in the first round? Bet ya they regret that decision!

As for the theory that you take the best player available, I don’t know if that’s something teams do anymore unless they have a top-3 pick and you’ll see it when this next draft comes about. The fourth-best player in the draft is most likely defenseman Jamie Drysdale but there’s lots of chatter out there that the Red Wings will take Cole Perfetti, a center, and that’s a position Detroit needs to address.

Even if the Oilers were going by that theory, Kaiden Guhle won’t be the best player available at 14th overall. Not even close and if Edmonton’s scouts do believe that a shutdown defender who can skate well is the BPA, they should be fired.

I get it, defensemen are a premium and you’d like to copy the Nashville model, but if the majority consensus is that Guhle is even with Braden Scheider (Brandon, WHL), YOU TAKE THE RIGHT-SHOT DMAN!!! Which is what Schneider is and you take him because right-handers are even more of a premium!

Just on Schneider for a minute. Reminds me of a better skating Shea Weber. That might just be me though.

Take the forward (or the generational goalie), develop him correctly, and sign or trade for the left-handed shutdown blueliner when you need him.

Who would you like to see the Oilers select with their first-round pick in 2020?