Change of Times for the Oilers at the Draft Table

By John Christie
The NHL draft is the livelihood of a lot of NHL teams. Teams like Calgary, Buffalo and other small market teams have to draft well or even better then the rest since they cannot compete for high priced NHL talent.

The Edmonton Oilers will be at the draft table for the 23rd time in there brief NHL history. Edmonton has had both success and failure at the draft table over the past 23 years. From 1979-1981, they drafted players that were integral parts of their dynasty. No NHL team has ever drafted players like Lowe (1979), Messier (1979), Anderson (1980), Kurri (1980), Coffey (1980), Moog (1980), Fuhr (1981), Smith (1981) in three straight drafts.

Last year, the Oilers turned over a new “leaf” in there franchise. Gone are long time coach and GM Glen Sather and Barry Fraser who was there chief scout since the Oilers inception into the NHL in 1979. Fraser and his staff uncovered a lot of jewels in the draft in the early years but from 1984-1992, no first rounder the Oilers drafted played more then 15 games for the Oilers.

The Oilers have one of the worst drafting records in the NHL. In the 1980’s, they had some excuses as they were continually winning and ended up with low draft picks but in the 1990’s, they missed the playoffs for a few years but again they continually came up with bad drafts. In 1993, they drafted Arnott and Nick Stajduhar in the first round. 1994 saw the Oilers draft Jason Bonsignore (4th overall) and Ryan Smyth (6th overall) . 1995 & 1996 (the last years the Oilers would miss the playoffs) saw them select Steve Kelly and Boyd Devearux. There were lots of mistakes there and in 1997 and 1998, they selected skilled players in Michel Riesen and Micheal Henrich but both not sure fire NHLer’s and many are saying that neither will be an NHL regular. Again, more mistakes at the draft table.

Usually, when mistakes are made in personnel, people’s jobs are on the line. However, Glen Sather was very loyal to Barry Fraser and his staff and did not make them accountable. That was a mistake on Sather part, as he should know that in a small market, he couldn’t afford to have years and years of bad drafts.

We have entered a new age for the Edmonton Oilers as Oilers GM Kevin Lowe will have input into the players the Oilers draft. He also re-shaped the Oilers scouting staff. The new chief of Oilers scouting is Kevin Prendergast who has been with the Oilers since 1991. He has held various titles with the Oilers. He is currently Vice-President of Hockey Operations & Player Personnel Director. Even though no one in Oilers management holds the title of chief scout like Fraser did, Prendergast runs the entire pro and amateur scouting for the Oilers. Lowe and Prendergast decide on who the Oilers will draft and what direction the Oilers will take at drafting future hockey players.

Glen Sather never used to get involved with selecting players in the draft. This philosophy is changing somewhat as Kevin Lowe has said that he wants more players “grit, determination, size and players who will pay the price to win”. Sather would always draft players with speed and while that is not a bad thing, Sather and Fraser would miss other attributes like Lowe mentioned he wanted. Personally, I like the change in direction that Lowe wants. Also Prendergast will have different ideas then Fraser and the Oilers should get back to drafting well again as they did in there early inception.

The Oilers scouting staff is younger with some new people involved. Having a new, fresher approach is a good way to go as Barry Fraser had the same scouts for years and for years, the Oilers were continually coming up empty at the draft table.

The Oilers go into the draft with a few needs. Their primary needs according to many are: 

Scoring Wingers
Power Forward with scoring touch
Centres with offensive ability
Goaltenders
Offensive Defenseman
However, an NHL scout I talked to who scouts the OHL for his NHL team mentioned that the Oilers could use a power forward with a scoring touch in the Leclair, Guerin mode or a tall offensive centre iceman with offensive touch.

With that in mind, this year’s draft is a very deep draft and the Oilers will get a good player regardless. The NHL scout informed me that the Oilers would get a good player because they are sitting at a good position (#13) and the move from 19 to 13 helped.

In the 1st round, the Oilers philosophy has always been to select the best player available and that will not change with Lowe and Prendergast. However, what has changed is that Lowe is looking for more players with grit and passion but he also said that they need more skilled players with the Oilers. Depending on which player falls to the Oilers, there will be a lively discussion at the draft table. Lowe mentioned he wanted more Western Canadians on his club and also players like Ryan Smyth who play with grit, passion, desperation, heart and a “never die” attitude that most NHL clubs look for in players.

It will be difficult to say whom the Oilers will draft and what will be available at position 13. Some players who may / should be available at 13 include Duncan Milroy (winger) and Colby Armstrong (winger) of the WHL, Mike Komiserek (defense) and Umberger (power forward) who play hockey in the NCAA, Frederik Sjostrom (winger) of Sweden, Jiri Novotny (centre) of the Czech Republic, Alexander Polushin (winger) and Kiril Kolstov (defense) of Russia and Tim Gleason and Jay Harrison of the OHL.

The NHL scout informed me that Jason Spezza, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexander Svitov, Stanislav Tchistov, Dan Hamuis, Daniel Blackburn, Pascal Leclair, Tuomo Ruutu will be gone before the Oilers get an opportunity to choose there first rounder.

With NHL economics changing everyday, the Oilers have to ensure they can sign there 1st rounders. Last year, the Oilers thought Jani Rita was ready for North America but he wanted too much money to sign. Since Rita is European, they own his rights forever so they won’t have to worry about him re-entering the draft or becoming a free agent. The NHL draft has changed last year as NCAA players have the option of going to the OHL, QMJHL or WHL to play for one year then becoming an unrestricted free agent. Mike Van Ryn and Mike Comrie took advantage of this rule and signed incentive-laden contracts with there NHL teams. Last year, only two players from NCAA teams were selected in the 1st round and this year, may be two players again will be selected. No NHL team wants to take a chance on NCAA players in the 1st round, as this loophole will create a problem for them. Beginning in the second round and on, teams will take NCAA players but not in the 1st round. Knowing this, the Oilers probably will not select a NCAA player as Mike Comrie used this loophole to get a 10 million-dollar contract from Edmonton. The Oilers usually select a CHL or European and they will continue with this trend due to the Van Ryn / Comrie loophole college players will continue to use until the CBA will expire.

The Oilers go into Florida with the 13th overall pick in the 1st round and two picks in round 2 (positions not determined as compensatory picks go to certain NHL who lose high priced unrestricted free agents, e.g. Oilers received 41st pick as compensation for losing Curtis Joseph in summer of 1998 to Toronto). Kevin Lowe has said that second round picks this year would be first rounder in other years. The Oilers should be able to address there needs in the second round and beyond and get a good player in round one.

There will be quite some intrigue leading up to June 23rd as this is Kevin Lowe’s first official draft as Oilers GM. Even though he was GM at last year’s draft, he took as GM of Edmonton, three weeks before the draft and did not have any input as Sather, Fraser and Prendergast did all the work. Now that Lowe has been GM for a full year and Prendergast has been in charge of all scouting, we will see the direction and vision they have for the club.