Oiler Mistake

- Written in June after NHL Draft     

I am convinced that the Oilers made an enormous mistake by drafting Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, with the first overall choice in this year’s NHL draft.  I am sure that RNH is a good player; shifty, good passer, clever.  However, he weighs a buck sixty. Everyone will say that he will grow, fill out, but there is no guarantee that will happen.  They had the top twelve prospects together for a picture and RNH looked like a twelve year old compared to the others.  

Now I have argued on this blog that size DOES NOT MATTER, when it comes to hockey.  I stand by that statement.  You do not have to be big to be great, but you do have to be strong and I question if RNH is or will be strong enough to be special. 

It is my thoughts that the Oilers need a top line defenseman and that Adam Larrson would have better fit their needs, than a skinny center iceman who doesn’t score very much. The Oilers defense sucked incredibly bad this year.  The times I watched the Oilers play, it was incredible how inept the defence was.  They had no one other that Whitley who could make a pass.  They all scared like they were in concrete and people went around them like swinging doors.  You couldn’t even use the excuse that they were young and just needed some maturing to improve.  They were brutal.  The only reason teams didn’t score ten goals a night against them was due to the lack of offensive talent that is prevalent in today’s NHL.  Gretzky and the boys would have scored a dozen goals a night against the Oilers this year and most of the reason would have been the statue like defenseman.  

So instead of addressing their greatest need; the Oilers decide to draft a center.  A small, skinny, non-scoring center.  The  Oilers have at least five very good young forwards to build upon.  They drafted very wisely last, not only getting the best player; Taylor Hall, but also getting three good prospects in the second round that could provide depth up front.   I am not saying that RNH is not a good young player, he is the best talent available in this year’s draft.  It is just that he is not at the level of  super prospects along the lines of Crosby, Stamkos, Ovechkin, or other top picks that everyone knew were going to be super-duper stars.  And hows did everyone know that these guys would be great?  Look at their stats as a junior players.  All of these players had size, skill, determination and more importantly; stats.  Goals and assists, and a lot of them each year.  RNH is a good passer, however this is the first year that he scored over one hundred points and most of them (75) were assists.  He isn’t a great goal scorer and will he be able to dominate NHL games as a passer?  How many people dominate in that manner?  Gretzky was a brilliant passer, but don’t forget that he scored ninety-two goals one year.  He scored over fifty several times, while getting over a hundred assists.  The game has changed you say, I agree.  It sucks remember.  Offensive ability has diminished so badly that only one player scored over fifty goals again this year.  We can go into that problem if you want but I have already written about my feelings concerning that subject.  The  bottom line is that RNH is not a ‘leading scorer in the league’ type player.  Compare him to Patrick Kane if you will, who is a nice player but no Crosby. 

So to get a big, strong, skilled, experienced defenseman, who could start playing tomorrow, is much more needed than a nice, skinny playmaker.  Rach told me that he read somewhere that defenseman chosen in the top three spots of the draft don’t develop at a rate equal to the level in which they are drafted.  Being a giant loser with more time on my hands than most, I have gone through the past twenty years of drafts and I don’t find that fact to be true. 

Sept. 2011

- training camp is just about over and RNH has had a pretty good camp, however; I will stand by my original thought and say I still think he will not be great.  I hope, I am wrong.  Edmonton hockey fans deserve a return to glory and maybe with the young players they have assembled, they will achieve it.  I still say they need a great defenseman.  By the way, I read yesterday that Adam Larrson will play for NJ this season.  Wouldn't he look good on the Oilers defence?