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It honestly doesnt matter what Oiler fans on HF think in the big picture. What matters is actually making the Oilers better. I place all of the blame on a GM who has no clue on how to use the draft, and this is with three number one overall picks at his disposal, to rebuild a team.
This situation reminds me of the Detroit Lions taking three wide recievers three years in a row when there were more important positions that could have used an upgrade. Didnt work then and its questionable if this situation would work now and their excuse was they took the BPA.
Time will tell.
You post completely contradicts itself.
The Detroit Lions took WRs because Matt Millen felt they were a few playmakers away from being a competitive team. If they had taken BPA picks (o-line, d-line) over the flashier WRs, they would have had the foundation for a great team.
The Green Bay Packers took Aaron Rodgers in the first round when they already had future HOFer Brett Favre. The New York Giants took JPP in the first round when they already had Tuck, Umenyiora, etc...
Good teams always take BPA at the top of the draft or trade down. The Oilers actually handled the three 1st overalls perfectly - take the BPA every time or trade out. You can disagree with it if you want, but most professional scouts had the players they picked ranked #1. As an Oiler fan, I have no problem whatsoever with they way they picked. In fact, if they had forgone BPA to pick for need, I would have been very angry.
No thanks...I'll take the Oilers' lineup any day of the week.
I agree with all of that except Klefbom > Murray. I think most scouts would have had Murray > Klefbom in the long run.
Anyways, the people arguing for the second overall picks don't realize how much value they are giving up to fit their idealized notions of what your starting line-up should be. If you took Landeskog over RNH in their draft year, you'd probably have lost your job. Same with anyone over Yakupov.
In my opinion, they made the right choice very time.
Yes, I would've made the same choices, player for player. But, I would rather build my team around the five I first posted as the starting 5 with Paajarvi, Gagner, Klefbom, Marincin etc as the supporting cast.
Honestly? Yes and no. I dont see a turn around and only see a franchise stuck with a half empty glass and a front office which seems content that the glass is half full. I think the choices they made are questionable, but thats just my opinion.
And while I do see talent, to get the actual players needed to compete will take some of that talent away, which puts them back at square one. If they stay committed to a rebuild by drafting, sooner or later they will need to trade some of that away to get some vetrans in there who can teach those kids the one thing they have no clue how to do, and thats win at the NHL level.
I see a cluster****, thats all right now.
Edmonton can afford to trade with all these valuable assets definitely. The kids have not filled out quite yet one would agree, people say defence is an issue but some are going under the radar minus J.Schultz but Petry and Klefbom are still young, then look at the size the d possess in the minor leagues today with potential, the odd one will fill out. Olivier Roy and Tyler Bunz are no slouches either. Paajarvi is improving as we speak, Gagner actually has second line wingers today. Ralph Krueger knows hockey. The Oilers are a dynasty in the making today.
Larsson wont move unless the big4 is involved.. So talking about hypothetical values is pointless.
IMO we don't need to use are assets to acquire a number 1 Dman... I think we have potential players that can become number 1 Dmen... We are still growing and developing them so until we are dead certain we would be a playoff team if we had a number 1 Dman we don't need to acquire one.
(My first post was saying that wasn't enough for Piets not the other way around... On top of that I would not trade any of the big 4 for Piets. )
Last edited by eskies4life: 10-30-2012 at 09:14 PM.
In my opinion, they made the right choice very time.
Meh, personally I think they made a mistake taking Yakupov. They had such a glaring need on D that they should have been able to trade down a few spots and pick up an extra d prospect and a pick. Then take riley or Murray or Reinhart. Maybe the asking price was just too high, who knows.....
Point is neither should be mentioned when talking about stacked D units.
He should be when he is pushed down to the 3rd pairing because Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk are taking the first two pairings. He and Russell make up one hell of a 3rd pairing.
Meh, personally I think they made a mistake taking Yakupov. They had such a glaring need on D that they should have been able to trade down a few spots and pick up an extra d prospect and a pick. Then take riley or Murray or Reinhart. Maybe the asking price was just too high, who knows.....
I agree with this, but I don't think it was a mistake.
Yakupov was the least debatable pick they had. He was ranked first by virtually every scout, scouting agency, and professional observer in the hockey world. Taking Rielly or Murray or Reinhart is a classic terrible management mistake of drafting need over BPA.
So yea, they'd have to trade down like you suggested, but what if no suitable offers presented themselves? They'd need to get considerable value to make up for the difference between Yakupov and whoever they were targeting.
