Over the years, I’ve seen the Edmonton Oilers wall off entire areas of draft-eligibles for one reason or another. The Russians were off limits for many years, and they spent years drafting Swedes only after the good ones were taken. Sometimes they loved the NCAA, and then they didn’t love the NCAA. The club’s obsession with speed has been pretty much constant through the years, but there was most of a decade devoted to coke machines.
One area Edmonton started cultivating again under MacT—and appear to value under Peter Chiarelli—is draft and college. Selecting players from leagues that can feed into the NCAA, allowing the drafting team four years of evaluation. Edmonton has done this before:
DRAFT AND COLLEGE 2000-04
- 2000—D Jason Platt in the 8th round. Drafted out of Omaha (USHL) after 18-year old season. Attended college at Providence and signed with the Oilers after full four years in NCAA. Turned pro at 23.
- 2001—C Eddie Caron in the 2nd round. Drafted out of Phillips-Exeter Academy (USHS) after 18-year old season. Attended college at New Hampshire, transferred but it got derailed or he left Dodge and he turned pro with Greenville Grrrowl at age 22.
- 2001—C Jake Brenk in the 5th round. Drafted out of Breck School (USHS) after 18-year old season. Attended Minnesota State-Mankato all four years, turned pro at 23 by signing in Holland. Ref.
- 2002—D Matt Greene in the 2nd round. Drafted out of Green Bay (USHL) after 18-year old season. Attended UND for three seasons, turned pro at 22 by signing with the Oilers. Greene would play in the SCF’s that season.
- 2002—G Glenn Fisher in the 5th round. Drafted out of Ft. Saskatchewan (AJHL) after 18-year old season. Attended U Denver for four years, and turned pro with the Oilers age 24.
- 2002—L Patrick Murphy in the 7th round. Drafted out of Newmarket (OPJHL) after 18-year old season. Attended Northern Michigan for four years, and turned pro at age 23 by signing with Laredo (ECHL).
- 2003—R Colin McDonald in the 2nd round. Drafted out of New England (EJHL) after 17-year old season. Attended Providence College for four years, turned pro at 22 by signing with the Oilers.
- 2003—R David Rohlfs in the 5th round. Drafted out of Compuware (NAHL) after 18-year old season. Attended Michigan for four years, turned pro at 23 by signing with the Oilers.
- 2004—C Geoff Paukovich in the 2nd round. Drafted out of USNDTP after 17-year old season. Attended U Denver for three years, and turned pro at 21 by signing with the Oilers.
DRAFT AND COLLEGE 2005-09
- 2005—C Andrew Cogliano in the 1st round. Drafted out of Toronto St. Mike’s (OPJHL) after 17-year old season, he played at Michigan for two years and turned pro at age 20 with the Oilers.
- 2005—D Taylor Chorney in the 2nd round. Drafted out of Shattuck-St. Mary’s (USHS) after 17-year old season, he played for UND for three years and turned pro at age 21 with the Oilers.
- 2005—C Robby Dee in the 3rd round. Drafted out of Breck (USHS) after 17-year old season, he went to Omaha (USHL) for two years and then college (Maine) for four years before turning pro at age 24 in the ECHL.
- 2005—C Chris VandeVelde in the 4th round. Drafted out of Moorhead (USHS) after 17-year old season, he went to Lincoln (USHL) for one year and then college (UND) for four years before turning pro at age 23 by signing with the Oilers.
- 2005—L Matt Glasser in the 7th round. Drafted out of Fort McMurray (AJHL) after 17-year old season, he stayed another year in the USHL and then hit college (U Denver) for four years before turning pro at age 23 in the CHL.
- 2006—D Jeff Petry in the 2nd round. Drafted out of Des Moines (USHL) after 17-year old season, he stayed another year in the USHL and then hit college (Michigan State) for three more years before turning pro at age 22 by signing with the Oilers.
- 2007—C Riley Nash in the 1st round. Drafted out of Salmon Arm (BCJHL) after 17-year old season, he attended Cornell (NCAA) for three years before turning pro at age 21 by signing with the Carolina Hurricanes.
- 2009—D Troy Hesketh in the 3rd round. Drafted out of Minnetonka (USHS) after 17-year old season, he derailed.
- 2009—D Kyle Bigos in the 4th round. Drafted out of Vernon (BCJHL) after 20-year old season, he attended Merrimack College (NCAA) for four years before turning pro at age 24 by signing with the San Jose Sharks.
DRAFT AND COLLEGE 2010-14
- 2010—F Kellen Jones in the 7th round. Drafted out of Vernon (BCJHL) after 20-year old season, he attended Quinnipiac (NCAA) for four years before turning pro by signing with the Oklahoma City Barons for his 24-year old season.
