This is a pick that is in the range and should be considered a solid use of an asset. Goaltenders tend to be longer term projects than skaters, so fans may not see or hear much about Vinni for some time. One thing you should not be swayed by: Anyone talking about goaltenders and their value in a way that suggests they are an expert. Goalies are tricky business. Jesper Wallstedt, placed in the HHOF by many Oilers fans in his draft year, had a .910SP in 2023-24. Olivier Rodrigue, a mostly unknown player to many Oilers fans, delivered a .916SP for the Bakersfield Condors last season. Beware goalie experts unless it’s someone with experience and a bona fide track record. Seriously. Kevin Weekes, Kevin Woodley. Those guys.
I don’t care if Sam Gagner has a club foot and a spatula for a hand, I’m always going to be happy to have that man in an Oilers jersey. I hope he sticks around…that made me smile this morning. Make it so. And Adam Henrique has been one of my favourite non-Oilers since he was a Devil…hope we keep him.
Munny 2.0
June 30, 2024 12:57 am
I don’t recall that volume of trading picks up and down in prior drafts.
Munny 2.0
June 29, 2024 11:56 pm
I’m guessing that the Leafs trading for the rights to Tanev means we shouldn’t expect a Nurse for Marner deal any time soon…
I don’t even know what to do with that, lol. I’m assuming you’re kidding…but even though I’m not a huge Marner fan, jesus…can you imagine adding another Steve Austin at the top, then trying to backfill the d? My god it would be fun to watch the chaos…it’d be a freaking all-star team up front, with 1 solid d pair, and a lot of white knuckles watching the AHL defense. Let’s do it! 😀
Munny 2.0
June 29, 2024 11:17 pm
The one common thread that seems to run through all the picks today is that they all have had good playoffs.
Still-a-Rookie Jeff Jackson would’ve set the theme and given the draft table their marching orders as it were, and I’m guessing it was find guys who don’t shrink when the stakes are raised. Ie get playoff performers.
I’m not sure if that’s a good strategy. Time will of course tell. But there’s definitely the possibility that there’s some belief in clutch and some disregard for small sample sizes in the corner office. This seems to me like the least-advanced-stat set of picks from the Oilers that we’ve seen in years.
All-in on intangibles. Going to be an interesting five years.
I’ve seen Wakely play a lot, (not this year but from watching Petrov) and I like him, but again fancy stats tells us to discount this year’s overage production by a fairly stiff factor.
I can see the reasoning behind the O’Reilly pick and will suspend judgement on it, but the trade means the Oilers raised the stakes on the decision-making, so they had better be right.
A goalie that early is poor fancy statting. That’s a pick likely based on one or two qualitative, subjective opinions slash projections and thus risky.
“Clatterbuck” is inexplicable. Even moreso as a team’s third pick and in a mid-draft round. With his numbers and overage, if you as an org like him how is this kid not available as an FA for nothing after the draft? But a pick is used? You like him that much at that spot in the draft, you’re willing to burn a pick on that set of numbers? smh
I should clarify on the goalie… taking Milli Vanilli at 64 tells me the scouts think he’s better than Skinner and as good as Rodrigue (62). And then you look at his numbers… That seems qualitative based and while that’s no guarantee of failure or anything, just seems poor value for the risk involved.
I don’t think you can look at it that way. Skinner was drafted at 78 but the Oilers didn’t have a pick between Yamamoto at 22 and 82 which they traded up to 78 to select Skinner. From the look of his numbers, Skinner should have been drafted earlier which is why the Oilers moved up to get him but the pick number doesn’t changed how any of them were perceived by the team. For goalies, the counting numbers always leave something lacking as we know not all shots/leagues are created equally and need something to guide us beyond the numbers.
What I did like is we took some guys who made some big moves in their production this year and thus might be on better trajectories. It’s entirely possible that Parkatti has gathered some data on the history of this working out. That seems thin gruel though in the overall daft porridge.
I’m patient, we’ll see how these picks blossom. Can’t write anyone off at this point in their young lives. Just not convinced the force is with us.
I would suggest the team is looking more at ice time, quality of teammates, quality of competition, EV vs PP, and trying to find players who were able to excel in a lesser role. I do agree that it seems to be a lot of trying to outsmart other teams rather than take an obvious choice. I do think O’Reilly is a good pick when you consider that he plays for London which over-plays its stars and O’Reilly has a big opportunity to “pop” offensively next year in time to be traded at the deadline. Vinni seems like a decent pick. Lots of guys think he’s got one of the higher ceilings in the draft. The Oilers last two G picks (Day and Larsson) aren’t doing super well so this was the biggest prospect need and only the 5th goalie drafted at that point.
5th actually seems above average high for 64 picks.
I don’t mind the O’Reilly and Wakely picks. And I agree, a huge chunk of the mistake on goalie was made over the last two drafts. Only seven picks in two drafts and two were used on goalies with Skinner and Rodrigue in the system. Holland’s second lowest moment in my opinion.
But this second rounder’s numbers don’t sparkle, he doesn’t have a size advantage, we’ve just recently used two picks when we only had a few… and now our second highest pick goes there too,
AND we just signed Ungar.
I dunno. There seems to be a lack of a long term plan and I would not have used a 2nd round pick on a goalie unless I was convinced he was blue chip. We’ll see. Maybe second tier pro at 18 with mediocre numbers is actually good. We don’t have a lot of context for the pick and I have an open mind. I just don’t like the decision-making here in the moment.
Rodrigue was the 2nd goalie taken in his year and Skinner was 5th so it goes either way. Ungar is already 22 and the last 2 picks aren’t knocking it out of the park. This is a solid bet as part of a long-term plan. They have Skinner as #1, Pickard and Rodrigue will fight it out over the who is 2 and 3 over the next 2 year and Ungar will have those 2 years to show what he can do before Vinni gets brought over and potentially competes with Day and Larsson. The Oilers very much need a good young goalie in 3-5 years and this is a very solid bet to have that player.
Definitely a bit of a head scratcher of a draft with the trade for #32 and the Clattenburg pick.
It feels like Pracey wanted to place his stamp on the team in acquiring the first round pick. Obviously they’re betting on a guy who apparently didn’t get much power play time spiking the following year.
Still, O’Reilly is 3 years out or more from likely helping.
An actual first round pick generally is a more stable asset for trading purposes. Players get injuries have down years, etc. Some player values do spike post draft, but there’s always that gap between when a player’s drafted until they establish themselves in the NHL, where their value sags.
Either way, I don’t think the drafted O’Reily to flip at next year’s deadline. We don’t have a second rounder next year.
