There's a thread on Edmonton being no good already, but I figured that this article, posted in russian leading sports website worth a thread on its own. The author does a great job researching Edmonton's history of failing to develop young russians and makes sure that russian hockey fans are left with no doubt on whether Oilers are any good.
https://www.championat.com/hockey/ar...-talantov.html
(in russian)
Quotes (translated by me):
"Oilers are not set to pick in the top 7. This must scare a hell out of two young russians, Yaroslav Askarov and Rodion Amirov, who are expected to be picked in the middle of the first round"
"In last 20 years Oilers have been nothing but a graveyard for young russian players while displaying surprising ineptitude in players development department"
"Yakupov was recently named the worst #1 pick ever by Edmonton Journal's David Staples. However, there are certainly some unpleasant questions regarding Oilers management, which - despite frequent changes in personnel - was remarkably consistent in their dreadful performance"
"Over the last 20 years Oilers have drafted many russian players, yet when it comes to developing them, Oilers somehow found a way to achieve no success at all"
"The first ever Russian, drafted by Oilers, was Igor Vyazmikin, at Round 12 of 1987 draft. He went on to play 4 games and register 1 point (which is not necessarily a failure for 12th-rounder). However, overall the Oilers have drafted 32 Russians, who have averaged 34 games in the NHL (not necessarily for the Oilers). Shockingly enough, only 5 of them have played more than 5 NHL games. Oilers' best russian draft pick was Anatoly Semenov, who was drafted as 27 years old in 1989"
"Speaking of 2000s, those years have been a catastrophe for both russians and Oilers management"
The author then lists all russians drafted by Oilers since 2000, 17 in total, 10 of them in the first three rounds. Only Yakupov and Slepyshev played more than 2 games. Mikhnov played 2 and Yakimov played 1. The rest 13 have combined for 0.
"Slepyshev had been looking promising at some point, but came back to Russia flatly rejecting all the attempts of Ken Holland to persuade him to stay"
"The last two draftees are still in Oilers system. Maybe they will break the Oilers curse, or rather incompetent management and disastrous scouting, but don't bet on it"
"All in all, we can only wish this year's draftees to avoid being drafted by Oilers"
"The once-famous franchise seems to be reeling about which makes it no good fit for young players in general, and apparently particularly deadly for Russians"