Oilers Could Have Had Maple Leafs Top Goalie Prospect
The Edmonton Oilers were looking at drafting a different netminder than the one they landed in the 2017 Entry Draft.
It's no secret that the Edmonton Oilers have struggled to draft and keep a starting goaltender for quite a long period of time. Some of the all-time greats to ever play for the Oilers were drafted in the 1980's (Andy Moog, Grant Fuhr), or were drafted by other teams and then acquired later (Dwayne Roloson, Bill Ranford).
The last great goaltender to be a homegrown talent of the organization was Devan Dubnyk. The 6-foot-6 goaltender was drafted 14th overall in the 2004 entry draft. He would go on to collect 61 wins in 171 games with the team, sporting a .910 save percentage and a 2.88 goals against average. Dubnyk played five seasons for the Oilers - from 2009-10 season to the 2013-14 season.
At the 2016 NHL Entry Draft the Oilers were primed to draft a goaltender, according to Craig MacTavish in an interview on Oilers Now. The Toronto Maple Leafs took that goaltender with their first 3rd round pick - 62nd overall - Joseph Woll. The Oilers had the 63rd overall selection and took defenceman Markus Niemelainen. MacTavish told Bob Stauffer, "we lost Woll to the Leafs the year before. We were gonna draft Woll...We didn't want to lose Skinner. So as we got into the 3rd round, we traded up so we didn't lose him."
If the Oilers had gotten their guy in 2016 with Woll, the Oilers wouldn't have made the playoffs last year. Stuart Skinner played a pivotal role in keeping the season on track when Jack Campbell struggled all year. Woll had only played four regular season NHL games at the start of the 2022-23 season.
Would the Oilers have trusted him to take the reigns from a lacklustre year from Campbell? If they did would things have gotten better or much worse? Luckily, Oilers fans will never have to find out the "what if" in this scenario. Instead, they got to see Skinner take the starter's position from Campbell, lead them to the playoffs, and become a Calder Trophy Finalist for top rookie of the year.