I’ve been putting this off in hopes of finding out how the Oilers amateur procurement hierarchy works now, but alas the mystery has not unraveled in these last months. Tyler Wright is in charge of the amateur draft now, and Bob Green is not, of that I’m fairly certain based on parsing the wind and whippoorwills since October. That means it is time to have a look at the draft record of Mr. Green, 2015-2019. Note: Keith Gretzky would have impacted the 2017-2019 drafts, but for our purposes today we’ll deal with the scouting team under the name Bob Green.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of The Athletic, check it out here.
- New Lowetide: Exploring hidden-gem draft options for the Edmonton Oilers
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘He set his place in history’: On Bill Ranford’s Conn Smythe run, 30 years later
- New Jonathan Willis: Why NHL teams should gamble on defencemen over forwards later in the draft
- New Jonathan Willis: Oilers’ offseason decisions will be influenced by 2021 Seattle expansion draft
- Jonathan Willis: Ken Holland’s likely approach to the Oilers’ offseason goalie question
- Lowetide: Hard target search for Oilers acquisition options among NHL forwards
- Lowetide: Oilers GM Ken Holland should shop for picks at the draft
- Lowetide: Exploring Oilers prospect Ryan McLeod’s possible NHL path
- Jonathan Willis: What does the path to an Oilers Stanley Cup championship in 2023 look like?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Ales Hemsky on his health, alumni games, tough opponents and the Oilers’ stars
- Lowetide: Swedish export Noel Gunler offers Oilers a worthy draft target
- Scott Wheeler: Why Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie is the shot creation king.
- Lowetide: How can Andreas Athanasiou — Ken Holland’s big bet — help the Oilers?
- Lowetide: What are Evan Bouchard’s chances of making the Oilers in 2020-21?
- Jonathan Willis and Lowetide: Who are the Oilers’ top 10 prospects and where do they project in the NHL?
- Jonathan Willis: How do Connor McDavid’s first five NHL seasons compare to the all-time greats?
- Lowetide: Oilers 2020 draft: Are fans ready for Oil Kings’ Jake Neighbours?
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers need to keep feeding their currently rich pipeline of defensive prospects
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How a series of oddball jobs prepared Ken Holland for his front-office career
- Jonathan Willis: 2020 NHL offseason goalie market: Team needs, free agents and trade possibilities
Success in the first round. Green was in place in time for the 2015 draft but the heavy work during the season included Stu MacGregor and two other scouts who were fired the week before the draft. It doesn’t matter who gets credit for Connor McDavid because that selection took no expertise. However, as we move later into the piece, we’ll need to address that issue. Jesse Puljujarvi was the initial first-round pick post-MacGregor, it was not a success but I don’t think it’s rational to blame the procurement manager. The blame goes farther up the food chain. Kailer Yamamoto in 2017 showed some innovation, a small winger with no fear and a great deal of skill. Evan Bouchard in 2018 (over Oliver Wahlstrom and Noah Dobson) is too soon to call but trending well. Philip Broberg was a curious choice.
Bottom line on Green in the first round: Puljujarvi was the right selection, no doubt in my mind. Yamamoto was inspired, Bouchard at the very least is poised to deliver substantial value. Broberg felt wrong but we’ll see. Oilers drafted well in four of five seasons, Broberg the outlier until proven otherwise.
Success in the second round. Tyler Benson is the one skater Green fretted over, he said something like it was not a restful sleep overnight waiting for round two. Ryan McLeod is kind of the opposite prospect type, fast and a center but worries about his offense exist. Olivier Rodrigue is one of the organization’s two best goalie prospects and coming off a season where he posted a .918SP in the diabolical QMJHL. Raphael Lavoie is the most recent selection and may be remembered as the best of the bunch. His outer marker is the most promising among the forwards in this group.
Bottom line on Green in the second round: Benson over Alex DeBrincat isn’t getting an easier in the Guide and Record Book but the player continues to matriculate and I think he’s going to have a career unless Holland and Tippett find him wanting. McLeod looks like a nice pick from here, I love his speed and the offense was better than expected in year one pro. Rodrigue and Lavoie are good arrows now, but early days.
