from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,
Teams know the Oilers have already drafted centres Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl from 2011 on, so why does he need another one?
Maybe they feel (and rightly so) the Oilers need a defenceman at the draft more. Maybe they’re even wondering if MacTavish also really likes McDavid’s centre teammate Dylan Strome, the OHL scoring champ who had four goals and six points in his final league game Sunday, and if he can get him later for a flip of picks, he’d take that.
There are lots of scenarios in play for the No. 2 pick, such as:
- What if the Nashville Predators called and offered defenceman Seth Jones and Finnish goalie Juuse Saros? The Preds don’t have their late first-rounder because they traded it to the Leafs for Cody Franson, which gums things up somewhat. But Jones can be a top-two defenceman. Saros played in the world junior and is in the top Finnish league right now, and Jari Kurri, the former Finnish national team GM, was raving about the 19-year-old at the 1984 Oilers Stanley Cup reunion last fall. We all know the Preds will be riding Pekka Rinne in net for years to come. All those years, the Predators had a terrific defence but couldn’t go deep in the playoffs because they had no first-line centre.
- What if the Toronto Maple Leafs call, with the cupboard bare at centre, and offers to flip their No. 5 selection for the No. 2 for defenceman Morgan Rielly, another player who most scouts feel will be a top-pairing defenceman in short order?
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