The Edmonton Oilers have an enviable group of young, skill players that includes Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and now Nail Yakupov. If those four players develop as projected, the Oilers will beat most teams in that department.
With that on mind, Edmonton entered the second half of the draft on Saturday with the objective of adding big players to compliment their core.
“We talked about how do we get these people,” said Oilers GM Steve Tambellini in a Sportsnet report. “Once in a while you may make a trade to get some size that has the skill to play with your top six or nine -- once in a while. But more often than not, nine out of 10, you have to draft these people and develop them.
“So that was a major goal of ours coming into this draft and we think we accomplished that.”
They did so by taking guys like Mitchell Moroz with the 32nd overall pick and Daniil Zhakov in the third round. Both are big forwards who might be valuable additions to the Oilers down the road.
Edmonton’s rebuild seems to be coming along nicely, although they still might have trouble competing for a playoff spot next season.