The only way it would have been a mistake is if someone had offered a deal worth more than Yakupov which was rejected. Just drafting Yakupov wasn't a mistake, IMO.
I would rather build a team around Seguin/Landeskog/Murray than Hall/Nugent-Hopkins/Yakupov.
And had the Oilers went that direction they would be looking at a starting line-up for the next 10-15 years looking something like this:
Landeskog-Seguin-Eberle
Murray-Schultz
You'd probably say the exact same about the 3 non-Oilers if they were taken by the Oilers. They just seem better to you right now because they didn't play on the 2nd worst team last year. And Murray doesn't have the same potential as Yakupov.
You'd probably say the exact same about the 3 non-Oilers if they were taken by the Oilers. They just seem better to you right now because they didn't play on the 2nd worst team last year. And Murray doesn't have the same potential as Yakupov.
Not even close.
Not even close...are you serious!!!
Klef is only a couple of months older than Murray. He was chosen as the top D of the WJC, and prior to getting hurt this year, he was arguably one of the best D in the SEL.
Murray is a good D, but to say that it's not even close is not right.
If we were going to move one of the big four for Larsson we would of drafted Larsson when we had the chance.
IMO we don't need to use are assets to acquire a number 1 Dman... I think we have potential players that can become number 1 Dmen... We are still growing and developing them so until we are dead certain we would be a playoff team if we had a number 1 Dman we don't need to acquire one.
(My first post was saying that wasn't enough for Piets not the other way around)
The Larsson being talked about is Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Edmonton never had the opportunity to draft him.
Klef is only a couple of months older than Murray. He was chosen as the top D of the WJC, and prior to getting hurt this year, he was arguably one of the best D in the SEL.
Murray is a good D, but to say that it's not even close is not right.
You said Klefbom > Murray. That isn't close to being true right now, so his statement is accurate.
I'd be shocked if the Oilers went after a bonafide #1 guy.
IMO, they will look to try to get a solid 2-3 guy, let Klefbom and Schultz earn their way on the team, and potentially look to draft someone this year if they are picking in a range where some D are available and are BPA.
I've just outlined some of Klefbom's accomplishments in the last year.
Can I ask you...who do think was better at the WJC last year between the two?
Who do you think is having a better year so far this year?
Based on your answers, we can determine why I have a valid argument as to who I think is better right now...and it's not even close!!!
None of that really has anything to do with the discussion. The argument was which players would you rather build around, and Murray is a fairly easy pick right now as a better option than Klefbom. Murray projects to be the better defenseman. Trying to argue that Klefbom, being a year older, might be the better of the two right now(which is debatable) doesn't really apply.
Oilers are going to develop Schultz and Klefbom into their eventual top pairing. If they can get a veteran d-man to fill that role temporarily for a few years without breaking the bank they may look into that, but I don't see them being too desperate.
They have a potentially great core and they know it. They're not going to blow it up without letting the kids gel together first.
How many years until this "eventual" top pairing?
3 years of picking 1st overall while missing the playoffs for 6 without even coming close must gnaw @ even the most avid Oilers fan.
3 years of picking 1st overall while missing the playoffs for 6 without even coming close must gnaw @ even the most avid Oilers fan.
Well, if we had our choice we would make the playoffs every year, beer rebuild, and wins cup every 5 years. However, since that's not the case, fans have to accept the rebuild and hope for the best since in the end we have zero input.
Sometimes I think some people on HF see Oiler fans happy about our future and think we somehow love the idea of a long rebuild, when in actuality we are just trying to get through it without losing our minds.
None of that really has anything to do with the discussion. The argument was which players would you rather build around, and Murray is a fairly easy pick right now as a better option than Klefbom. Murray projects to be the better defenseman. Trying to argue that Klefbom, being a year older, might be the better of the two right now(which is debatable) doesn't really apply.
I understand the confusion and it's an easy assumption to make but Klefbom is actually only 2 months older. He was young in his draft year and Murray was old in his. They are pretty much the same age.
I'm sure if you package MPS with Gagner, maybe throw in a 3rd round pick, St Louis would be happy to give you Alex Pietrangelo, or Pheonix would send you Yandle (if he meets your standards of #1D).
That would be an awful trade for STL.......
That's the oilers packaging two players that struggle to live up to their hype and a 3rd round pick for one of the top defensemen in the league...
