Author's Note:

The following is the fifth in a series of posts exploring the Edmonton Oilers, their previous “Decade of Darkness,” and how the team has started to turn things around with the help of Connor McDavid.

To offer readers something different during the NHL’s summer lull, this is Part Five of the series—from the perspective of a fan-turned-journalist—and it will continue over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy the journey.

McDavid v. the Decade of Darkness: Part 1: My Introduction to the Oilers

McDavid v. the Decade of Darkness: Part 2: "Where's My Bottle Cap?"

McDavid v. the Decade of Darkness: Part 3: The Gretzky Trade

McDavid v. the Decade of Darkness: Part 4: Pronger Wants Out

McDavid v. the Decade of Darkness: Part 4: Pronger Wants Out <i><b>Author's Note:</b></i>

We'll get back to the Oilers drafting McDavid soon enough. But, to understand the impact of the Oilers winning the McDavid lottery, we need to take a look at the drafts that came before him as the Oilers embraced a rebuild. 

The Oilers' 2007 - 2010 Drafts

Between 2007 and 2010, the Oilers continued to lose hockey games. They’d been so close to the Stanley Cup in 2006, it was hard to accept that the loss of Chris Pronger meant they should potentially retool the organization and go young. That meant using draft picks and intelligent signings to rebuild their organization and lay the groundwork to become winners over the long term.

The problem in Edmonton was that it took some time to fully commit. 

“Rebuild” was like a bad word that basically screamed to real NHL’ers and free agents not to look at Edmonton as a destination point for their next contracts. Rebuild meant losing, and the Oilers didn’t need to give players in the league any other reasons not to come to Edmonton. 

Since Edmonton was already struggling to get players to look their way, it was difficult to fully pledge to the idea of being worse in order to get better.

The First Group of Young Players Tried, But Didn't Have It

The Oilers were a primarily young team. New players like Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Robert Nilsson, Denis Grebeshkov, and Tom Gilbert were making a splash in the 2007-08 season, but ultimately, the team fell short of the postseason. Being too inexperienced and the team dealing with injuries to veterans like Shawn Horcoff and Sheldon Souray (the team’s new big ticket free agent signing), it was simply too large a hill to climb. 

That summer, the team traded center Jarret Stoll and defenseman Matt Greene to the Los Angeles Kings for Lubomir Visnovsky. They also moved offensive defenseman Joni Pitkanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Erik Cole. In an attempt to make the Oilers a contender again, the team made pitches to sign free agents Marian Hossa and Jaromir Jagr. Both would have been great offensive weapons for Edmonton, but both would have cost a lot of money. It was another sign that the organization was planning to use the new salary cap system the NHL had in place to remain competitive.

It didn't work out well, and both Visnovsky and Cole had short runs with the team. 

Time To Change Things Up

In 2010, Edmonton was keenly aware that it needed to take a different approach. Floundering around the bottom half of the NHL standings, the Oilers could no longer afford to waste time. They were losing games, losing fans, losing money, and major NHL stars were denying them.

Perhaps the most obvious demonstration that the Oilers were not highly regarded by players was in the summer of 2009, when the organization tried to change its fortunes and make a blockbuster trade for Ottawa Senators sniper Dany Heatley. A once top scorer, Heatley looked like the perfect fit for an Oilers team that lacked real scoring punch. Heatley refused to waive his no-trade clause, and Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano, and Ladislav Smid -- who were all publicly revealed to be part of the trade offer -- were still (perhaps reluctantly) part of the Oilers’ organization.

Being denied by Heatley made the Oilers look like not only a bad team, but it furthered the stigma that the city was not a destination high on a player’s wish list. Heatley would later wind up in San Jose, where he struggled, eventually playing himself out of the NHL as his game regressed rapidly.

Also in the year prior to the 2010 NHL Draft, the Oilers had signed a veteran but aging goaltender in Nikolai Khabibulin as a last-ditch effort to help them make the playoffs. Backstopping a less talented team and coached by an ever-aging bench-boss in Pat Quinn, every move, including that one, seemed to backfire.

The Oilers wound up in the basement of the NHL standings and, midway through the 2009-10 season, announced an official roster rebuild.