I actually really like the move. The Oilers had a problem at the last deadline making trades involving high level prospects and now they have one that is quite likely to spike in both counting numbers and value. Prospects that stay in Junior almost always have a higher cache in their draft+1 season and then the lull comes when they join the AHL and aren’t immediately point per game players. He could be the prospect in the traditional Player, Pick & a Prospect trade for say Pavel Buchnevich or he could mature into a decent middle-six player. Remember that Yamamoto is 13th in the 2017 draft in points. Picking a lights-out offensive player at 25-35 involves a lot of luck.
Benign Bone
June 29, 2024 4:32 pm
I simultaneously like the O’Reilly pick while thus far disliking the direction I see from EDM’s Pracey era. It’s not like he never picked with a focus on skill but whatever other qualities he was selecting for were either the wrong qualities or didn’t actually end up being present. I hope he’s learned or improved, but I don’t find that draft particularly encouraging.
That being said, I’ll take solace in the hope that EDM may still choose a GM that balances out what I see as a consistent pattern in Pracey’s draft history.
The Knights picks seem to fit the claims in these comments that Mark Hunter is coming.
Post-pracey Avalanche were very video scouting and machine vision driven. From the analytics perspective that feels like the way to best identify skill besides points and goals. But I don’t actually see any indications of that approach with this team.
I assume you mean how do I know that their scouting was “post-Pracey” video & machine vision driven?
It was obvious from the 2021 staff listing and structure on their web page. From the listing below, it’s pretty clear that part of the analytics and scouting process was to use video footage and machine vision analysis from services like Sportlogiq to extract analytics about prospects and pros too.
I remember from some interviews by Stauffer of Brad Holland, that the Oilers have done this too – but they didn’t seem to have the same positions established and, therefore, seemed to place less emphasis on the process. Stauffer was going on and on about how there’s no time on ice published by the CHL. Holland said something to the effect of, “oh we have that data.” It went right over Stauffer’s head, who seems to think he knows what’s going on with analytics, but mostly is living pre-2016.
There is another layer now, with big data that applies to the pros. But for amateur scouting video analytics seem valuable.
Pracey said they have a multifaceted approach, it better be
If they waste anymore of Connor it’s inexcusable. It’s supposed to be easy once the high end talent is there
OriginalPouzar
June 29, 2024 4:14 pm
Since we are talking draft picks and kids going back to junior, does anyone have any knowledge on how Akey’s shoulder is doing. His injury was so early in the season, I presume he’ll be fully ready for rookie camp and trained up (as opposed to only rehab)????
If the team (or player) takes Rafa Lavoie, James Hamblin,Noel Hoefenmayer or Ryan Fanti to arbitration (only these 4 are eligible), then they have until 48 hours after the last arbitration to buy him out.
OriginalPouzar
June 29, 2024 4:12 pm
It appears I’m a London Nights’ fan for at least next season….
Oil2Oilers
June 29, 2024 4:00 pm
If Stamkos wants another cup more than money his buddy McDavid can provide it.
I’d have time for Jeff Skinner on a 1 year deal to improve our scoring depth. He can play with Connor for a year, inflate his stats, experience a long playoff run, and then cash in the year after.
I like your list, went to the last hours of CF to see what they can do. With the overages and Neal buyout (5.46M) they are going to have trouble just filling the roster out, even with a clean disposition on Jack. I assumed that happens in my calcs. Dead cap should be avoided at all costs, especially for a top heavy team
Jackson said they aren’t looking to do big things. So we’ll take him at his word. I think upgrading the D is the most important thing they could do, the bottom 2 pairs are heavily affecting the bottom 6 forwards offense and Drai’s line. I have felt this for years, NHL_SID has a piece up today with the data saying the same, his work helped me form my opinion in the past
The cheapest quality D available UFA is Carrier. He’s too small, but he’s a gamer and would be better. SID looked at him before and his game would help Nurse and he’s good at both bluelines. He’s also a feisty little fella
They need a better 3C. Henri has expressed interest in winning over money, as has Brown. I left McLeod but would move him at this point (the Dowd deal maybe, but that is trading a 25YO for a 34YO), not my style of player and still has some rep and value of some sort. Might not in the near future
I can’t get to thinking playing Bro off hand with no recourse other than Kulak who doesn’t like playing there is too risky for me. Moved Kulak, Ceci, Campbell
Holloway 1.25, Henri 2.5, Lavoie .950, Jan 1.25, Brown 1, Perry .800 (13/14), Carrier 3.25
That leaves 2.317M in space after the dead cap of 5.46M and a 20 roster. Have to find a forward of some sort and a 3RD. I’d look elsewhere than Vinny, read SID and that’s why. Puck skills can’t be optional for this team. If possible a 7D as well
Regarding D 3-7… is it possible that Nurse would be interested in a trade? When I see the interviews, this is not a happy guy. He can’t seem to get over being supplanted by both Ekholm and Bouchard. Lowetide has talked Nurse trade in the past. Feels like he needs a change of scenery. But the cap hit…
Lavoie’s QO is $874,125 and, if he’s smart, he’ll sign for league min (with a higher AHL salary) – something that was offered to him last year and advised to take by his agent but he “bet on himself”.
If Holloway is getting $1.25MM there best be a couple of years on that deal.
Perry was the team’s worst forward through the playoffs – there is speculation of a bonus structure and, if that’s a low games played threshold…….
I don’t think Henrique comes in anywhere near $2.5MM – that’s a a real big discount to market (at least I think it would be).
Holloway and Broberg should be around their QOs on one year deal (i.e. $900K), if they want $1.2MM they need to give a few years. Coming off their ELCs with no arb rights and no leverage – the Oilers need to take advantage of having the hammer for the last time with these kids.
Henrique says he wants to win. Pretty much all UFAs say they want to win. The market probably offers him in the $4MM range – we’ll see how much he really wants to win as, I agree, the Oilers can’t pay more than $3MM and term is a huge issue on Henrique – he’ll be 36 during the 1st year of the Drai/Bouch extension.
Perry didn’t have alot of options when he signed with the Oilers and he still got some bonuses that are hitting the cap this coming season.
I like your list, went to the last hours of CF to see what they can do.
/
That leaves 2.317M in space after the dead cap of 5.46M and a 20 roster.
Did you add all the dead cap onto what Cap CF says the Oilers have available?? They include that stuff in their calculation…
I just did the same exercise as you, using your numbers, and CF is telling me they’ve got $1.8M cap available with Campbell moved and with Kulak and Ceci still on the roster (ie – 22 players).
If they moved Kulak and Ceci they’d have about $7.8M available with 20 players signed.
Looks like we’re pretty close to $5.46M apart, and I do think you’re mistaken.
