The McDavid-versary

June 26th is a very important day on Oilers fans’ calendars, as it marks our McDavid-versary. (I’d call it the Connorversary, but our friends over at OilersNation probably trademarked it or something.) You’d be hard pressed to find an Oiler fan who doesn’t remember exactly where they were when Peter Chiarelli called Florida a city and then chose Connor over Jack.

Prior to the actual draft, the draft lottery was another big day for Oiler fans, because it gave us a sense of hope that change would be right around the corner. Unfortunately, shoddy defending, Oscar Klefbom nearly being sacrificed for some unknown wrong, and a broken collarbone derailed what might have been the Oilers version of the Great Leap Forward. Instead, we have to hope that this is the year that things finally turn around.

Draft night 2015 was full of promise, though, and even though we bundled up picks 16 and 33 and got Griffin Reinhart in return, most fans were too happy about having Connor McDavid to really think about the ramifications of that trade. Looking at it now, however, the deal might not pan out the way Chiarelli & Company had hoped. There’s been much talk, especially around Oilers Twitter, regarding potential trades up to (and on) draft day, and Reinhart is a name that keeps popping up at someone needing to be either replaced or sent back down to the Condors.

Reinhart deal aside, the 2015 draft was a watershed for the Oilers, as it brought Connor McDavid to Edmonton. And if Connor can keep doing things like this, the team will be just fine.

One Year Later…

Heading into Draft weekend with the fourth overall pick, instead of the first, the Oilers are still in a position of strength when it comes to trading a first round pick. For the record, I want the pick they trade to be someone they haven’t drafted yet, not Taylor Hall (king of my heart and everything). It makes sense to bundle and trade that pick away to acquire a defenceman, rather than trading away a nearly irreplaceable asset for some short term gain.

There’s no way that the young core of players will be able to stay in Edmonton, not if there is a deal to be had for a top-pair defenceman. The name that seems to be bandied about the most is Hall, and while it makes sense that he’d be the most attractive player to another team, it would absolutely be foolish to let that kind of talent go.

It might be the McDavid-versary next weekend, but there’s a roster that needs to be filled out and a D-corps that needs be strengthened before there’s even a hope of improvement.