For Edmonton to be successful, it’s got to find at least one Core 12 player in the 2021 draft.
What is a Core 12 player? The Core 12, as defined by NHL player agent Ritch Winter, are the six forwards on a team’s top two lines, the third line centre, the top four d-men and the top goalie.
But all is not lost, mainly because the Oilers hit it big three years in a row with high-end draft picks, Darnell Nurse in 2013, Leon Draisaitl in 2014 and Connor McDavid in 2015, but also because under chief scout Bob Green a number of players have been drafted who are trending to be Core 12 players.
The Reinhart trade was a massive fiasco — which I personally blame on the scout handling the AHL in 2014-15 and on the managers who didn’t look at Reinhart’s most recent play in that minor pro league — but late round success could make up for that alleged gaffe.
In his eight seasons leading drafts before he came to Edmonton Wright had 68 picks to work with.
Dylan Larkin, 15th overall in 2014, has been strong, but Evgeny Svenchnikov, 19th in 2015, has been slowed by injuries, and Dennis Cholowski, 20th overall in 2016, has yet to grab hold of an NHL job.
When you draft in the Top 10, it’s crucial to make good, but it’s not clear if either Rasmussen or Zadina will pan out.
On the plus side, Detroit’s first pick in the 2019 draft, d-man Mortiz Seider, drafted sixth overall, had an outstanding season in the top Swedish League.
Holland’s Detroit Red Wings did better than any other NHL team in finding top talent in the draft from 1983 to 2004 and made the playoffs 25 years in a row.
Scouting is a terrible grind, with many scouts doing their best work in their first few years on the job, as seen with Wright in Columbus.
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