Pretty certain the Oilers cap situation, even if they burry Campbell again (rather than trading or buying him out) is better than what you’ve laid out above.
Scungilli Slushy
June 29, 2024 3:03 pm
I like the draft mostly. The highest pick was 64. All of the players down this low have things to work on, or they would be drafted higher. They all have long and windy roads the NHL. You can draft for skill and you should think about that always, but if there is an impact NHL offensive player lurking at these depths it’s been shown finding them is luck, it doesn’t repeat.
I think the look into it I read – or maybe someone did that here – was about Detroit. They got almost as lucky as those 80’s couple of drafts. So I’d rather draft players along these lines than more skilled small guys. That type almost never works out, to succeed to and in the NHL demands certain attributes. These players have no giant obstacle to overcome that I could tell before overcoming all of the other ones on their journey, like being too small, too timid, or too slow
Things that I’m not sure about – Clattenburg seems a strange pick that high, but from reading Pracey’s interview I didn’t get the impression that they would draft Lucic’s just because, they must like something more than the hitting. Pracey did say they take into account usage etc to gauge true talent. Even in the NHL most players need the right conditions to produce, maybe there is something we don’t know yet
The other thing is after reading a bit about each, skating seemed to come up for a few. That I am not for. The number of players in the NHL these days that are smarter than their boots are heavy is going down all the time I think
Only being huge seems to garner a pass with that, like Des, and I’m still not for it. Speed is a huge advantage, in almost any sport. Hopefully now that they have a Dev Director they make sure these guys get help to improve that if, it is an issue
I do like the style descriptions I read. They seem (outside of CC) to be well rounded players that battle to win, attack the net inside, compete all of the time, and are responsible. Fits my way of thinking, and about what the big club lacks enough of. Not that these players will help soon, but start as you mean to go, right?
As you’ve seem. The players we’ve added who fit that mold for cheap are Perry, Ryan, Janmark, Brown (kinda), etc. Why draft and develop those players when they’re on the waiver wire or available for close to minimum? Draft should be shooting the moon imo. If the size or motor or meanness matches the skill, all for it. Clattenberg is nothing less than a departure from that.
You are right that it being a later pick is not the end of the world, but when you have limited bullets for exclusive talent, why go safe?
When Detroit and Sather did it those markets weren’t scouted. Those days are gone
SwedishPoster
June 29, 2024 2:41 pm
Albin Sundin had a bit of a coming out party in the SHL playoffs, after spending the season going back and forth between the U20 team where he was a key player and the SHL team where he averaged 2:30 min/game he found himself taking a regular shift in the playoffs on a contender and looking good doing it. He’s a defensive D first and foremost but he can move the puck and is poised with it under pressure. Not much creativity at all offensively. Skating is not a strength but I wouldn’t say it’s terrible either.
Had very little hype leading up to the draft even here in Sweden and I would probably prefer Frans Haara as an overager due to higher upside but if Sundin can establish himself in the SHL next season he’s on a pretty nice trajectory.
He’s currently the 7th D on the depth chart for Frölunda(in the SHL this means you’re dressed and getting shifts as teams dress 2 goalies and 20 skaters every game, usually 7 D and 13 forwards) and fourth RHD with three veterans in front on the right side, former Leaf pick(never made the bigs) Tom Nilsson who’s a solid SHLer though I’m not a huge fan personally, Swiss international Dominik Egli and Christian Folin who has 244 NHL games for the Wild, Kings, Canadiens and Flyers and is a top SHL D so he certainly has competition but he’ll get games and toi if he can build on his playoff performance.
His dad Ronnie was a shutdown D, played in the SHL(or Elitserien as it was called back then) and the swedish NT for many years, came over to NA and played a single NHL game for the Rangers before returning to Sweden after one season, let’s hope his son can top that. His dad had a crazy frame, he played at 6’1 and 220+ lbs, brick wall. Can’t say if Albin has that type of build but he’s 6’2 and almost 200 lbs already.
Ditto, I very much enjoy the posts from Swedish Poster…always worth reading. Thank you for being our own overseas scout!
John Chambers
June 29, 2024 2:16 pm
Why were the Devils so intent on trading former top-10 pick Alex Holtz?
He was a ppg player in the AHL in his draft +1.
Pretendergast
June 29, 2024 1:57 pm
I can’t imagone Parkatti had anything to do with Clattenberg. What a woof pick. 0 chance of NHL games. No disrespect to the kid but if your claim to fame is you like to hit things I’m not optimistic. This is a Coke machine pick.
I don’t agree. They drafted players that were not elite offensively but difference makers playing key roles when it counted. There aren’t superstars drafting so late
Have to agree to disagree I guess. I don’t see the point of drafting players that will top out as grinders. These type of guys can be picked up for league min – 1M in FA.
Draft someone who at least has a chance to put the puck in the net.
The Great One
June 29, 2024 1:48 pm
Dallas trades the rights to Chris Tanev to Toronto for Max Ellis and a 6th round pick.
I actually don’t know for sure. Nathan Walker was drafted by Washington out of the AHL in 2014 but he has such an unusual story (born in Wales, lived in Australia, played in Czech league then USHL then AHL) so it’s hard to tell what the rules would be.
Skippy - the bush kangaroo
June 29, 2024 1:11 pm
JJ trying to build a hardworking team, void of skill.
Elite Prospects:
“Every team needs players like Wakely. He battles for pucks mercilessly, takes hits to make plays, and dishes out even more punishment than he takes. Around the net, he digs for pucks and creates space for his teammates by engaging as many defenders as possible. Along the boards, he throws reverse hits, rolls with contact, and attacks the middle.”
On the surface, this pick seems the most encouraging of the late round picks. At least he can score as an overager.
These last few picks make me kind of worry that we might be trending back towards drafting coke machines.
SwedishPoster
June 29, 2024 1:02 pm
Goalies confuse me and I know veey little of finnish goalies but I will say that I like goalies who can take a regular spot on a pro team in their draft year, the step to pro for goalies is a tough one no matter the level and guys who can handle that early tend(indeed) to do well down the line. Mestis, finnish second tier, is a clear step below the swedish second tier so certainly not one of europe’s top leagues but still it’s pro and also pretty loose defensively so the fact his numbers are below 0.900 doesn’t concern me too much. Hopefully he at least can grab a back up spot with HIFK next season.
My Frölunda die hard friend speaks highly of Sundin’s performance in the SHL playoffs. Calls him one of the team’s best and steadiest Dmen for that run. No idea if I can trust his judgement on NHL prospects, but it’s something from someone with real viewings!