- 2012—C Jujhar Khaira in the 3rd round. Drafted out of Prince George (BCJHL) after 17-year old season, he attended Michigan Tech for one year and Everett (WHL) for one year and he turned pro with the Oilers at age 20.
- 2013—F Aidan Muir in the 4th round. Drafted out of Victory Honda Midget (MWEHL) after 17-year old season, he played with Indiana (USHL) for a year before heading to Western Michigan. Muir has played two college seasons and could turn pro next summer (2017) or the year after.
- 2013—L Evan Campbell in the 5th round. Drafted out of Langley (BCJHL) after 20-year old season, he played with UMass-Lowell (NCAA) 2013-16 and is entering his senior year.
- 2014—D William Lagesson in the 4th round. Drafted out of Frolunda (Swedish Juniors) after his 17-year old year, he played the following season in the USHL before heading to the NCAA UMass-Amherst. Has now completed his freshman season.
- 2014—L Liam Coughlin in the 5th round. Drafted out of Vernon (BCJHL) after 19-year old season, he stayed there for an extra year before playing college hockey in 2015-16 for Vermont. Now property of the Chicago Blackhawks.
- 2014—F Tyler Vesel in the 6th round. Drafted out of Omaha (USHL) after 20-year old season, he has played two seasons with U Nebraska-Omaha.
DRAFT AND COLLEGE 2015-16
- 2015—Caleb Jones in the 4th round. Drafted out of the US National Development Program (USHL), he played draft +1 with Portland of the WHL and has signed his entry-level deal.
- 2015—John Marino in the 6th round. Drafted out of the South Shore Kings (USHL Pr), he moved up to the USHL in draft +1 and will attend Harvard this fall. Marino—like Jeff Petry—appears to be a perfect example of why slow-playing some prospects is a good idea. Early days, of course.
- 2016—Matt Cairns in the 3rd round. Drafted out of Georgetown (OJHL), he will apparently play in Muskegon (USHL) this coming year and then attend Cornell fall 2017.
- 2016—Graham McPhee in the 5th round. Drafted out of the US National Development Team, he will attend Boston College this fall—and won’t turn 18 until next week. Very young college player, ala Dillon Simpson.
- 2016—Aapeli Rasanen in the 7th round. Drafted out of the Finnish Jr leagues, he will play for Sioux City of the USHL this fall. An unusual but not unheard of path, Rasanen is an interesting player to follow this coming season.
CONCLUSIONS
Since the turn of the century, Edmonton has:
- chosen 30 ‘draft and college’ players
- 18 have been chosen after their 17-year old season
- 7 have been chosen after their 18-year old season
- 1 has been chosen after his 19-year old season
- 4 have been chosen after their 20-year old season
- the 19-year old (Coughlin) was chosen in the MacT era
- two of the four 20-year olds (Campbell and Vesel) came in the MacT era
- All of the 20-year olds were chosen from 2009-2014.
- Peter Chiarelli’s choices on this list were all chosen after 17-year old seasons.
- The best players from this group—Matt Greene (18), Andrew Cogliano (17), Jeff Petry (17), Riley Nash (17) were chosen after 17 or 18 year old seasons.
- Only two first-round picks were in the group: Andrew Cogliano and Riley Nash.
I think drafting from leagues outside the CHL and established Euro pools is fine, especially if they come after those pools have been exhausted of top talent. I think Cairns is an interesting player to follow, as his resume shows more promise than most of the CHL players who were available at that time.
https://medium.com/@kenyong/is-adam-larsson-one-dimensional-in-analytics-context-still-matters-a7344672385f#.44ybkkscj
This has probably been discussed before, but I found it interesting regarding analytics and context. Particularly with respect to Larsson.
Capitalism requires the rule-of-law. Implied in contract law is good faith and fair dealing. “What you can get away with” is not capitalism. One will break the system if the vast majority of actors do not act with good faith and fair dealing.
One got to see the system break in 2008. It is still broken, bailed out by Ponzi central bank money flowing to the plutocrats and the 1%. The markets are basically all broken, because no market is allowed to clear, so basically everything is mispriced.
We are currently in Wonderland. One quarter of government debt in the world now carries a negative interest rate. Think about that.
In Alberta, one has seen the effect of the US Fed creating money out of nothing, where North American energy companies were able to get nearly free mispriced money to over drill and create an oversupply of oil.
The world’s elites are afraid to put their money in insolvent banks, so they bid up the price of real estate in the world’s most desirable cities. And they won’t invest it in the real economy, because everything is mispriced and the markets are broken, so a proper business decision cannot be made. (See the North American oil intdustry).
The consequences of bailing out the bad actors, and not prosecuting them, and TBTF and TBTJ are still reverberating around the world.
