Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Picking Tkachuk at 4 wouldn't be business as usual. It would be the right thing to do. This isn't one of those drafts where there's a defensemen or two in the top 5. There's no Hanifin, Ekblad, or Jones. This draft has three top defensemen that are Darnell Nurse caliber. You don't pick a guy like that at 4 over clearly better prospects just because your prospect cupboard at the position is bare. The Oilers can use the rest of the draft to draft defensemen if they want.
The Oilers need help today and one of these three defensemen won't be able to play top pairing for years which is why the Oilers will trade for one or two established defensemen using Eberle, RNH, or Hall as bait. Even Oilers media is resigned to the fact that one or more of their golden boys will be finally moved this offseason.
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But that's exactly my point. It IS business as usual. Every rebuilding team builds for the future and expects short-term failure, moderate success in the medium term, and long term success. The Oilers have been expecting short term success pretty much since they drafted RNH, if not Hall. Every year people are predicting playoffs -- running without ever walking.
And their draft and offseason decisions are 99% focused around fixing short term problems. They have no D prospects whatsoever, let alone those with top-pairing potential. And they never draft them because they're too far away to help, or not the sexy pick.
The Oilers need to take their medicine and understand that they need to draft for the long term, not to get a guy who can play on McDavid's wing in September.
But they won't.