Munny 2.0
June 29, 2024 12:55 pm
I’ve never seen LT so okay with taking a goalie this high in the draft.
Skippy - the bush kangaroo
June 29, 2024 12:46 pm
Getting a lot of vibes that this new drafting team think they’re the smartest guys in the room.
Elite prospects has Romani as a smaller forward whose game is off the rush. The Oilers don’t need that and it may not translate up well. I’m not for gritensity picks, but I understand why they are looking for grittier guys that want to and will play inside when it’s not easy to, a major weakness for us right now
He went one spot after his teammate 6’7″ F Nathan Aspinall and it makes you wonder if they thought Aspinall was the pick and then took Clattenburg because they were on the clock
Perhaps it is a pick made for the benefit of the farm team rather than the big team? I guess we don’t know what we don’t know on this one….
Tarkus
June 29, 2024 12:22 pm
The Falmes take Misa at #150.
dulock
June 29, 2024 12:19 pm
I like what the Oilers are doing with their goalies. For too long they’ve blocked out their young guys only to lose them for nothing (Broissoit, Dubnyk, Nilsson, Talbot, etc.) and almost did this with Skinner as well. They’ve set themselves up with Rodrigue that should he come to camp and show he is NHL-calibre, they have the option to demote Pickard or keep 3 goalies. Rodrigue needs to play 28 games over the next 2 years to not be a group VI free agent and if he is good enough (or there are injuries) should get that opportunity. Connor Ungar seems like a solid signing and has 2-3 years to establish himself and then there are three prospects behind that (Jonsson, Day and now Vinni) that could follow nicely. They’ve identified their big need is young goalies who could step up and not expensive ones like Campbell or Koskinen who don’t have the track record to justify a larger salary.
I can’t imagine the amateur scouts would have had much if any involvement with the Campbell decision, and the man who made the signing is gone.
Skinner and Rodrigue should be the starting point for judging the amateur scouts, followed by Fanti, Ungar, Day and Jonsson. Maybe add in Taylor depending on if the team genuinely wanted his rights in the Henrique deal or if it was purely for the bookkeeping.
Personally I’d say when accounting for age and the often crooked arrows you get thanks to goalie voodoo, our amateur goaltender evaluation is looking pretty solid right now.
The man said “organization” not amateur scouts. Which is the right way to look at it.
Dustin Schwartz is the man who picked Campbell (over Kuemper), despite not being a pro scout. He is still with the organization and his role typically has input into goalie scouting.
I wrote a long piece on indeterminateness of outcomes. It is equally dangerous when it is applied to success as well as failure (my focus in that comment). Build confirmation bias.
Also the former GM was a former goalie. Now no one in C-suite is.
Vegas is now pretty thin in at the most important position in hockey – Hill is set to be a UFA after next season and has never played more than 40 games in an NHL season. Maybe Robin Lehner is making a comeback? That would be entertaining.
And got Holtz … that could be a great trade for them.
Washington has done good work … the PLD contract could be a disaster but they desperately needed someone with the ability to be a #1 C. Mangiapane is a pest, who’s UFA after next season, and could be a good rental if the Caps aren’t in it by the trade deadline next season. Thompson is probably an upgrade of Keumper (as long as he stays healthy) and should form a good tandem with Lindgren.
GB&Q
June 29, 2024 11:02 am
So do we get into Rd 3/4? Or should I go do laundry?
Diablo
June 29, 2024 10:59 am
Centre, goalies and defensemen (preferably RHD) are the positions that teams should prioritize at the draft. So far our scouts seem to be on track. Finland and Russia have been producing top end goalie talent for years.
Via Elliotte:
10. Edmonton temporary GM Jeff Jackson said Friday they are trying to sign all of their unrestricted free agents.
#11 is on Draisaitl and #12 on Gagner
32 Post draft Thoughts
I don’t care if Sam Gagner has a club foot and a spatula for a hand, I’m always going to be happy to have that man in an Oilers jersey. I hope he sticks around…that made me smile this morning. Make it so. And Adam Henrique has been one of my favourite non-Oilers since he was a Devil…hope we keep him.
I don’t recall that volume of trading picks up and down in prior drafts.
I’m guessing that the Leafs trading for the rights to Tanev means we shouldn’t expect a Nurse for Marner deal any time soon…
Trading Nurse for Marner is more of a Tuesday kind of thing….
I don’t even know what to do with that, lol. I’m assuming you’re kidding…but even though I’m not a huge Marner fan, jesus…can you imagine adding another Steve Austin at the top, then trying to backfill the d? My god it would be fun to watch the chaos…it’d be a freaking all-star team up front, with 1 solid d pair, and a lot of white knuckles watching the AHL defense. Let’s do it! 😀
The one common thread that seems to run through all the picks today is that they all have had good playoffs.
Still-a-Rookie Jeff Jackson would’ve set the theme and given the draft table their marching orders as it were, and I’m guessing it was find guys who don’t shrink when the stakes are raised. Ie get playoff performers.
I’m not sure if that’s a good strategy. Time will of course tell. But there’s definitely the possibility that there’s some belief in clutch and some disregard for small sample sizes in the corner office. This seems to me like the least-advanced-stat set of picks from the Oilers that we’ve seen in years.
All-in on intangibles. Going to be an interesting five years.
I’ve seen Wakely play a lot, (not this year but from watching Petrov) and I like him, but again fancy stats tells us to discount this year’s overage production by a fairly stiff factor.
I can see the reasoning behind the O’Reilly pick and will suspend judgement on it, but the trade means the Oilers raised the stakes on the decision-making, so they had better be right.
A goalie that early is poor fancy statting. That’s a pick likely based on one or two qualitative, subjective opinions slash projections and thus risky.
“Clatterbuck” is inexplicable. Even moreso as a team’s third pick and in a mid-draft round. With his numbers and overage, if you as an org like him how is this kid not available as an FA for nothing after the draft? But a pick is used? You like him that much at that spot in the draft, you’re willing to burn a pick on that set of numbers? smh
I should clarify on the goalie… taking Milli Vanilli at 64 tells me the scouts think he’s better than Skinner and as good as Rodrigue (62). And then you look at his numbers… That seems qualitative based and while that’s no guarantee of failure or anything, just seems poor value for the risk involved.
I don’t think you can look at it that way. Skinner was drafted at 78 but the Oilers didn’t have a pick between Yamamoto at 22 and 82 which they traded up to 78 to select Skinner. From the look of his numbers, Skinner should have been drafted earlier which is why the Oilers moved up to get him but the pick number doesn’t changed how any of them were perceived by the team. For goalies, the counting numbers always leave something lacking as we know not all shots/leagues are created equally and need something to guide us beyond the numbers.