An ideal list of bands to compare to the Oilers. The superstars’ best work is from ages ago, while the younger ones are overplayed and overrated.
If he had one, it would truly be a dangerous time for lovers. Or at least central American despots.
Is he holding a rocket launcher?
Bruce Cockburn says hi.
Strangely enough neither would the Canadians: http://www.ghostrecords.it/eng/artists/?id=5
Welcome to capitalism. You need to look after number one or you will be taken advantage of. Most of us work for more business savy people.
Don’t question The List.
Add Kate and Anna Mcgarrigle, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Corb Lund, Jessie Winchester
Yes. Very nice.
But remember Boards of Canada and Of Montreal don’t count!
That is an impressive list. In addition to the other suggestions people have had I would recommend you check out the Rural Alberta Advantage.
Hmm. So having Native heritage but living in white society – does that make him immune to such concerns in a way that, say Paul Simon would not be? It’s his voice that sings “we used to do the ghost dance” but I wonder what it really means to him.
I’m inclined to say it’s all good if his intentions are, but then again I’m not Native.
I’m a big fan of Modest Mouse, Deerhunter, UMO, and Foals, but all four albums last year were weaker efforts than their usual, imo. I thought Halcyon Digest from 2010 was incredible. That was a good year for music.
Robertson is a Native American (half Mohawk, I think) or would consider himself one.
Nice list, esp. Modest Mouse and MMJ! Agree with the drop off opinion. My top ten is probably rounded out with Vince Staples, Florence + the Machine, Sleater-Kinney, Natalie Prass… and a couple of Carly Rae Jepsen songs (LT- she counts as CANCON as well!). I really liked Deerhunter’s “Snakeskin” though. I thought the new Modest Mouse LP had about 5 good songs and tons of lesser filler. You like the whole thing?
Bonus points for Foals.
And yes somehow forgot Eric’s trip.
Hayden.
Leonard Cohen!
Get my 90s Cancon in there with Headstones. Maybe Moist and I Mother Earth. Maestro Fresh Wes.
Luba. Gowan. Bryan Adams! Tom Cochrane. Sarah McLachlan. Rusty. SNFU. The Smalls.
ed,
Aug 7, goodwill social club in Winnipeg. It’s a Sunday so maybe you can rearrange those priorities back in a different direction.
(Though from Edmonton originally I’m living in Toronto again. However I’m friends with a promoter back home, so it’s nice to remain plugged into a scene I haven’t really been a part of in close to a decade.)
That’s a little disappointing to hear about Robbie.
Would you consider “Music For The Native Americans” cynical cultural poaching or sincere tribute/collaboration?
rot has important msg 4 frank
proof that lobster n dog can b friends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PN-OHz9pRc
if music is 2 b decided rot votes for east coast divas sarah mclach loreena mcken anne murray
also super sexy dearly departed rita mcneil
stephen sheps,
Hah, sorry, I’m another denizen of Winnipeg and so am unfamiliar with the venues the fine city of
Edmonton has to offer.
She was always a must see though, back in the days before kids rearrange priorities.
ed,
Julie Doiron is in Edmonton Aug 9th. Can’t remember which venue but she’s always good.
Edit. The Buckingham
Actually TPAB is in my top 5 from 2015. I’m not a hip-hop fan but Kendrick is so good he won me over anyway. Haven’t gotten to the new Sufjan yet but I’m sure it’s great.
After that it’s a bit of a drop-off for me: Deerhunter, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Modest Mouse, Foals, and oh let’s say My Morning Jacket round out the top 10.
Why? I listed Kane-Toews. For that we have to go way back 2 years. Which we can do another 2 times for 3 cups in 5.
Honestly you make the absolutely smartest and absolutely densest comments here. That’s a compliment. Can’t match you in either direction.
Sloan is good but imo the best to come out of the whole halifax thing was Eric’s Trip/Elevator. Marc Gaudet is the best drummer I have ever seen live, right there with the best this country has produced. I still have a crush on Julie Doiron. Lots of material to work with if you care to dig through that scene. Has it been almost 25 years!?!
Lowetide,
That is a wonderful cross section of the best of Canada spanning several generations. I really hope that you do choose to go in this direction if not for the fall RE then for the Spring.
Wonder Llama,
Art Angels was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize this year. While there are albums that I think should win (Kaytranada; Andy Shauf), I think Claire Boucher’s weird weird art-pop freak out of genres is going to take it.
Wonder Llama, we are kindred music spirits. You only forgot Kendrick Lamar and Sufjan Stevens, otherwise that is my exact Big 5 from 2015!
That is an impressive and formidable list! Love how Grimes and Arcade Fire snuck in there with those legends.
I will second and third the use of Use It, or anything by The New Pornographers. Please don’t be afraid of the last word in that name. Pastorally, I had to get used to it too!
