Oilers shake up scouting staffs

It’s only a sidebar in the big story but Tyler Wright, who’s coming from Detroit to be director of the Edmonton Oilers amateur scouting group, was their first pick 28 years ago, 12th overall, at the NHL draft at the old Auditorium in Buffalo — the June 1991 day Eric Lindros was taken first by Quebec even though he had no interest in playing for the Nordiques.

We mention this draft tidbit because the Oilers also hired Jim Playfair to be Dave Tippett’s associate coach, turning back the clock after he was their first pick in 1982. So there is some historical currency to being an Oiler first-round selection with Wright playing 41 NHL games here before he was traded to Pittsburgh Penguins, with later stops in Columbus and Anaheim. His greatest claim to fame: he is one of 75 players to get a hat-trick with an even-strength, power play and short-handed goal, and he did it twice over his 613 games.

Wright’s hire was no surprise since he was brought in by current Oilers GM Ken Holland in Detroit in 2013 after being a jack of all trades player development/ scout for the Blue Jackets. He was always in the picture as somebody who would be following Holland to Edmonton. He was responsible for the Wings drafting Dylan Larkin at No. 15 in 2014, a home run; defenceman Dennis Cholowski at No. 20 in 2016, a top 4 puck-mover; Euro defenceman Filip Hronek, a possible top pairing guy, at No. 53 in 2016; centre Michael Rasmussen, who could be either a second or third-line big body after being ninth overall in 2017; and fourthround forward Christoffer Ehn in 2014. There’s a possible swing and a miss in forward Evgeni Svechnikov at No. 19 in 2015 because he’s been hurt a lot and some others along the way but on the whole he’s drafted well.

He’s being replaced by Kris Draper in Detroit, again no shock with Draper’s ties with new Wings GM Steve Yzerman.

The hiring of Wright here leaves Bob Green’s job description up in the air because he was the Oilers point-man for last month’s draft in Vancouver with Keith Gretzky assisting him. What happens to Green, now? The Oilers drafting since 2017 has been very good, well after the first round: Dmitry Samorukov, Kirill Maksimov, Ostap Safin, Phil Kemp from the third to the seventh rounds. They also hit on Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear in the fourth and fifth rounds in 2015 and William Lagesson in the fourth in 2014. But anytime a new GM comes in, there is change.

There was a feeling that Wright’s right-hand man in Detroit, Jeff Finley, might be coming here too as a tag-team, but he’s reportedly talking to the St. Louis Blues, maybe as director of amateur scouting for the Stanley Cup champions.

Holland is also bringing in Archie Henderson to replace Duane Sutter as director of pro scouting after Henderson was a Western area pro scout for the Wings for four years. It’s expected Henderson will keep the status quo, which means pro scouts Paul Messier and Chris Cichocki will stay on.

The colourful Henderson was a legendary tough guy, who fought Dave Semenko one night at Rexall Place. He sidled up to Semenko at a faceoff and said “longtime no-see Sammy.”

Semenko, one of the great wits, fired off a “guess so, Arch, you’ve been in the minors the last five years.”

Then they dropped the mitts. “I loved Dave … a great man. He was the king of the castle (as fighters go),” said Henderson.

Henderson also played for the Oilers farm team when it was in Cape Breton in 1984-85.

So there’s a backstory with them, too. Steve Smith was on that team, Patty Conacher, Raimo Summanen, Marc Habscheid, Mike Zanier in goal. And one Jim Playfair on defence. So small world.

Henderson, who coached junior in Victoria and in the pros in the IHL and ECHL for two years, was seen around the Oilers offices around July 1 when free-agency opened, so the hire was expected.