Quote:
Originally Posted by The Yen Man
The two guys who should be thanking their lucky stars that the Oilers got McDavid are Draisatl and Yakupov. Draisatl now has no pressure to develop into a centre for the Oilers and can continue to play on the wing. Yakupov will probably increase his next contract's value by at least a couple million per season because of McDavid.
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Absolutely correct on this point.
Last year after Aarom Ekblad there was no consensus pick for the next few spots in the draft. Sam Reinhart, Draisaitl, and Bennett were ranked about equal and it was a toss up as to which team would pick whom. Buffalo obviously chose Reinhart. At the time the Oilers had only only one legitimate centre and a fairly small forward corps. Draisaitl is much bigger than Bennett and I am convinced that is the major reason he was picked. Nothing against Bennett, the Oilers just could not turn down a big body. The Flames were going to get a great pick regardless, and it just happened to be Bennett.