Although analysts and fans like to try to rank prospects, grade draft selections, and declare winners and losers, it is often at least five years between when a draft is held and when we can start to have any semblance of such clarity. From this perspective, draft analysis can be as speculative as gambling segments, if not more so.
On the other hand, taking a deeper dive into a team’s selections can help us understand their vision of the future. While hope for prospects springs eternal in the hearts of fans, having a lay of the land of a prospect pool can give some context to a club’s dealings in the present. From this perspective, even attempting to analyse a draft class is a very informative process, as the foremost influx of change to a team’s prospect pool.
With that in mind we asked our readers how they felt about the Oilers 2023 draft class.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @oilrigEDM. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
Better than expected
In second place in the vote, about 17% of fans feel quite confident about the Oilers newest draft class. Given that the Oilers had such a small amount of draft capital, there are many other teams around the league with more notable drafts, but these fans felt the Oilers did a lot with what they had to work with.
Beau Akey, the Oilers highest pick as a second-rounder, is a talented offensive defenceman who should put up a lot of points in the back half of his OHL career. This is a pick that has intriguing upside, and should look promising over the next few seasons.
Nathaniel Day, a sixth-round pick, will look to improve upon his OHL performance, reprising his role as the starter for the Flint Firebirds.
Matt Copponi, the seventh-rounder, is a double overager who took a big step in offensive production during his NCAA sophomore season.
While these players are still a ways out from their potential NHL readiness, there is enough upside to have impressed some Oilers fans.
Oilers picked as expected
Call it cynicism, call it realism, maybe even call it an admission of ignorance. Whatever the reasons, the largest percentage of fans felt that the Oilers 2023 draft class was as expected. The small amount of draft capital, not to mention the lack of a first-round pick, meant that the Oilers selections would come too few and far between for fans to have more of an opinion on the players they selected, or the players they didn’t select.
With the Oilers 2023 draft class so far away towards impacting the Oilers NHL roster, it’s easy to qualify the expectations of the Oilers selections as par for the course, long term projects who still have a lot to prove.
Could have been better
In a tie for third place in our poll is a mild distaste for the Oilers 2023 draft class, with about 12% of voters thinking the Oilers could have done a bit better. For the most part, these fans might have been eyeing another prospect on the board when the Oilers were making their selections.
Most of this sentiment would likely stem from the plethora of interesting prospects available when the Oilers selected Akey 56th overall. There were fringe first-round talents available well into the third round of the 2023 draft, meaning it is fairly likely a couple prospects some draft enthusiasts or armchair scouts could have had their eyes on.
Few fans think Oilers couldn’t have picked worse
In a tie for third place in our poll is the most negative option, with only about 12% of voters feeling quite strongly that the Oilers work was quite disappointing. This likely has something to do with a disagreement on the philosophical direction of the Oilers draft process.
While some years this acrimony might have been caused by a lack of trading up into the first-round, as the Oilers are a contender, a trade up is unlikely premise to begin with. The Oilers path is to spend future value on now, not the other way around. More likely, the distaste was caused by a lack of trading down to accumulate more draft picks in later rounds.
Perhaps, some voters took issue with a specific selection that the Oilers made, for whatever reason. The most obvious gripe here might be with the selection of a double overager. Seeing as Copponi was a seventh-round pick the cost was quite minimal, though Copponi did enough to earn a ranking of 98th among North American skaters from NHL Central Scouting.
Regardless, further insights and developments will be unearthed. There is still a lot of time for the prospects to prove the doubters wrong.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
