The 2011 Entry Draft had to be a home run draft. The club had Taylor Hall and some hopefuls from the 2010 edition, but if the Boys on the Bus 2.0 looked to have any long term success, a cluster needed to be built. As the months between today and the 2011 entry draft continue to fly by, the names are growing in importance. The Edmonton Oilers had a quality draft in 2011, their best in many years. There are six players either in the NHL or tracking that way—even if three make the grade that’s an excellent addition to the cluster. 
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, NHL, per 82GP: 18-41-59
Nuge’s offense pales in comparison to Taylor Hall’s (per 82GP: 31-44-75) but he’s a wonderful hockey player. Oiler fans are, incredibly, already taking him for granted. That’s okay. He turned 21 in April. There are 15 glorious years straight ahead. FIFTEEN BULLETS!
I’m using Vollman’s numbers unless otherwise noted. OKC Barons photo by Rob Ferguson, all rights reserved.
FORWARDS (per 82GP)
- Tobias Rieder: 16-12-28. This is such a nice player, and one more reminder that Steve Tambellini wasn’t helping. Rieder is an undersized skill player, and the Oilers have a bunch of them. I imagine Tambellini felt that the club already had Eberle, Gagner, etc and they’d never need him. Here’s a bulletin: NHL teams ALWAYS have room for capable players making less than a million dollars. Credit to the scouts here, they got a good prospect at #114 overall.
- Travis Ewanyk: 4-3-7. The Oilers love this forward, I have very little doubt we’ll see him (eventually) as a 4th line energy player. He was part of the Steve Staios-Aaron Johnson trade (well, the pick was acquired that way) and taken out of order. I think Michael Parkatti did a wonderful job of explaining the player and the situation: He’s a local kid. His intangomometer (a device which measures intangibles) is apparently off the charts. In limited viewings the kid does have defensive ability and legit skating ability, it’s just the lack of offense that’s been a consistent issue. There’s an NHL career awaiting whomever wins the battle to become the Oilers 4th line centre, and I think it’ll go down to Anton Lander and Ewanyk.
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You don’t know what you don’t know, and we don’t know what Craig MacTavish thinks of Ewanyk. Having said that, I think he’ll play, at the very least getting some Liam Reddox minutes somewhere in the next two seasons. Rieder is tracking well.
DEFENSE (per 82GP)
- Dillon Simpson 6-13-19. I’m excited to see Dillon Simpson as a pro hockey player. A lot of the verbal surrounding him on draft day had skating as an issue, but those issues have faded demonstrably. Let’s compare draft day scouting report with today: Red Line Report scout Max Giese: “He’s a smart player defensively, rarely out of position; but he’s a pretty bad skater and he doesn’t have any poise moving the puck.” That was written after his first UND season, a year in which 17-year old Simpson would have been playing against men in their 20s. Now, Bruce McCurdy from April 2014: Overall I found myself more impressed with Simpson’s game than with his physical skills. His innate understanding of where to find the “good ice”, to recognize and execute the simple play, and to read opposition threats all scored high. The defender prides himself on his ability to stay out of the penalty box, having taken just 48 penalty minutes in his four years at UND. Still, there’s a lack of physical bite to his game which is bound to alienate a portion of the fanbase should he make it as far as the NHL.”
- Martin Gernat 3-11-14: A nice addition late in the draft, Gernat has some chaos issues that coach Nelson has been tackling all year. Although he played less than David Musil (to my eye) this season, I think Gernat has better long-term potential. He has some nice offensive things (shot, mobile) and the defensive issues can be improved by flying two more years of sorties in the AHL. I love his range, mobility and story.
- Oscar Klefbom 1-7-8. The great thing about writing an Oilers blog is that I don’t have to spend 400 words here trying to convince you Klefbom is a player. He was shaky early in his first game, and then slowly but surely gathered confidence. By season’s end, I think many (me) were convinced he’ll have a strong career—the only question being when do you begin to count on him? Like Darnell Nurse, offense is only a portion of his value, it’s important to remember that when discussing potential boxcars.
- David Musil 1-6-7. I’ve been fascinated by people’s reaction to him. I had an NHL scout tell me Musil wouldn’t be able to play at AHL pace, but that he had a very good brain for the defensive side of the game. I’ve had Oiler fans—intelligent Oiler fans—foam at the mouth over the selection (and, considering what was still on the board, with reason). However, the gloom is off the rose. Jonathan Willis: There’s been a lot of doom and gloom around Musil’s status as a prospect, but his game has translated beautifully to the professional ranks. He generally alternates with (and occasionally plays beside) Martin Gernat on Oklahoma’s third pairing and seems comfortable playing on his off-side. Musil is on track, and may end up being a third pairing, PK guy who brings the muscle, but I’ve enjoyed watching him beats the odds in his unique way.
This is a very nice group. I think they might all play in the NHL someday, and at least two of these guys are on track to begin their careers as Edmonton Oilers (Klefbom and Simpson) based on range of skills and team need. Musil and Gernat lag behind in the group, but not as much as one might think. If you woke me up 20 years from now and said Martin Gernat had an NHL career I wouldn’t bat an eye. He’s got some things.
GOALIES
- Samu Perhonen 8gp, 3.19 .864 Indiana Ice (USHL). I have no idea how the Oilers identify goaltenders. It must be like that Bob Dylan scene in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (“hmmm, beans, baked beans…”) where they’re just reading labels.
- Frans Tuohimaa 19gp, 3.12 .894 HPK (Sm-Liiga). God, I don’t know what to put here. Lisa McRitchie :You would think that because one of the Finnish goaltenders was selected in the third round, and the other not until the seventh round, that one is better than the other. ”Not really quite true. We just thought that with the younger guy, that you needed to get at it, that if you wanted to get him you’ve got to step up and get him just because he’s in his draft year. Sometimes those later aged guys, you can take a little bit more of a chance. I know that [Oilers goaltending coach] Freddie Chabot saw these guys play over in Finland and has watched tape on them. He was really thrilled when I phoned him just before the seventh, just before our pick. I said, ‘What if we take Tuohimaa with this one’, and he said, ‘I’d be really happy.’” Tuohimaa is either someone of interest, or he isn’t. I will say I like him more than Perhonen just based on cost.
I don’t talk about these guys much because it doesn’t seem useful. Goalies can surprise you, so we shouldn’t go too far overboard in calling these picks terrible. However, the Perhonen selection, especially early, is galling considering they basically had these two men in a hat. Perhaps they could have stepped up later?
RANKING THE 2011 OILER DRAFT
- C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- D Oscar Klefbom
- D Dillon Simpson
- D Martin Gernat
- R Tobias Rieder
- D David Musil
- C Travis Ewanyk
- G Frans Tuohimaa
- G Samu Perhonen
The Oilers have one guy in the NHL, Klefbom basically there, and I like the chances for Simpson and Gernat. That’s really good value three seasons after the draft. It’s really, really important to remember that Martin Gernat, as an example, is progressing. That’s a thing. I’m hammering the point but it seems to me that people are missing it. When you’re tired from ripping Stu MacGregor, please remember that this draft has Nuge AND three defensemen who are on track. That’s surely worth acknowledging, right? I mean, before going back to bloodletting and such.
Rieder also looks like a player, but I’m going to downplay his progress, Musil’s debut, and anything Ewanyk might deliver. Why? It takes away from the argument in the previous paragraph. If you REALLY want to be fair, and more than an internet goon, then please look at this 2011 entry draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
There’s some good stuff here.
COMBINING THE 2011-2013 DRAFTS (RANKED)
- C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- R Nail Yakupov
- D Darnell Nurse
- D Oscar Klefbom
- C Greg Chase
- D Dillon Simpson
- C Bogdan Yakimov
- C Jujhar Khaira
- D Martin Gernat
- R Tobias Rieder
- L Marco Roy
- R Jackson Houck
- L Mitchell Moroz
- D David Musil
- L Anton Slepyshev
- D Erik Gustafsson
- R John McCarron
- D Ben Betker
- D Joey Laleggia
- L Aidan Muir
- C Kyle Platzer
- C Travis Ewanyk
- L Daniil Zharkov
- G Frans Tuohimaa
- L Evan Campbell
- Samu Perhonen
Agree? Disagree?