Success in the third round. I don’t know how the Oilers line up their list but in 2016 the team had three third-round picks and used all of them on defensemen who were going to take some time: Markus Niemelainen, Matthew Cairns and Filip Berglund. That’s a strange play. In 2017 Edmonton traded up for Stuart Skinner and then drafted Dmitri Samorukov later in the round. Ilya Konovalov was an astute, I’ll say inspired choice, in its own way as innovative as Yamamoto in the first round. He’s close to NHL-ready, has two solid to excellent KHL seasons on his resume and his only crime is being a little smaller than ideal.
Bottom line on Green in the third round. I remain flummoxed by the usage of the three 2016 third rounders, but Niemelainen and Berglund signed and one of them (Berglund) might just make it. Green seemed to be focused on Skinner in the same way he was Benson, suspect WHL bias might have been involved (I’m not being critical I’m the same way but it can lead to blind spots). Samorukov was an impressive pick, you could argue that was first-round value, or at least top-40 value. I’m impressed with Konovalov one year in.
Success in projecting. After the third round, teams are asking scouts to find players who can be projected into future roles despite having been found lacking in one way or another. The 2015 draft can’t be completely credited to Green (he was officially director of player personnel) but he was part of the scouting staff that shaped the list. The scouts found Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear and John Marino after round three in 2015. Music! So, I’m giving some credit here, your mileage may vary. Kirill Maksimov and Phil Kemp, plus Michael Kesselring and Matej Blumel, may one day join the 2015 trio.
OILERS SCOUTS 2014-15
- Bob Green: Director of Player Personnel
- [Stu MacGregor: Head Amateur Scout]-FIRED BEFORE 2015 DRAFT
- Bill Dandy: QMJHL
- [Brad Davis: OHL, tier 2 leagues]-FIRED BEFORE 2015 DRAFT
- [Kent Hawley: OHL, QMJHL]-FIRED BEFORE 2015 DRAFT
- Bob Brown: WHL (and BCJHL based on media comments)
- Jim Crosson: WHL
- Scott Harlow: NCAA and American junior leagues (east coast)
- Frank Musil: Europe
- Pelle Eklund: Europe
- Robert Nordmark: Europe
- Joseph Cucci: Year three, don’t know his area but it might be New England
- Dave Heitz: Year three, goalie scout
- Matti Virmanen: Oilers rely on him, gets mentioned a lot in media
- Sylvain Rodrigue: Year two, goalies.
OILERS 2015 DRAFT
- Round 1, No. 1 overall: C Connor McDavid (351 NHL games)
- Round 4, No. 117 overall: LD Caleb Jones (60 NHL games)
- Round 5, No. 124 overall: RD Ethan Bear (89 NHL games)
- Round 6, No. 154 overall: RD John Marino (56 NHL games)
- Round 7, No. 208 overall: G Miroslav Svoboda.
- Round 7, No. 209 overall: LD Ziyat Paigin.
OILERS 2016 DRAFT
- Round 1, No. 4 overall: R Jesse Puljujarvi (139 NHL games)
- Round 2, No. 32 overall: L Tyler Benson (7 NHL games)
- Round 3, No. 63 overall: LD Markus Niemelainen.
- Round 3, No. 84 overall: LD Matthew Cairns.
- Round 4, No. 91 overall: RD Filip Berglund.
- Round 5, No. 123 overall: G Dylan Wells.
- Round 5, No. 149 overall: L Graham McPhee.
- Round 6, No. 153 overall: RC Aapeli Rasanen.
- Round 7, No. 183 overall: RD Vincent DeSharnais.
OILERS 2017 DRAFT
- Round 1, No. 22 overall: R Kailer Yamamoto (53 NHL games).
- Round 3, No. 78 overall: G Stuart Skinner.
- Round 3, No. 84 overall: LD Dmitri Samorukov.
