Oil Kings ‘ready to go’ for Game 7 battle with Hitmen
Avalanche win lottery to land No. 1 pick
Surely, there would have been an inquiry if the Edmonton Oilers had won another lottery.
For the last three years, the Oilers secured the right to make the first pick in the NHL entry draft. The only salve for finishing at the bottom of the standings was the addition of Taylor Hall, Ryan NugentHopkins and Nail Yakupov.
This spring, however, all 14 non-playoff teams had a shot at the No. 1 pick. When the lottery results were unveiled on Monday, the 29th-place Colorado Avalanche were the big winners.
Edmonton retained the seventh pick. Based on their 24th-place finish, the Oilers went into the draft lottery with a 4.7-per-cent chance of picking first on June 30. The Avalanche, who had an 18.8-percent chance, bumped the 30th-place Florida Panthers into the No. 2 spot.
The draft will be a one-day event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
For new general manager Craig MacTavish, it will be his chance to start putting his imprint on the Oilers. He said on Monday that he’s open to moving the first-round pick.
“That’s something we’re definitely going to look at ... doing something with that pick,” said MacTavish. “At this point, we’d be very receptive to moving back and potentially picking up another pick.
“It’s a very deep draft in my mind,” he continued. “There are tons of players out there who excite me and I think that we could possibly pick up somebody who would help us immediately and get another pick. So there are a lot of options we’ll consider.”
Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones is the player at the top of every list right now and will surely be heading back to Colorado. He first started playing hockey in Denver, in large part because his dad, Popeye Jones, took him to the occasional Avalanche game. Popeye Jones was playing for the Denver Nuggets at the time.
Meanwhile, players who may be of interest to the Oilers — Finnish centre Aleksander Barkov, Ottawa 67s centre Sean Monahan and Swedish centre/ right winger Elias Lindholm, to name three — might be selected by the time the seventh pick is made, which is another reason why MacTavish may be willing to drop down the draft order with a trade.
The Oilers have two secondround picks, but no selections in the third and fourth rounds. They will choose from their 37th spot in Round 2 plus they have the Anaheim Ducks’ second-round pick they acquired when they traded Andrew Cogliano in 2011.
In January, the Oilers surrendered their third-round pick to the Dallas Stars to acquire defenceman Mark Fistric, then dealt their fourth-round selection to the Florida Panthers for Jerred Smithson at the trade deadline.
The fifth-, sixth- and seventh-round picks remain in the Oilers’ possession.
MacTavish has already talked to his scouting staff about the importance of selecting more impact players in the later rounds, which is something the group will focus on in their upcoming meetings.
“As a leader, I want to support the group that we have and, by doing that, I want to give them all the resources to do their job, but at the same time, I want to give them the forum to have an impact on the job that they do,” said MacTavish. “With that comes accountability.”
The Oilers will have to move some of their assets to obtain the role players and physical players they are missing. A puck-moving defenceman will also be needed to step into the void left by Ryan Whitney, who will land elsewhere this off-season.
“Is it a strategic advantage for me to pretend I’m not going to move these guys so (other general managers) give me more? I don’t really believe that,” said MacTavish. “I think in today’s era, you have to form partnerships with your trading mates and you have to start the dialogue. More times than not, it’s a deal that has to make sense to both sides, so I’m going to be having those discussions.”