The Edmonton Oilers completed the 2024 NHL Draft making seven selections, one more than expected as they traded into the first round on Friday evening to select Sam O’Reilly 32nd overall. With their other selections, they chose goaltender Eemil Vinni at 64, forward Connor Clattenburg at 160, defender Albin Sundin at 183, forward Dalyn Wakely at 192, forward William Nicholl at 196, and defender Bauer Berry at 218.
Rick Pracey on trading up into the first round
The big question to open things up was why the Oilers decided to make a last minute trade to acquire the 32nd overall pick, to which Pracey said the following
… opportunity, we valued Sam extremely high and we thought there was a probability he’d be late first round so when the opportunity presented itself, talking with [Jeff] Jackson and the staff, it was time to make a move. It was aggressive, yet, we think Sam [O’Reilly] was worth it.
On why Sam O’Reilly was worth it
I think the intangibles. What he brings with like his size, his drive. Extremely competitive kid . . . we like the way he plays diligently defensively . . . he wins faceoffs, he wins stick battles, he wins takeaways. And he has offensive upside.
Pracey went on to compliment his versatility position-wise as O’Reilly is a centre, but he can also play wing and used to be a defender until the last couple of seasons.
This is a player that Pracey and the Oilers have been watching for well over a year and have been keeping tabs on his development through that time. They’d been talking to O’Reilly off and on during the season and once Edmonton traded for that 32nd overall pick, O’Reilly had a hunch it was to draft him.
On selecting goaltender Eemil Vinni at 64
He was another prospect we were tracking quite heavily . . . we believe he has high end athleticism, we like his read and react, we like his competitiveness, and we think he’s got a chance to be a National Hockey League goaltender.
Pracey notes that he personally made the trek to watch him with the team’s goaltending development coach and that they were getting a bit anxious whether or not he would still be available at 64.
On what stands out about forward Dalyn Wakely
Pracey commented on how players work their way through the ranks in North Bay, slowly getting a bigger role over the years. And each year, Wakely continued to increase his production with said bigger role.
[in] his chance to be a feature player, he took the number one centre role and he provided offence at a 104 point level. He excelled in the playoffs.
On Connor Clattenburg’s selection in the fifth round
That is a player that brings something different to our organization. He plays this game hard, he’s thick, he’s strong, he’s competitive.
On Swedish defender Albin Sundin
He got a late call-up, another developmental event. He played a significant role in the Swedish Hockey League playoffs, the highest league in Sweden. Six foot two, competitive.
On forward William Nicholl
He’s a player that’s a little underrated, played deeper in the lineup in London. We like his skating, we like his edges, we think there’s untapped offensive potential. He’s another player with an interesting development path. You have to learn to play defence, you have to play multiple positions, you have to earn your opportunities, so we think there’s significant upside there.
On defender Bauer Berry
We’re going on niche. We went after some size. We think there’s a growth period there. We have a long runway. The plan is to spend another year in the USHL . . . and then head to college. Those bigger defencemen take time and we have that luxury.
