oilersrule66

"the young hockey addict"

Welcome to the next oilers dynasty • Canada • 21 Years Old • Male

Oilers Draft Preview

The NHL draft is coming up in a couple hours and there is a lot of controversy over who the Oilers should pick and if they should make any trades at the draft. I'm going to put in my two cents and talk about some rumors that are swirling about the Oilers.

Edmonton has the 7th overall pick this year and need to add some center prospects and if they can, get a 2nd line center with size to add size and strenth to the top 6. We could get Monahan or Lindholm with that pick. Or even Nichuskin who could take Paajarvi's place on the 2nd line, but the perfect player for Edmonton in this draft class is Sasha Barkov, who is slated to go to Nashville at 4th overall. Barkov would be the perfect player for Edmonton because he's a tall centerman with great hockey sense who would always be able to find Yakupov on the wing for the shot. He's also a good power forward that can blow by people and has lots of raw skill. He would fit perfectly on Edmonton's roster but he wouldn't fall to the #7 pick. So we would need to trade for the #4 pick. To get the #4 pick we would have to trade our #7 pick + a good player. Even though we would be only moving up 3 spots the players in the top 4 picks are going to be superstars so you have to give up a lot for these picks. I think Gagner would be the other player going back in the trade because he wouldn't have a place on the team if we draft Barkov and he would fill the same need that Barkov would on Nashville.

So if we do this and trade up for Barkov our roster would be.......

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

UFA - Barkov - Yakupov

Paajarvi - UFA - UFA

Petrell - Lander - Brown

Smid - J Shultz

N Schultz - Petry

Belov - Klefbom

Dubnyk

UFA

So after Edmonton's first pick in the draft MacT still has a lot of work to do. The first thing he should do is get a top 6 left winger for the 2nd line. I know a lot of you are tired of this rumor but I'm going to throw it out. Nino for Hemsky. Just think about it for a second. The Islanders are one of the leading teams in the Hemsky sweepstakes and Nieddereiter wants out of the Islanders organization and wants nothing to do with the team. I know a lot of people think that Hemsky isn't enough for Nino but Nieddereiter is unproven and has no NHL experience and Hemsky is a proven top 6 forward when he's healthy. But for all you skeptics I'll add a 4th round pick to make it Hemsky + a 4th round pick for Niederreiter.

If we trade for Nino our lines would be......

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

Nino - Barkov - Yakupov

Paajarvi - UFA - UFA

Petrell - Lander - Brown

Smid - J Schultz

N Schultz - Petry

Belov - Klefbom

Dubnyk

UFA

Now onto the 3rd line. There are 2 empty spots at center and right wing on Edmonton's 3rd line. When I think of who to put there 2 names come to mind. Lazar and Zykov. Lazar is a big 2 way forward with grit and good leadership qualities and Edmonton has a thing for him for some reason. He looks like the perfect 3rd line center. As for Zykov he's a big power forward with a wicked shot and lots of strenth to blow by people on the wing. The only problem with these 2 are that we would need 2 more 1st round picks. If we where to get 2 more 1st round picks we would need around the 15th pick for Lazar and the 25th pick for Zykov. It would be hard to get these 2 picks but I think MacT could pull it off. The scenerio I'm going to throw out is: Edmonton's 2nd round (37th) and Rajala for 15th and Smid for the 25th. I'm going to start by explaining Smid because he's easier to explain. Smid is worth a late 1st round pick so we trade him for a late 1st rounder. Whatever team gets him will get one of the best defensive defense in the game. Now the 2nd and Rajala will raise a few eyebrows but you have to think about it. The 2nd round pick is a high second round pick so you'll still get a player worthy of the 1st round and you get a super skilled two way winger that's ready to jump into any teams top 6 next year. I actually think the other team would win this trade but it's a trade to fill a need and Rajala doesn't fill a need on Edmonton but Lazar does.

So if Edmonton were to do THESE trades the lines would look like.....

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

Nino - Barkov - Yakupov

Paajarvi - Lazar - Zykov

Petrell - Lander - Brown

UFA - J Schultz

N Schultz - Petry

Belov - Klefbom

Dubnyk

UFA

Now if we where to trade away Smid it would open up a spot on defense next to Justin Schultz. My first instinct is to say we should trade for Jake Gardiner on Toronto and before I would of just dismissed that idea but now with his former coach Dallas Eakins as Edmonton's coach and him having some disagreements with the Maple Leaf organisation I think this idea is plausible. To get Gardiner we would have to give up something of value because he's a future 1st pairing defense. I think the Oilers 1st round pick in 2014 would get Gardiner from them. The pick will most likely be high because the Oilers would have a SUPER young roster and would be unexperienced. This would still be a good trade though for Edmonton because Gardiner is a future 50+ point getter and a top pairing defense.

Lastly there's the backup goalie position. There is mixed emotions from people about if they should get a back up like Emery, a starter in Loungo or Miller or if they should get a goalie that could push Dubnyk for the job but isn't a starter. Like Bernier. I would go with the 3rd option because I'm not sold on Dubnyk as a starter but I haven't given up hope on him either. Bernier would be the best option but he would cost too much in a trade. I think Brysgalov would actually be a good option. I know a lot of you are thinking as you read this that Brysgalov is a starter not a backup, but in actuallity he isn't actually good enough to be a starter, but he's too good to be a back up. He's one of those finicky goalies. But that's exactly what Edmonton needs. A guy who's not good enough to be a starter but can push Dubey for the starting job. We could sign Brysgalov for a 2 million/ 1 year contract and if we don't want him next year we could just let him go. No risk.

So after all of these moves our lines would be.....

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

Nino - Barkov - Yakupov

Paajarvi - Lazar - Zykov

Petrell - Lander - Brown

Gardiner - J Schultz

N Schultz - Petry

Belov - Klefbom

Dubnyk

Brysgalov

Well there you have it! This is my draft day blog of my ideas of what MacT should do today. None of this will proberly happen but it's fun to speculate and I hope you enjoyed reading this!


Trade summarization:

1) To Edmonton: 2013 4th overall pick (Barkov)

To Nashville: 2013 7th overall pick and Sam Gagner

2) To Edmonton: Nino Niederrieter

To New York I: Ales Hemsky and 2013 4th round pick

3) To Edmonton: Mid first round pick

To ___________: 2013 37th overall pick and Toni Rajala

4) To Edmonton: late 1st round pick

To ___________: Ladislav Smid

5) To Edmonton: Jake Gardiner

To Toronto: 2014 1st round pick

Signings:

Ilya Brysgalov: 1 year/ 2 mil per


Thanks for reading!