The Taylor Hall Draft

Come the summer of 2010, the rebuild would start with the first-overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft. It was the first time in franchise history that Edmonton would draft first overall and the debate was down to two very talented forwards. One was a left-winger from the Windsor Spitfires named Taylor Hall. The other was a center from the OHL Plymouth Whalers named Tyler Seguin. That draft became the Taylor versus Tyler debate.

The edge seemed to be leaning toward Hall, but a case could be made for both players, and either way, the Oilers were going to get a great and possibly franchise-changing NHL talent.

Even up to the day of the draft, most experts weren’t sure which direction the Oilers would go as the organization did not reveal its intentions publicly. Many hockey experts believed that teams should be built down the middle, and those people suggested Seguin was the better option. He'd scored 106 points in 63 games for Plymouth in his final OHL season. Others couldn’t look past the drive and tenacity that Hall brought with him to every game. A fearless forward, Hall was incredibly fast. He’d used that speed and drive to score a similar 106 points, but in fewer games (57).

The Boston Bruins had the second selection in that draft and Hall’s agent was none other than the former great Bruins’ defenseman Bobby Orr. Whispers had begun to creep in that Hall would have preferred being selected by the Bruins, but he made sure to add that if he was to be selected by the Oilers, he’d welcome the challenge.

Hall was the pick, and he immediately made the team out of training camp. There was some talk that Edmonton should avoid rushing prospects into the NHL, but as a first overall selection, Hall was just too good. He became Edmonton’s top line left winger from day one. He scored 22 goals and 42 points in 65 games. 

The Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Draft

After the 2010-11 season came to a close and after again finishing at the bottom of the NHL standings, the Oilers found themselves at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft with the outlook of selecting the top prospect at that year’s event.

Hall had been a solid selection for the Oilers the year before, and he proved that a number one pick could be ready for NHL action on day one of the upcoming regular season. The Oilers hoped that with Hall ready for a terrific sophomore campaign and Jordan Eberle having advanced beyond the status of a prospect and ready for a full NHL season, whoever the Oilers selected in 2011 might also jump right in and make a difference in the pros. The Oilers had their sights set on play-making center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Nugent-Hopkins was a two-way center, but a dynamic pivot out of the WHL and playing for the Red Deer Rebels. During the 2009-10 season, he’d played in 67 games and scored 24 goals and 41 assists. The season after that, his production skyrocketed. In 69 games, Nugent-Hopkins scored 31 goals and added 75 assists for 106 points. 

The Oilers drafted him first overall and not long after signed him to a three-year entry-level contract. He wound up scoring 52 points in 62 games for the Oilers in his first season. 

 The future seemed to be taking shape. The Oilers had Eberle, Hall, and Nugent-Hopkins as their new core of young future stars. 

The Nail Yakupov Draft

The Oilers were not the worst team in the NHL, and thus not expected to make the first pick at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. However, they were still a lottery team, and a new lottery system saw the balls bounce favorably. Instead of the Columbus Blue Jackets selecting first overall, as would have been dictated by their finish in the standings, Edmonton received the first-overall pick.

It was down to either Russian dynamic scorer Nail Yakupov, star-prospect defenseman Ryan Murray or talented center Alex Galchenyuk.

The Oilers were reportedly set to draft someone else, until rumors (unproven) suggested that Katz stepped in and told his management team to take Yakupov. It wasn't a strong draft, but the player struggled to make the transition to the NHL. A decent first season was followed up by seasons of lower production. He was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues for little return. 

It was the first real miss for the Oilers. 

The Darnell Nurse Draft

The Oilers were not yet a strong team, but they had improved. Instead of finishing a lottery team and drafting in the top-five at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Edmonton was positioned to select seventh overall. With the pick, the team drafted Darnell Nurse. 

Nurse was a solid pick. He's polarizing today because of his contract, but he was a solid pick that summer. It can be argued that only Josh Morrisey was a better pick in the top 30. He was selected at No. 13 by the Winnipeg Jets. 

The Leon Draisaitl Draft

One year after picking Nurse, the Oilers made what was arguably their most savvy draft selection in years. Hall, Eberle, and Nugent-Hopkins were good. Nurse was a solid pick at No. 7. Leon Draisaitl would turn out to be a superstar, much bigger than all the others drafted before him. 

I'll get into Draisaitl more as this series continues, but the takeaway here is that most of these picks wound up elsewhere. Only Nugent-Hopkins, Nurse, and Draisaitl remain and they're part of the Oilers current core that has become a contender. 

To be continued...

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