Fact: Almost all of the Edmonton Oilers ’ top prospects trended down or were moved out in the last year.

If we look at the Top 20 Oilers prospects — as ranked by the Cult of Hockey panel last summer — we see that seven of them have been moved out of the organization, eight of them trended down as prospects, two of them remained about the same, and just three of them, Matt Savoie, Noah Philp and Maxim Berzekin, trended up.

Question: Is this a disaster? A problem? Something to worry about? Or not a big deal?

Here’s one way of looking at it: successful organizations have strong drafting and developing. They select and nurture a number of solid young players who can either be used as trade bait to bolster the big club, or these prospects find a way to defy the odds and become top NHLers,

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