- Round 4, No. 115 overall: L Ostap Safin.
- Round 5, No. 146 overall: R Kirill Maksimov.
- Round 6, No. 177 overall: LC Skyler Brind’Amour.
- Round 7, No. 208 overall: RD Phillip Kemp.
OILERS 2018 DRAFT
- Round 1, No. 10 overall: RD Evan Bouchard (7 NHL games)
- Round 2, No. 40 overall: LC Ryan McLeod.
- Round 2, No. 62 overall: G Olivier Rodrigue.
- Round 6, No. 164 overall: RD Michael Kesselring.
- Round 7, No. 195 overall: L Patrick Siikanen.
OILERS 2019 DRAFT
- Round 1, No. 8 overall: LD Philip Broberg
- Round 2, No. 38 overall: RC Raphael Lavoie
- Round 3, No. 85 overall: G Ilya Konovalov
- Round 4, No. 100 overall: L Matej Blumel
- Round 6, No. 162 overall: RC Tomas Mazura
- Round 7, No. 193 overall: LC Maxim Denezhkin
BOB GREEN’S REPORT CARD
As is the case with any scouting director/head scout, the decision on first-round selections is often made at a higher pay grade. McDavid was a no-brainer, Broberg felt like a Holland pick (remember, he would know both DRW and Oilers lists).
In between, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto and Bouchard are talented players with skill. I think Green and his men handed quality talent to the organization in the first round. After that, most of the picks inside the top 100 were players who had/have a chance to make it to the NHL.
If the goal is two NHL players per year, and we give Green credit for being part of the 2015 draft process (he was), that means 10 NHL players gets him a pass. McDavid, Jones, Bear, Marino, Yamamoto are already there. Bouchard, Broberg and a nice group of second-round picks should get Green close to 10.
Green will be remembered for the Griffin Reinhart trade, and for not drafting Alex DeBrincat.
My Grade: We’ll know more in 2024, but for me Green’s record shows innovation (Yamamoto, Konovalov) and very little ‘death valley’ clusters of five or six names that are destined to deliver zero NHL games. I give Green a “B” and would suggest he had a more successful run than MacGregor and Kevin Prendergast. Comparing anyone to Barry Fraser is crazy, because he delivered an all-time best draft cluster 1979-83 before settling in for a long and mediocre coda. Green did a good job. That’s my opinion.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
Friday morning with snow? Get outta town! We start at 10, TSN1260. Steve Lansky will talk about the 24-team playoff the NHL players are voting on and I’ll ask him about the pressures of as many as three games a day from the same building. Matthew Iwanyk will drop in at 11 to discuss the NHL plan and what the CFL is up to right now. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Basketball shot is diffrent than hockey.
Their are 2 sets of point locations.
Higher reward for avoiding penetration in NBA.
The path of Basketball shot can be changed for only Half the shot.
No one at the net making it a 0% chance shot.
Hockey has a high% exclusion of 0% density shots Incorrectly calculated in current shot maps!
We were told this was in the name of Utica’s success………
We were also told why Berglund was refusing to sign with the Oilers……..
The sabres lost so many dmen one playoff year they had to call up an AHL player whose season already ended. Never say never.
A summary of Barker is lazy, bad skater, made of glass.
Which of those sounds like Broberg………..that would be none.
Small ball trolling with that comparison.
Or maybe just 10,000 cardboard likenesses of Brodiggity Raftnuts
Guess we’ll have to take your word for it. RD Chatfield was called up but didn’t play, Rafferty was not. And 6LD played NHL games for the Canucks, Rafferty, not so much.
$40 bucks doesn’t go far.
Do tell.
Hah. So normal AHL pay then McGoo
As am I but I’ve adapted the Seoul recipe with a Canadian flair.
I’m a dim sum kind of guy myself.
Peanuts for a Black Ace on a 30 man losing team.
Regarding fans in arenas, stadiums,etc.
