What the Edmonton Oilers could have had

The Edmonton Oilers were limited in action on the draft floor this year in Nashville. Of course, Ken Holland traded away Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin for future considerations but drafted only three players over the two days.

The Oilers selected defenceman Beau Akey (56th overall), goaltender Nathaniel Day (184th overall), and Matt Copponi (216th overall).

Edmonton’s other picks had been dealt in past deals:

• 24th overall went to the Nashville Predators in the Mattias Ekholm trade
• 88th overall went to the Arizona Coyotes in the Nick Bjugstad trade
• 120th overall went to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Derick Brassard trade
• 152nd overall went to the New York Rangers in the Jayden Grubbe trade

#24 Tanner Molendyk (Nashville Predators)

Tanner Molendyk is a 5’11” left-handed defenceman, who plays for the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League. Molendyk played in 67 games last season for Saskatoon scoring 9 goals and 37 points. He was also a member of Team Canada’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold medal winning team.

Steven Ellis had him ranked 48th on Daily Faceoff and had this to say about him:

“Molendyk sometimes feels like a fourth forward out there with how he moves the puck and generates chances. But the offense didn’t seem to follow like most expected, bumping him down a few pegs. It feels like he’ll have a breakout next year, but I just wanted to see more this time around.”

#88 Vadim Moroz (Arizona Coyotes)

Vadim Moroz was ranked as the 49th-best European skater by NHL Central Scouting. He’s a 6’2″ right-shot forward from Minsk, Belarus. The majority of his games were played with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL last season skating in 39 games and scoring 5 goals and 14 points. He spent a little bit of time Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruysk in the MHL.

#120 Alex Ciernik (Philadelphia Flyers)

Alex Ciernik goes 120th overall to the Philadelphia Flyers completing the Derick Brassard trade. Ciernik is a Slovakian player born in Germany who played in the Swedish league, quiet the journey for the 18-year-old forward. Last season, he played for Södertälje SK J20 in the J20 Nationell scoring 9 goals and 21 points in 18 games.

Ciernik was 74th on Steven Ellis’ pre-draft list.

“The son of former NHLer Ivan Ciernik, Alex Ciernik has looked excellent internationally and has put up some solid numbers at the Swedish U-20 level. But, most impressively, he has also had stints in the second-tier Swedish pro league. He looks confident every time he gets a hold of the puck, and he doesn’t like to skate long without it. His physical game is quite far away, and a bunch of scouts I’ve talked to are concerned about his play outside of the offensive side of things.”

#152 Rasmus Larsson (New York Rangers)

The 152nd overall pick was the most recent pick moved by Ken Holland after he acquired Jayden Grubbe. With the pick, the New York Rangers selected Rasmus Larsson, who is a 6’3″ 201 lbs left handed defenceman. Larsson played in 50 games for the Västerås IK J20 scoring 16 goals and 34 points. Next season, he is committed to Northern Michigan University in the NCAA.

And there you have it. Are you disappointed with the players the Oilers missed out on? Are you happy with the players did select in the draft? Let us know.

Either way, welcome to the Edmonton Oilers and the National Hockey League to Beau Akey, Nathaniel Day and Matt Copponi.