What I did like is we took some guys who made some big moves in their production this year and thus might be on better trajectories. It’s entirely possible that Parkatti has gathered some data on the history of this working out. That seems thin gruel though in the overall daft porridge.
I’m patient, we’ll see how these picks blossom. Can’t write anyone off at this point in their young lives. Just not convinced the force is with us.
I would suggest the team is looking more at ice time, quality of teammates, quality of competition, EV vs PP, and trying to find players who were able to excel in a lesser role. I do agree that it seems to be a lot of trying to outsmart other teams rather than take an obvious choice. I do think O’Reilly is a good pick when you consider that he plays for London which over-plays its stars and O’Reilly has a big opportunity to “pop” offensively next year in time to be traded at the deadline. Vinni seems like a decent pick. Lots of guys think he’s got one of the higher ceilings in the draft. The Oilers last two G picks (Day and Larsson) aren’t doing super well so this was the biggest prospect need and only the 5th goalie drafted at that point.
5th actually seems above average high for 64 picks.
I don’t mind the O’Reilly and Wakely picks. And I agree, a huge chunk of the mistake on goalie was made over the last two drafts. Only seven picks in two drafts and two were used on goalies with Skinner and Rodrigue in the system. Holland’s second lowest moment in my opinion.
But this second rounder’s numbers don’t sparkle, he doesn’t have a size advantage, we’ve just recently used two picks when we only had a few… and now our second highest pick goes there too,
AND we just signed Ungar.
I dunno. There seems to be a lack of a long term plan and I would not have used a 2nd round pick on a goalie unless I was convinced he was blue chip. We’ll see. Maybe second tier pro at 18 with mediocre numbers is actually good. We don’t have a lot of context for the pick and I have an open mind. I just don’t like the decision-making here in the moment.
Rodrigue was the 2nd goalie taken in his year and Skinner was 5th so it goes either way. Ungar is already 22 and the last 2 picks aren’t knocking it out of the park. This is a solid bet as part of a long-term plan. They have Skinner as #1, Pickard and Rodrigue will fight it out over the who is 2 and 3 over the next 2 year and Ungar will have those 2 years to show what he can do before Vinni gets brought over and potentially competes with Day and Larsson. The Oilers very much need a good young goalie in 3-5 years and this is a very solid bet to have that player.
(and Fanti in the sys)
Can’t place it, but for some reason the song, “Blame It On The Rain” popped in my head reading this post.
lol!
Second MilliVanilli reference of the morning, and both hilarious!
Elliotte Friedman reporting talks have broken down between Stamkos and Tampa so he’s going to market on July 1.
The same thing happened the last time he was UFA.
If they are successful in their pursuit of Jake Guentzel I doubt there will be room for both.
Definitely a bit of a head scratcher of a draft with the trade for #32 and the Clattenburg pick.
It feels like Pracey wanted to place his stamp on the team in acquiring the first round pick. Obviously they’re betting on a guy who apparently didn’t get much power play time spiking the following year.
Still, O’Reilly is 3 years out or more from likely helping.
An actual first round pick generally is a more stable asset for trading purposes. Players get injuries have down years, etc. Some player values do spike post draft, but there’s always that gap between when a player’s drafted until they establish themselves in the NHL, where their value sags.
Either way, I don’t think the drafted O’Reily to flip at next year’s deadline. We don’t have a second rounder next year.
Let’s hope he has some ROR in him.
That’s what they are looking for
Lots of folks not happy but no one has suggested different choices
I actually really like the move. The Oilers had a problem at the last deadline making trades involving high level prospects and now they have one that is quite likely to spike in both counting numbers and value. Prospects that stay in Junior almost always have a higher cache in their draft+1 season and then the lull comes when they join the AHL and aren’t immediately point per game players. He could be the prospect in the traditional Player, Pick & a Prospect trade for say Pavel Buchnevich or he could mature into a decent middle-six player. Remember that Yamamoto is 13th in the 2017 draft in points. Picking a lights-out offensive player at 25-35 involves a lot of luck.
I simultaneously like the O’Reilly pick while thus far disliking the direction I see from EDM’s Pracey era. It’s not like he never picked with a focus on skill but whatever other qualities he was selecting for were either the wrong qualities or didn’t actually end up being present. I hope he’s learned or improved, but I don’t find that draft particularly encouraging.
That being said, I’ll take solace in the hope that EDM may still choose a GM that balances out what I see as a consistent pattern in Pracey’s draft history.
The Knights picks seem to fit the claims in these comments that Mark Hunter is coming.
Post-pracey Avalanche were very video scouting and machine vision driven. From the analytics perspective that feels like the way to best identify skill besides points and goals. But I don’t actually see any indications of that approach with this team.
I’ve never met the guy, but I’ll attribute all of the myriad of good decisions made by the Avalanche to Dawson Spriggins until proven otherwise, lol.
Arik Parnass is actually their Director of Analytics.
He’s a longtime contributor to Hockey Graphs which has employed a pantheon of today’s notable analysts.
https://hockey-graphs.com/about/
Dawson Sprigings is an Associate Director, Analytics & Lead Data Scientist at Avs to my knowledge, in addition to Parnass.
How do you know that?
I assume you mean how do I know that their scouting was “post-Pracey” video & machine vision driven?
It was obvious from the 2021 staff listing and structure on their web page. From the listing below, it’s pretty clear that part of the analytics and scouting process was to use video footage and machine vision analysis from services like Sportlogiq to extract analytics about prospects and pros too.
I remember from some interviews by Stauffer of Brad Holland, that the Oilers have done this too – but they didn’t seem to have the same positions established and, therefore, seemed to place less emphasis on the process. Stauffer was going on and on about how there’s no time on ice published by the CHL. Holland said something to the effect of, “oh we have that data.” It went right over Stauffer’s head, who seems to think he knows what’s going on with analytics, but mostly is living pre-2016.
There is another layer now, with big data that applies to the pros. But for amateur scouting video analytics seem valuable.
Thx daniel that’s a pretty specific response
Pracey said they have a multifaceted approach, it better be
If they waste anymore of Connor it’s inexcusable. It’s supposed to be easy once the high end talent is there
Since we are talking draft picks and kids going back to junior, does anyone have any knowledge on how Akey’s shoulder is doing. His injury was so early in the season, I presume he’ll be fully ready for rookie camp and trained up (as opposed to only rehab)????
What’s the deadline to put Campbell on waivers for purposes of a buyout?
I’m getting nervous here.
The first buyout window runs through Sunday.
Someone posted earlier that he can still be placed on waivers for purposes of a buyout tomorrow.
They can do it tomorrow – confirmed with Puckpedia earlier.