I was thinking about this yesterday, a more 2020 version of the cardboard cutout of fans/blow-up dolls in seats.
I am sure one of the more tech-savvy readers can help me out here….
One side of the arena is alotted 5,000 seats to each team for every game. Fans pay $20.00 per seat to have a link to an Alexa or similar device and one of those thin boards they use for ads at the edge of soccer games. The “board” would be about the size of an average man sitting down and would be secured to the audio device. The board can be used to upload an X number of pre-approved photos or videos of the person/family and the Alexa enables the person/family to cheer on their team(s).
I was thinking just lower bowl seats, so it might be 1 end + 1 side. Or a mixture. I am sure something can be easily figured out.
If there are real people in stands, like hotel staff/teams families, maybe they view from the luxury boxes (with permission of the box owners or something like that).
Does these sound technologically viable? Thoughts??.
Iokay, I looked into it a bit. Might be a bit too ambition at the moment.
n fact, these boards could theoretically be tailored to specific viewing audiences, so they could potentially sell the same seat twice to each fanbase and tailor the “experience” to a specific broadcaster.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertkidd/2018/08/24/how-virtual-advertising-is-helping-brands-reach-international-soccer-fans/
As far as the “Alexa” idea, maybe it is just alotted as 50/50 to each team.
You like/hate? Would you pay for a “seat”? You could buy one for someone else as a surprise gift even….
Hah. You’re always entitled to be wrong, which is most fortunate. 😉
If they go past the 23 due to the bubbles more players to share with. Again does not need to a full share but zero share is unlikely.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/12/31/16807710/playoff-pay-nfl-nba-mlb-nhl
NHL: $163,000 (estimated)
The NHL has a $15 million player compensation pool for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as laid out in its CBA. There’s annual flexibility in how teams share their take, and the NHL hasn’t released updated figures on what each team gets. The share for the Cup winner was $3.75 million in 2013. If the championship team decided to split that among every player on a 23-man roster and nobody else, it’d be $163,043 per player.
That would work out to a little less than $7,000 per game per guy, if a team played four six-game series en route to a Cup win. It usually takes a little longer for a hockey team to get through its conference than, say, an elite basketball team.
No.
Rafferty is #4 on the RHD depth chart.
Tanev
Myers
Stecher
Rafferty
By my count Bouchard is 10th on the depth chart. So at least 3 injuries away from seeing a game.
10 Canucks D have spent time in Vancouver ahead of Rafferty this season, he’s more than one injury away from an NHL job it seems.
At 11th on the depth chart Broberg might actually be in a similar position.
Playoffs include participation money aside from salary, no? They’re talking about extending rosters to have replacements. They don’t have to do full shares, but you’d expect something, right?
Korean Street Toast for Saturday brunch anyone?
Let me know.
Rafferty is one injury away from an NHL job.
Someone like Bouchard might also be in that position.
Broberg isn’t.
A player like Granlund with one or both feet out the door, you may be right. Most prospects will want to get any NHL exposure they can. I expect your man Brogan would jump at the opportunity, if given the chance.
Thanks.
Jason Gregor
@JasonGregor
·
7h
The NHLPA has voted not to receive their final paycheque. Also, while not unanimous (some top teams not loving format), source tells me NHLPA will approve the 24-team playoff. #NHL
When?
I’ve only seen they’ve decided twice to defer the decision.
Players decided not to take their final paycheque.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
·
32m
The NHLPA’s Executive Board has voted to authorize further negotiations with the NHL on a 24-team return-to-play format. First step in a process that will require many other details to be sorted out.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
·
13m
Even with this affirmative vote, there are still some details with the 24-team playoff format still to be worked out between the NHL and NHLPA. One of them is whether they’ll go ahead with a playoff bracket or use reseeding.
The SHL season starts in September.
It is preceded by training camp in August.
There are NO salaries. ZERO.
The NHL final payment for the players has already passed and the players are deciding whether or not to accept the payment now or use it to reduce escrow.
