What To Do With The Pick?

There has been lots of talk as of late, as the Oilers plummet in the standings, as to what the worth of the pick is? Now obviously it all depends on what place the Oilers finish. With Sam Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad slated to go top 2, and not a whole lot of depth in this draft, it would seem fitting they trade the pick if after the draft lottery they are outside the top 3. Aaron Ekblad is the obvious choice if Reinhart goes number 1 and they are in the number 2 spot, visa versa, if in the number 1 spot Ekblad is still the kid to take.

Now should they choose to trade the pick, one player comes to mind as to who should be packaged with it to hopefully acquire a top pairing defenseman. He has been talked about in trade rumours for the past 3 years and recently .as Elliott Friedman of CBC mentioned Sam Gagner’s name has been out there. Now Gagner can’t be traded because of a verbal agreement he has with Craig Mactavish, but it was said Gagner would only accept a trade if it bettered the team in the NOW and not someone who has to be developed. Unfortunately, the most humble, the one who should see this rebuild through, is most likely the one who will go before his NMC kicks in on July 1st. Even though Mark Arcobello has been injured as of late, his defensive and offensive play has almost made Sam Gagner expendable. Now you could switch Sam Gagners name with Nail Yakupov or Jordan Eberle, but neither of them have really been made expendable and hold brighter futures. That is one way to handle the pick, its pretty simple, black and white.

Now should they keep the pick I see only two options to go after. First we will start with Aaron Ekblad, the big man-child of a defence man who plays for the Barrie Colts. His talent was on display at the world juniors earlier this month and at the end of December. They weren’t tracking ice time but people associated with team Canada were and they said most games he was upwards of 28 -30 minutes a game. That is a lot for an NHL defence man let alone a kid playing against the best juniors in the world. He is big, strong, possesses one heck of a shot, skates the puck, great first pass and is solid defensively, he is the whole package. It’s usually tough to stay who’s going to be the real deal at this young, but he could turn out to be the next Ryan Suter. He is light years ahead with his maturity, he dawns the “C” for barrie at the ripe age of 17. This team desperately needs that top pairing guy, mind you with Ekblad it wouldn’t be for 2 years at least, but at least they know they will have him. They have a rather large depth pool for prospect defence man..with Klefbom and Nurse being the only two that really could be the top pairing guys. Now whatever pick they are at, should Aaron Ekblad be available and they haven’t traded that pick, he’s the kid to snag.

Option two: If they hang onto the pick, and Ekblad is snagged up, they really have no choice but to take Leon Draisatil from the Prince Albert Raiders. He is a big, strong, two-way centre from Germany and like Ekblad his talent was on display at the World Juniors. Who was 56 points in 39 games and only 18 penalty minutes. He is 6″1 210 lbs and his only growing and getting stronger. He possesses the same game that Eric Staal does, offensively and defensively. He is defensively aware, but still has a few kinks in his game to work out, like shooting the puck more and using his size to his advantage when going to the net. He is everything this Oilers top 6 is lacking right now…SIZE. Now if they can get this kid and they don’t resign Arcobello, he’s going to be an immediate impact player for this team the same way Mackinnon is for the Avalanche. Not necessarily playing top 6 minutes every night, but being that effective player on the third line who can bounce between the top 3 lines and play the power play when needed. Putting him into that role would better develop his game, taking just a little less pressure on him to be “that guy” when he first comes in as a rookie.

Now what they do with the pick, really all depends on what place they finish and what potential deals they can work out with the pick and packaging a player to get immediate help now on the backend. Only time will tell, but right now, it’s looking like its going to be a top 2 pick, and those are oh so very hard to pass on. It will be an interesting off-season to say the least, I’m looking forward to adding some new pieces, young and old!

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