If the team (or player) takes Rafa Lavoie, James Hamblin,Noel Hoefenmayer or Ryan Fanti to arbitration (only these 4 are eligible), then they have until 48 hours after the last arbitration to buy him out.
It appears I’m a London Nights’ fan for at least next season….
If Stamkos wants another cup more than money his buddy McDavid can provide it.
I wonder if he’s going to Utah. It would be funny if Brisebois dumped Sergachev to retain Stamkos and he signed with Utah.
My buddy says Stamkos to Detroit.
Imagine the Oilers with Sergachev instead of Nurse.
Feels like Utah are going to be for real.
I’d have time for Jeff Skinner on a 1 year deal to improve our scoring depth. He can play with Connor for a year, inflate his stats, experience a long playoff run, and then cash in the year after.
Utah still has $28 million in cap space after acquiring Sergachev and Marino.
They should be major players on July 1st.
Imagine Stamkos and Kane signing League Minimums to ride into the sunset? Maybe that works out better than Kariya and Selanne in Colorado!
I almost forgot about that one…I remember almost crapping my underoos…everyone was ready to hand the Avs the cup. Chemistry can be a mofo.
Well now that the draft is over, what UFA’s are they going after? JJ said they have some on the radar
Jeff Skinner
Jake DeBrusk
Daniel Sprong (3RW)
Matt Roy (if Ceci is moved)
Would love to see a trade for Nic Dowd as 4C, perhaps McLeod for him could make it happen and open up a bit of Cap Space….
I like your list, went to the last hours of CF to see what they can do. With the overages and Neal buyout (5.46M) they are going to have trouble just filling the roster out, even with a clean disposition on Jack. I assumed that happens in my calcs. Dead cap should be avoided at all costs, especially for a top heavy team
Jackson said they aren’t looking to do big things. So we’ll take him at his word. I think upgrading the D is the most important thing they could do, the bottom 2 pairs are heavily affecting the bottom 6 forwards offense and Drai’s line. I have felt this for years, NHL_SID has a piece up today with the data saying the same, his work helped me form my opinion in the past
The cheapest quality D available UFA is Carrier. He’s too small, but he’s a gamer and would be better. SID looked at him before and his game would help Nurse and he’s good at both bluelines. He’s also a feisty little fella
They need a better 3C. Henri has expressed interest in winning over money, as has Brown. I left McLeod but would move him at this point (the Dowd deal maybe, but that is trading a 25YO for a 34YO), not my style of player and still has some rep and value of some sort. Might not in the near future
I can’t get to thinking playing Bro off hand with no recourse other than Kulak who doesn’t like playing there is too risky for me. Moved Kulak, Ceci, Campbell
Holloway 1.25, Henri 2.5, Lavoie .950, Jan 1.25, Brown 1, Perry .800 (13/14), Carrier 3.25
That leaves 2.317M in space after the dead cap of 5.46M and a 20 roster. Have to find a forward of some sort and a 3RD. I’d look elsewhere than Vinny, read SID and that’s why. Puck skills can’t be optional for this team. If possible a 7D as well
Regarding D 3-7… is it possible that Nurse would be interested in a trade? When I see the interviews, this is not a happy guy. He can’t seem to get over being supplanted by both Ekholm and Bouchard. Lowetide has talked Nurse trade in the past. Feels like he needs a change of scenery. But the cap hit…
An aggressive GM would do it. He and Des were brutal in the Cup run. In my opinion costing us the Cup, as was predicted by many people
An aggressive GM would also be able to find a palatable deal. We’ve seen it often just not from our group
Montreal seems to be able to do crazy things and gain value. It’s not impossible, it’s a mind set and skill set
Nurse is still a unique player even if the fit in Edmonton has changed
Broberg salary?
He doesn’t have legs salary wise to stand on yet
Short term
Lavoie’s QO is $874,125 and, if he’s smart, he’ll sign for league min (with a higher AHL salary) – something that was offered to him last year and advised to take by his agent but he “bet on himself”.
If Holloway is getting $1.25MM there best be a couple of years on that deal.
Perry was the team’s worst forward through the playoffs – there is speculation of a bonus structure and, if that’s a low games played threshold…….
I don’t think Henrique comes in anywhere near $2.5MM – that’s a a real big discount to market (at least I think it would be).
Holloway isn’t established but was good
Henrique said he wants to win. That won’t happen anywhere good without taking less
For Perry, take a low salary or the team should move on. I don’t think he has options at this point
Holloway and Broberg should be around their QOs on one year deal (i.e. $900K), if they want $1.2MM they need to give a few years. Coming off their ELCs with no arb rights and no leverage – the Oilers need to take advantage of having the hammer for the last time with these kids.
Henrique says he wants to win. Pretty much all UFAs say they want to win. The market probably offers him in the $4MM range – we’ll see how much he really wants to win as, I agree, the Oilers can’t pay more than $3MM and term is a huge issue on Henrique – he’ll be 36 during the 1st year of the Drai/Bouch extension.
Perry didn’t have alot of options when he signed with the Oilers and he still got some bonuses that are hitting the cap this coming season.
Did you add all the dead cap onto what Cap CF says the Oilers have available?? They include that stuff in their calculation…
I just did the same exercise as you, using your numbers, and CF is telling me they’ve got $1.8M cap available with Campbell moved and with Kulak and Ceci still on the roster (ie – 22 players).
If they moved Kulak and Ceci they’d have about $7.8M available with 20 players signed.
Looks like we’re pretty close to $5.46M apart, and I do think you’re mistaken.
Pretty certain the Oilers cap situation, even if they burry Campbell again (rather than trading or buying him out) is better than what you’ve laid out above.
I like the draft mostly. The highest pick was 64. All of the players down this low have things to work on, or they would be drafted higher. They all have long and windy roads the NHL. You can draft for skill and you should think about that always, but if there is an impact NHL offensive player lurking at these depths it’s been shown finding them is luck, it doesn’t repeat.
I think the look into it I read – or maybe someone did that here – was about Detroit. They got almost as lucky as those 80’s couple of drafts. So I’d rather draft players along these lines than more skilled small guys. That type almost never works out, to succeed to and in the NHL demands certain attributes. These players have no giant obstacle to overcome that I could tell before overcoming all of the other ones on their journey, like being too small, too timid, or too slow
Things that I’m not sure about – Clattenburg seems a strange pick that high, but from reading Pracey’s interview I didn’t get the impression that they would draft Lucic’s just because, they must like something more than the hitting. Pracey did say they take into account usage etc to gauge true talent. Even in the NHL most players need the right conditions to produce, maybe there is something we don’t know yet
The other thing is after reading a bit about each, skating seemed to come up for a few. That I am not for. The number of players in the NHL these days that are smarter than their boots are heavy is going down all the time I think
Only being huge seems to garner a pass with that, like Des, and I’m still not for it. Speed is a huge advantage, in almost any sport. Hopefully now that they have a Dev Director they make sure these guys get help to improve that if, it is an issue
I do like the style descriptions I read. They seem (outside of CC) to be well rounded players that battle to win, attack the net inside, compete all of the time, and are responsible. Fits my way of thinking, and about what the big club lacks enough of. Not that these players will help soon, but start as you mean to go, right?