I guess if a player thought he might make an appearance in an NHL game he might think it would be worth the two weeks of quarantine upon arrival but many will likely decide it is more beneficial (especially European players) to continue to skate in their home countries and prepare for the upcoming season.
He won’t play but he could play – he’s signed.
There has been talk of him being with the team.
Why would he want to? Because his goal is to be in the NHL and the experience and the effect of practice with the team and seeing how an NHL team runs, etc. all beneficial to his development.
The plan was to bring him over for training camp (and he expressed a desire to do that) this September before going back to Skelfeeta.
Maybe he doesn’t want to come (he did/does want to come for camp and then head back to Skelfeeta) but you can’t profess to know what is in any specific individuals head without them saying.
I was going to agree with you that some vets might not see it worthwhile (though an NHL salary even for a few weeks isn’t far off many minor league salaries…).
But young prospects are going to jump at the chance to be on an NHL roster. Why do these guys come for development camp for instance? Now they’re (probably) going to have a chance to join the actual NHL team during (probably) a playoff run, share the ice during practice and maybe even get in NHL games. The vast majority of younger guys are going to be beside themselves at the opportunity.
And what do you mean Broberg can’t play?
Sportsnet
@Sportsnet
·
2m
The Penguins voted in favour of the NHL’s proposed return-to-play format, according to NHLPA representative Kris Letang.
Just sayin the NHlLis going to have a lots of moving parts to track to manage their buuble and they apparently do not want to add fans and whoever supports fans to the mix. Suspect they’ll be intererested in that once the playoffs are in the rear view mirror.
My take on the expanded playoff format. They should let the teams outside of the top 4 in each conference choose their first round opponent from the 9th-12th ranked teams, with the team in 5th place getting 1st choice, 6th place getting 2nd choice, and so on.
N64,
How would a player get the virus from a fan in the stands 20 meters or more away?
I don’t think sitting around in hotel for weeks on end is much of a jump.
Perhaps there is some benefit from being exposed to the NHL experience but most of these players already have that exposure.
– Brogerg may end up good
– He was a reach where he was selected
– HIs “math” isn’t that good at this stage, one year after being drafted
– He has a lot of “potential” and more tools, and younger: those the reason for the bet and reason why they “reached” for him
– These things aren’t mutually exclusive
As a black ace, one gets a big jump on everybody else you are competing for a job with in the NHL.
I don’t think Broberg is addicted to Fortnite
They just jumped on the hand grenade. Fairness and integrity of the season results was going to be the divisive issue.
No idea how the NHL and PA are locking down the parameters for final bid submissions from sites, but I’d guess they are at a least a week away from a formal vote with ALL the final details on the table.
Why would Broberg show up?
He can’t play, would have to quarantine for two weeks and then leave for the SHL training camp shortly thereafter.
I don’t think Evan Bouchard, Tyler Benson, Phil Broberg, etc. will decline to join the team – I would presume they are all extremely excited to do just that.
The poster has expressed that he wouldn’t trade Rafferty straight up for any of Bouchard, Bear or Klefbom, so……
More:
David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) Tweeted:
Hearing the 24-team return-to-play format will be approved by NHLPA, but there’s A LOT more work to be done. To put in perspective, if the rest of planning goes well, I’m told camps won’t start until early-July & could run 3 weeks, which would lead to starting play at end of July
What do you see as the next step?
Format of playoff matchups they did not need a strong consensus. Next step they will need it.
If they expand rosters for spares, some pay no? Might not want to gift the option to AHL team mates.
Also out of Pittsburgh, the return to play plan has squeezed by a vote of team NHLPA reps.
Just listened to a radio hit with Ray Ferraro.
He wonders if the Black Aces will get a vote on the return to play.
Also wonders if many of them will decline to play since they have zero financial benefits from playing and would have to quarantine for possibly weeks.
Report that the Penguins players have voted a hard NO to the 24 team format.
Apparently very upset they would have to play the Canadiens and Carey Price.
True. Sometimes the trip through the woods ends up with a trip to the woodshed.