The Edmonton Oilers have had a Top 4 d-man prospect cooking in their system each year for almost 20 years now. It’s a solid win streak.
That streak starts in 2006 when the Oilers drafted Jeff Petry in the second round, with the torch next passed to Oscar Klefbom in 2011, Justin Schultz, 2012, Darnell Nurse, 2013, John Marino, 2015, Evan Bouchard, 2017, Michael Kesselring (projected Top 4 in Buffalo this year), 2018, and Philip Broberg, 2020. If the Oilers had all those players, and they were all healthy, their roster would be:
Not bad at all. But not to be.
But that streak is in danger just now, with three of Edmonton’s top six d-man prospects in 2024 now gone from the organization, Max Wanner traded away and Phil Kemp and Luca Munzenberger not signed.
To address that deficit, the Oi