Might I also suggest Tegan & Sara, Basia Bulat (who you would LOVE, LT), and Feist for some extra lady CANCON content? And Drake and Edmonton’s own Poet Laureate Cadence Weapon for the Hip Hop quotient?
Grimes! I forgot all about Grimes! Art Angels was one of my favorite albums from last year (after Courtney Barnett and Tame Impala).
A Foot In Cold Water – that’s some late-night summer parking music there.
The Cancon would include Hip, Sloan, Neil Young, The Band, Cowboy Junkies, Crowbar, Great Big Sea, Payolas, BTO, Barenaked Ladies. Michel Pagliaro, Ian Thomas, Grimes, The Demics, Weakerthans, Spirit of the West, Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot, The Band, Joni Mitchell, the Consantines, Leonard Cohen, Stan Rogers, Ian Tyson, Crash Test Dummies, MWH, Our Lady Peace, Arcade Fire, Prairie Oyster and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek_Xf2HTsZo
On why Caggiula may perhaps be tried at centre early…perhaps because McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Draisaitl will be missing a lot of training camp early.
But Robbie Robertson was the only one who got rich because he took almost all of the writing credits, and got all the royalties, when it, as The Last Waltz demonstrates, clearly a collaborative endeavour.
The Last Waltz was the last waltz because Robertson could afford to stop touring because of the royalties, but everyone else couldn’t.
Ethical question: Should one take advantage of one’s bandmates if one is more business savvy than they are? Does one have an obligation to be fair when the others are unaware of the consequences of what is happening?
Ah, I see. I think we probably agree on that then.
When I hear them, I still mentally evaluate it as “good,” but I’m not drawn to listen to them like I was before. Not sure if it’s me or them though as I haven’t given any of the new albums a proper chance.
Old World Underground remains my favorite as well. Dead Disco is still a helluva song. For those that haven’t heard it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEsr5Mm3JfE
Dallas hasn’t won anything yet. Ovechkin…zero. Hall…zero. Benn…zero. I think you have to go all the way back to Lafleur…but then he had the four horsemen of the apocalypse on defense…Savard, Lapointe, Robinson, and Nyrop.
Tire Fire,
I know them well and love Emily’s voice. But since Old World Underground I just haven’t been able to get into them.
They are a good band but I’m just not that into them.
Do Make Say Think are wonderful. Whoever mentioned them earlier is quite right to include them. They’re so much more than a BSS-adjacent band.
Canadian music is great and keeps getting better and more interesting.
Love the CANCON re: idea so much
I suggest taking a 2nd look at Metric. I haven’t caught up to their newer stuff yet, but their older collection is worth a listen.
Emily Haines’ father was a poet and it really shows up in the lyrics. Some nice Soc. themes for you in there, my son.
For a bonus, check out her solo album. Could use a little more variety on it, but Mostly Waving and Crowd Surf Off a Cliff are the standouts.
Metric also did a wonderful take on Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice. The raw, unproduced version on youtube (search Studio Brussels and the song title) is worth a look.
I put in the parenthetical aside in that last sentence to angry up DMW’s blood after this morning’s musings.
Well that hurts.
I will have to check that out.
IME at The Burt in Oct too.
Also from that list:
20. Evgeny Kuznetsov
21. Tyler Pitlick
22. Jaden Schwartz
23. Tyler Toffoli
24. Brock Nelson
Four of the five with 20-goal seasons, three with more than one of them. Guess which one the Oilers drafted? >:(
Wonder Llama,
I’m probably, like, eighty.
Nonsense! I’m 54 and I’m still trading kandi with the EDM kids.
And just to bring this discussion back around to Caligula of the He-Ducks, that post reminds us that Taylor Hall was also listed as a Centre/Winger on draft day. He didn’t actually play any centre in the OHL, did he?
Pouzar,
Dandy Warhols was just announced for September. That will be one worth coming out for.
I knew they were a contributing force to the “musical collective” that is BSS but I’ve never gotten around to listening to them. An oversight I shall correct – thanks!
Lowetide,
Great. I will bookmark that for later. Thank you!
I’m too old for much of the shit that people are listing, but I love the Weakerthans – Winnipeg, of course.
Fun fact about Mac DeMarco: his real name is Vernor Smith, after his great grandfather, Minister of Railways and Telephones in the United Farmers of Alberta governments of Herb Greenfield and J. E. Brownlee.
(Some clever poster telling me that they don’t think that “fun” means what I think it means in 3…2…)
Great call on the future tragedy. Although Hall has now gone from Money to Wish You Were Here.
It was billed as an acoustic show but it was anything but.
Weird but awesome. Ian T. was lettin er rip.
KhaaaaaaaaanKaaaaaaatz!!!