As you’ve seem. The players we’ve added who fit that mold for cheap are Perry, Ryan, Janmark, Brown (kinda), etc. Why draft and develop those players when they’re on the waiver wire or available for close to minimum? Draft should be shooting the moon imo. If the size or motor or meanness matches the skill, all for it. Clattenberg is nothing less than a departure from that.
You are right that it being a later pick is not the end of the world, but when you have limited bullets for exclusive talent, why go safe?
I like the O’Reilly pick and the Finn goalie. From there on it doesn’t look too promising.
The team doesn’t need top end talent. There isn’t any anyway that is identifiable as I’ve commented
The ‘skill’ players late are always one way or small. Drafting rounded players to me makes sense, and most were. That’s how ROR was chosen
When Detroit and Sather did it those markets weren’t scouted. Those days are gone
Albin Sundin had a bit of a coming out party in the SHL playoffs, after spending the season going back and forth between the U20 team where he was a key player and the SHL team where he averaged 2:30 min/game he found himself taking a regular shift in the playoffs on a contender and looking good doing it. He’s a defensive D first and foremost but he can move the puck and is poised with it under pressure. Not much creativity at all offensively. Skating is not a strength but I wouldn’t say it’s terrible either.
Had very little hype leading up to the draft even here in Sweden and I would probably prefer Frans Haara as an overager due to higher upside but if Sundin can establish himself in the SHL next season he’s on a pretty nice trajectory.
He’s currently the 7th D on the depth chart for Frölunda(in the SHL this means you’re dressed and getting shifts as teams dress 2 goalies and 20 skaters every game, usually 7 D and 13 forwards) and fourth RHD with three veterans in front on the right side, former Leaf pick(never made the bigs) Tom Nilsson who’s a solid SHLer though I’m not a huge fan personally, Swiss international Dominik Egli and Christian Folin who has 244 NHL games for the Wild, Kings, Canadiens and Flyers and is a top SHL D so he certainly has competition but he’ll get games and toi if he can build on his playoff performance.
His dad Ronnie was a shutdown D, played in the SHL(or Elitserien as it was called back then) and the swedish NT for many years, came over to NA and played a single NHL game for the Rangers before returning to Sweden after one season, let’s hope his son can top that. His dad had a crazy frame, he played at 6’1 and 220+ lbs, brick wall. Can’t say if Albin has that type of build but he’s 6’2 and almost 200 lbs already.
Busy today and late to reading up on the picks (after 1am where I am).
Seeing if you had a take on Sundin is the main reason I actually dug in, so thanks!
Ditto, I very much enjoy the posts from Swedish Poster…always worth reading. Thank you for being our own overseas scout!
Why were the Devils so intent on trading former top-10 pick Alex Holtz?
He was a ppg player in the AHL in his draft +1.
I can’t imagone Parkatti had anything to do with Clattenberg. What a woof pick. 0 chance of NHL games. No disrespect to the kid but if your claim to fame is you like to hit things I’m not optimistic. This is a Coke machine pick.
Honestly, I think more than a couple of these pics are suspect.
I miss Tyler Wright 🙁
Wyatt Johnston – Xavier Bourgault
I don’t miss that, especially when Coffey was letting them know and they had no OHL scout. Who doesn’t have an OHL scout? Cost him his job methinks
That’s fair.
I just liked the previous approach to skill in the later rounds. Looks like the only potential these picks have are 4th line grinders or shut down D.
I don’t agree. They drafted players that were not elite offensively but difference makers playing key roles when it counted. There aren’t superstars drafting so late
Have to agree to disagree I guess. I don’t see the point of drafting players that will top out as grinders. These type of guys can be picked up for league min – 1M in FA.
Draft someone who at least has a chance to put the puck in the net.
Dallas trades the rights to Chris Tanev to Toronto for Max Ellis and a 6th round pick.
Do you see Tanev taking a team friendly deal, or does the upcoming contract have mistake written all over it.
If they give him term it’s a mistake at his age. But he’s approximately 4 000 000 times better than they had last season
Speculation it will have term…perhaps 5 years to keep the AAV down.
5 years at $4 million wouldn’t be a killer.
They do like their former Flames defenseman. Maybe him and old Gio can skate on a pairing together.
Four Canadians, a Yankee, a Finn and a Swede. Four OHLers.
And two Kiniggits…
Oilers pick D Bauer Berry at #218.
6’4″ LHD from Musekgon (USHL).
https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/grand-forks-bauer-berry-son-of-und-coach-brad-berry-commits-to-play-college-hockey-at-st-thomas
Son of Satan to WSH at 212
I still remember his dad playing on a line in training camp with David Pope. Satan and Pope on the same line. Poetic.
I guess you CAN say hockey unites us all…
So uh, did anyone else just hear the draft broadcast refer to Pierre Dorion as “the late Senators GM”?
Beau Jelsma with the final pick?
He already has 3 points in 4 AHL games. Would be a good one
oh sh*t that’s right, so can he even be drafted still?
Elite Prospects has him listed as draft eligible.
https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/549080/beau-jelsma
Undrafted, near as I can tell. Someone get his agent on the horn!
I actually don’t know for sure. Nathan Walker was drafted by Washington out of the AHL in 2014 but he has such an unusual story (born in Wales, lived in Australia, played in Czech league then USHL then AHL) so it’s hard to tell what the rules would be.
JJ trying to build a hardworking team, void of skill.
That’s got Rick Pracey written all over it. Early returns have me feeling that we’ll need a great GM to balance out Pracey’s influence.
Oilers pick C William Nicholl at #196.
Another London Knight, 6’0 centre. 20 points in 65 GP.
bcurlock
@bcurlock
Love William Nicholl. Love. He was absolute chaos in the OHL playoffs in a good way. This is a great pick.
1:11 PM · Jun 29, 2024
Oilers really going after the overagers.
It looks like they’re aggressively trying to make up for the gap in their prospect pool
Exactly it…refilling the cupboards.
Oilers pick Dalyn Wakely at #192.
Teammate of Petrov in North Bay.
