Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli says calls already coming for fourth-overall pick

The draft is more than one month away, but Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli said the calls are already coming for the fourth-overall selection. Chiarelli said he’s open to moving the pick if the “right deal is there,” and said some good offers could come in the next few weeks.

After the Oilers landed the fourth-overall pick in the upcoming draft, Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli said there was a “real, legitimate chance” the pick would be traded leading up to or on draft day. And it turns out the wheels may already be in motion to flip the fourth selection to bolster the Oilers’ roster.

In an interview with CHED 630 in Edmonton, Chiarelli reiterated that he was disappointed the Oilers dropped to the fourth-overall selection — he said he believed if they fell, it would be to the third spot — but it does appear the door is wide open for Edmonton to move the pick. Chiarelli said he’s already started to get calls about potential trades for the selection.

“I’ve had four or five teams call me already,” Chiarelli told CHED’s Bob Stauffer. “I’ve made it known that we’ll look to trade down if the right deal is there, in the context of a pure trade down or a trade down of giving up the draft numbers and getting a draft pick and an NHL player. So we went through a lot of scenarios at the amateur meetings…but there’s some real stuff that could come across our desks in the next few weeks.”

Chiarelli added that coming up with the concept for a creative trade and actually pulling it off are two entirely different things, but that willingness to get creative and potentially bring an NHL-ready talent into the organization on draft day should be exciting for Oilers fans. However, none of this is to say the pick is absolutely going to be moved at or before draft day, but that Edmonton is outside the top three selections increases the odds.

“There’s some real good players after that — two forwards, (Matthew) Tkachuk and (Pierre-Luc) Dubois — and another big forward in Logan Brown, who has been rising up the charts," Chiarelli said. "He’s a center. His last half has been terrific…And then there’s three or four defensemen who all project to be top four or higher.”

Both Tkachuk and Dubois are likely to be picked within the first six or seven selections of the draft — THN Draft Preview ranks Tkachuk as the fourth-overall pick, Dubois as the sixth — but Brown is more likely to be taken near the middle of the first round, and came in at No. 14 in THN’s Draft Preview rankings. Taking either Tkachuk or Dubois would likely require staying put at fourth overall or trading down as little as one position to add another draft pick.

If it’s Brown the Oilers are after, Chiarelli could very likely swap down into the middle of the opening round to get him and that would likely bring additional draft selections or potentially a roster player to Edmonton. In order from 12 to 16, the mid-round selections belong to the Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings.