In what could be the least surprising draft move in the National Hockey League in the last ten years the Edmonton Oilers selected Connor McDavid with the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft. McDavid has been proclaimed many things in the last couple of years, The “Next One”, The best hockey prospect since Sidney Crosby, The LeBron James of hockey, I’m sure there are more out there but those are already huge compliments for someone who has yet to step on the ice for an NHL club. By the way, McDavid is only eighteen years old.
The most recent number one overall pick for the Edmonton Oilers brings a new hope for the once proud franchise that has fallen on incredibly hard times. While the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics were ruling the NBA and the San Francisco 49ers were creating their Dynasty in the NFL the Edmonton Oilers were doing the same thing in the NHL. Winning the Stanley Cup five times between 1984-1990 the Oilers joined the dynasties of the New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens among others.
After Winning the Cup in 1990, the Edmonton Oilers have only made the playoffs nine times in twenty-four seasons. Returning to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006 and coming within one game of bringing the Cup home to Edmonton losing to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3. Since that run that saw the last place Oilers make the Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton has yet to reach the playoffs. That’s nine straight years without playoff hockey. The Oilers soon found themselves finishing last in the league in the 2009-10 season and when you finish last in sports, that means you get a high draft pick that offseason and in this case the first pick.
Getting the first pick frequently means the losing is about to stop. Your team is getting a new player that management can build around for years to come. For Taylor Hall the first pick in 2010 and the Edmonton Oilers, this wasn’t the case. No improvement was made the next season and the Oilers finished with the same amount of points (62) as the year before and earning the “worst team in the league” title again and getting the right to have the first overall pick again in 2011 where the Edmonton Oilers would pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
To save both me and you some time, things didn’t get better in the next four seasons. Short bursts and some winning streaks here and there gave Edmonton Oilers fans some reason to believe but were then disappointed yet again after losing stretches and falling to the bottom of the league. That last sentence sums up the Edmonton Oilers franchise for the last four or five seasons.
What’s to blame? Management for sure. Getting the first overall pick in the draft for three straight seasons (2010-12) and not being able to put a competitive team on the ice is pretty embarrassing for a pro general manager. Maybe you could blame the ownership? Have the owners over the past couple of years been more worried about getting a new arena to replace the aging Rexall Place? Not putting enough focus on the actual hockey team they own and not giving the GM help. That’s all speculation but a valid question.
Nevertheless, through all the losing and bad management, this past month or two the Edmonton Oilers finally have a new hope. Drafting the young hockey phenom Connor McDavid, he should be able to be enough to get the Oilers back on the winning track and help the team land more free agents. Yet, the Oilers still have some big holes to fill before taking the jump into playoff contention in a stacked western conference. The two places that turn a good team into a contender defense and goaltending are huge question marks for the Edmonton Oilers. Finishing dead last in goals against per game (3.37) is a huge factor and starting goalie Ben Scrivens save % is only .890%. The 2.35 goals for per game is concerning as well but this team has plenty of offensive weapons where that shouldn’t be a problem next season.
Getting defense should be the number one priority. Having a good or great defense can turn a good goalie into a great goalie and at worse can make an average goalie look good. Scrivens is at worst an average goalie. In free agency there are some option. Most of the players are elder and veterans of the league but that’s pretty much what this team needs on the back end. The Oilers do have some good young defensemen, Justin Schultz has been a little disappointing but on a better defensive team he’d do good, then you have young guys like Darnell Nurse who hasn’t even tasted the NHL yet who could make an impact.
At this years draft the Edmonton Oilers traded for young defenseman Griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders for the 16th and 33rd pick in the 2015 draft. Not a big price but not cheap either. After watching some of his NHL games I question the move. A young player who has a ton to work on, He is not that fast, wasn’t that physical and lost too many battles for me. This would be a good acquisition for a team deeper on defense who could help this guy learn, but maybe bringing in more guys to help him learn would work.
Who could the Edmonton Oilers bring in? Johnny Oduya, Paul Martin, Christian Ehrhoff, Francois Beauchemin, Andrej Sekera, Zbynek Michalek those are some options that can come in and help the young Oilers defensemen.
Building the rest of the team shouldn’t be as hard. Forwards available that could be fits for this team are players like Jarret Stoll returning, Matt Beleskey, maybe players like Chris Stewart or a Lee Stempniak and if he comes cheap why not try a veteran forward who has won a Stanley Cup Martin St Louis. The forward group isn’t that big of a worry, the offense should come with McDavid, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov and Eberle, that’s already an offensive core contending teams are still looking for.
With Connor McDavid coming to town, a new general manager Peter Chiarelli and experienced head coach Todd McLellan taking control of this team, A team that has had really dark times suddenly the light is staring this team right in the face. With a few tweaks this team can go from the bottom to finally making the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Who knows how well the team will do next season, but one thing is for sure, the Edmonton Oilers are the team to watch next year.
