Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Hard to believe that's going to happen given none of these defensemen are regarded by most outlets as top 5 material in this draft. This list has the first defesnemen as low as 8 and while team lists will differ I'm willing to bet only a small handful of the 30 teams may have a defensemen in their top 5 and we have to hope it's one of the two teams ahead of the Flames and given the Canucks are almost surely going for a center (Dubois or Brown) if the Oilers retain the pick it's likely going to be Tkachuk to play with McDavid. I know a lot of people think the Oilers may trade the pick but really the prudent thing to do is trade one or two of the 6x6 contracts in Eberle, Hall, or RNH as they are going to be up tight against the cap when McDavid Draisaitl, Nurse, etc get their next contracts. Tkachuk buys them a top 6 winger that's pretty well ready to play on an entry level deal.
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So business as usual then. Love it.
I was talking to an Oilers fan friend on Saturday, who is a smart hockey guy but has a blind spot with Edmonton. He's on the Tkachuk bandwagon. I pointed out that really the only way you can get a top flight defenseman is to draft one. He said "yeah but that doesn't help us now. We need help now."
I don't wonder if management thinks the same way. Everyone's impatient up there and a bunch of half-measures will result, when in my mind the best course of action is to take the D they like best (and dropping down 2-4 spots to do so) and developing him.
But that won't happen. And that's great.