Another overager. March ’04. 104 points this season.
Elite Prospects:
“Every team needs players like Wakely. He battles for pucks mercilessly, takes hits to make plays, and dishes out even more punishment than he takes. Around the net, he digs for pucks and creates space for his teammates by engaging as many defenders as possible. Along the boards, he throws reverse hits, rolls with contact, and attacks the middle.”
On the surface, this pick seems the most encouraging of the late round picks. At least he can score as an overager.
These last few picks make me kind of worry that we might be trending back towards drafting coke machines.
Goalies confuse me and I know veey little of finnish goalies but I will say that I like goalies who can take a regular spot on a pro team in their draft year, the step to pro for goalies is a tough one no matter the level and guys who can handle that early tend(indeed) to do well down the line. Mestis, finnish second tier, is a clear step below the swedish second tier so certainly not one of europe’s top leagues but still it’s pro and also pretty loose defensively so the fact his numbers are below 0.900 doesn’t concern me too much. Hopefully he at least can grab a back up spot with HIFK next season.
Albin Sundin:
https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/552611/albin-sundin
Oilers pick D Albin Sundin at #183.
6’2 RHD from Sweden.
Another overager (Aug ’04).
My Frölunda die hard friend speaks highly of Sundin’s performance in the SHL playoffs. Calls him one of the team’s best and steadiest Dmen for that run. No idea if I can trust his judgement on NHL prospects, but it’s something from someone with real viewings!
I’ve never seen LT so okay with taking a goalie this high in the draft.
Getting a lot of vibes that this new drafting team think they’re the smartest guys in the room.
At least they didn’t go walkabout until after the third round. Still, not great to be wasting picks on players with little to no upside
Positive his name is Connor
negative : everything else
Oilers just throw a pick away
Baffling.
Oilers pick LW Connor Clattenburg at #160.
Teammate of Day in Flint.
Only 29 points in 60 GP between Soo and Flint.
Overage player (May ’05).
This isn’t Cameron Abney, but it isn’t an analytics pick that I can see.
It’s a throw it straight in the trash can kind of pick. Should have just traded it away
Throwing a regional scout a bone is the only explanation I can come up with.
Two picks later Vancouver drafted another overager from North Bay Anthony Romani who led the OHL in goal scoring with 58.
Elite prospects has Romani as a smaller forward whose game is off the rush. The Oilers don’t need that and it may not translate up well. I’m not for gritensity picks, but I understand why they are looking for grittier guys that want to and will play inside when it’s not easy to, a major weakness for us right now
Harper?
He went one spot after his teammate 6’7″ F Nathan Aspinall and it makes you wonder if they thought Aspinall was the pick and then took Clattenburg because they were on the clock
Maybe they also had memories of the DoD; always losing to Minnesota and Clutterbuck?
It’s such a weird pick and immediately after another player from Flint seems like something is off with it.
Perhaps it is a pick made for the benefit of the farm team rather than the big team? I guess we don’t know what we don’t know on this one….
The Falmes take Misa at #150.
I like what the Oilers are doing with their goalies. For too long they’ve blocked out their young guys only to lose them for nothing (Broissoit, Dubnyk, Nilsson, Talbot, etc.) and almost did this with Skinner as well. They’ve set themselves up with Rodrigue that should he come to camp and show he is NHL-calibre, they have the option to demote Pickard or keep 3 goalies. Rodrigue needs to play 28 games over the next 2 years to not be a group VI free agent and if he is good enough (or there are injuries) should get that opportunity. Connor Ungar seems like a solid signing and has 2-3 years to establish himself and then there are three prospects behind that (Jonsson, Day and now Vinni) that could follow nicely. They’ve identified their big need is young goalies who could step up and not expensive ones like Campbell or Koskinen who don’t have the track record to justify a larger salary.
Vinni IIRC was the highest rated EUro goalie in this draft. May we one day be singing his praises? 😜
Colorado has taken goalies with three of their first five picks. They have nine altogether.
I think they’ll cash in a few for the big goalie plushie.
If this player ‘s nickname once he gets to North America is not “cousin” I will be be very disappointed.
Vinni was ranked #74 on the Bob McKenzie list.
As noted above. 🙂
TB doing interesting things today, as is Utah…
So you’re saying goalies are like what… voodoo?
I have absolutely zero clue about prospect goalies. But the recent track record leads me to trust this organization with evaluating goalies.
Like Campbell?
I can’t imagine the amateur scouts would have had much if any involvement with the Campbell decision, and the man who made the signing is gone.
Skinner and Rodrigue should be the starting point for judging the amateur scouts, followed by Fanti, Ungar, Day and Jonsson. Maybe add in Taylor depending on if the team genuinely wanted his rights in the Henrique deal or if it was purely for the bookkeeping.
Personally I’d say when accounting for age and the often crooked arrows you get thanks to goalie voodoo, our amateur goaltender evaluation is looking pretty solid right now.
The man said “organization” not amateur scouts. Which is the right way to look at it.
Dustin Schwartz is the man who picked Campbell (over Kuemper), despite not being a pro scout. He is still with the organization and his role typically has input into goalie scouting.
I wrote a long piece on indeterminateness of outcomes. It is equally dangerous when it is applied to success as well as failure (my focus in that comment). Build confirmation bias.
Also the former GM was a former goalie. Now no one in C-suite is.
Encouraging thing about Vinni is that his stats are head and shoulders above his teammates’: https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/416/jokp?tab=stats
Jecho to STL at #95
For the russian talent, there is of course the kiu league.
VGK trades Logan Thompson to the Caps.
Vegas is now pretty thin in at the most important position in hockey – Hill is set to be a UFA after next season and has never played more than 40 games in an NHL season. Maybe Robin Lehner is making a comeback? That would be entertaining.
Or perhaps…a fresh Jack Campbell!
Friedman saying Vegas working on a deal to acquire Schmid from NJ.
And have now traded for Akira Schmid from New Jersey.
And got Holtz … that could be a great trade for them.
Washington has done good work … the PLD contract could be a disaster but they desperately needed someone with the ability to be a #1 C. Mangiapane is a pest, who’s UFA after next season, and could be a good rental if the Caps aren’t in it by the trade deadline next season. Thompson is probably an upgrade of Keumper (as long as he stays healthy) and should form a good tandem with Lindgren.
So do we get into Rd 3/4? Or should I go do laundry?
Centre, goalies and defensemen (preferably RHD) are the positions that teams should prioritize at the draft. So far our scouts seem to be on track. Finland and Russia have been producing top end goalie talent for years.
Albin Sundin is a RHD from Sweden. Overager would appear to have moved up to play with Frolunda.