At his press conference prior to the trade deadline, Peter Chiarelli made his intentions crystal: Although his team was not going to make the playoffs, it was not in rebuild mode either.
“We’re not going to blow this up,” the Edmonton Oilers President and General Manager said, more than once.
Translation: He wanted to collect prospects at the deadline that could play sooner than draft picks would. Of course, he admitted, that’s easier said than done.
“I don’t like being a seller. It feels like we’re subtracting,” he lamented after a middling deadline had passed. “It’s not a happy time.”
Chiarelli batted about .500 at the deadline, collecting a third-round pick for defenceman Brandon Davidson, grabbing Pontus Aberg (rather than the fourth-rounder Columbus gave up to Nashville) for Mark Letestu, then settled for a third-round pick and prospect J.D. Dudek in a last-second deal that saw Patrick Maroon moved to New Jersey.
Two draft picks, two prospects, three players out the door. That graded out as decent for a selling team whose prospect cupboards are all but bare after years and years of sub-par drafting and development prior to Chiarelli’s arrival in Edmonton. Here’s a look at what came in for the Oilers:
PROSPECTS IN
Pontus Aberg: Here is a player Edmonton hopes is perfectly positioned to benefit from moving to his second team, and the fresh start that accompanies that shift.
Aberg, like most every young player drafted and developed by Nashville, was forced to master the AHL level before arriving in the NHL. He had 72 goals and 126 points in 199 AHL games prior to a final four-game stint in AHL Milwaukee this season that produced four goals. But the 24-year-old Djurgardens product has scored just three goals in 53 National Hockey League games, adding two more in the Preds’ playoff run last season.
So, is he a tweener who is too good for the minors but not skilled enough to be impactful at the NHL level? Or, does Aberg just need a fresh chance to perform in a more skilled role in Edmonton?
He’s fast off the wing, which the Oilers dearly require, and offered up a deft assist in his Oilers debut Tuesday night in San Jose. All in all, trading a 33-year-old fourth-line centre in Letestu for a faster, younger winger seems like good business.
J.D. Dudek: While watching two of their own prospects at Boston College — Graham McPhee and Aapeli Rasanen — Chiarelli got an eyeful of the Eagles’ eighth-leading scorer Dudek, a 22-year-old junior who has 6-11-17 totals in 33 games this season as a right-shot forward.
Dudek (5-foot-11, 185 pounds) would rate as a mid-level prospect at best, but as today’s NHL turns towards the smaller, swift-skating NCAA-type player, collecting as many of those as one can doesn’t sound like bad business.
“J.D. is a good college player,” said the Oilers GM. “He has speed, plays with intensity. We would have liked a prospect who is closer to playing … but it was a tough market.”
DRAFT PICK SITUATION
2018: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 6, Round 7.
2019: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 3 (NJD), Round 3 (NYI), Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7.
DRAFT PICK OUTLOOK
A 103-point season last year left the Oilers feeling like they have entered their playoff window and should be competing for a Stanley Cup annually. The debacle that was 2017-18 has taught them they need to make some changes to their NHL lineup, and they will definitely use draft picks to help retool in a hurry.
At the time of this writing the Oilers are in 26th spot in the NHL, so it looks like they’ll have a pick in the top six of what is considered to be a lean draft. If that Round 1 pick needs to be moved they’ll look at it, especially if it can help to bring in a defenceman who can quarterback their power play, a clear need in Edmonton.
After that, their second- and third-round picks in the 2018 draft will definitely be for sale in June, as will a second and three third-round choices in 2019, a much richer draft, scouts say. With 15 picks in the next two drafts — eight of those coming in the Top 3 rounds — Chiarelli will part with some higher draft choices in order to find some speed on the wings and the right-shot offensive defenceman he so dearly requires.
REASON FOR OPTIMISM
People are correct to say the Oilers have very few prospects at forward, and they are largely right that AHL Bakersfield is a wasteland up front. But remember, 6-foot-4 Jesse Puljujarvi is only 19 years old and has 10 NHL goals this season in 46 games.
Meanwhile, in WHL Spokane, speedy little Kailer Yamamoto has been on fire since playing for Team USA at the world junior tournament, and sits with 19-37-56 totals in 33 games at the time of this writing. Also, they’ll have a top six or seven pick in the 2018 draft, a lottery pick — which has favoured Edmonton in the past.
So the help on the wings that Edmonton dearly needs could largely come from within next season. Add a couple through free agency or trade, and the possibility of putting this train back on the tracks doesn’t look so bleak.
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