Is it possible too much emphasis on one single draft pick? If you’re the Edmonton Oilers, no.
For the first time in team history the Edmonton Oilers will pick first in the NHL entry draft and really the stakes have never been higher for the team.
Make the right pick tonight and they could be fast tracked to a return to their glory days.
The wrong move and they will be doomed to a third straight decade of mediocrity.
I do not envy the position that Stu MacGregor — the Oilers chief scout — is in. General manager Steve Tambellini has said the pick is in MacGregor’s hands.
This is what you call a career pick.
Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.
The experts have diagnosed, poked and prodded the two top prospects for the last 18 months, and still there is no word yet on which way the Oilers are leaning — some media experts are sure they will go safe and take Hall, while just as many pundits are sure that Seguin will be tugging on a midnight blue sweater.
The common belief is that Hall is the better player right now but Seguin will be the better player down the road — but then we are dealing with the potential of 18 year olds.
Hall will give them a combination of speed, shot, skill and fearlessness that they haven’t had since Glenn Anderson was flying down Mark Messier’s right wing in his prime.
He has drawn many comparisons to Pavel Bure.
While Seguin is the consummate elite centreman, the guy that will make his teammates better. He is often likened to a Steve Yzerman, but it comes with the caveat that he has a ways to develop.
In all reality Oilers fans should be happy with whichever one is drafted, the general consensus is that both will be stars, however, both will be forever linked and compared, particularly because two historic franchises are in the mix — with the Boston Bruins picking second overall.
For my money I would take Hall.
He is the sure thing.
He has a certain je ne sais quoi about him.
He brings that excitement that is attached to the big stars.
He has lived with the expectations that comes with being the anointed one for three years and has met them head on, and some would argue he has exceeded them.
In the biggest games he has found a way to be the biggest star at every stop along his journey — beit the world juniors, the OHL playoffs or the Memorial cup.
Hall’s ability to handle the pressure is going to be key if selected by the Oilers.
There will be nowhere to hide in a market that’s as hockey mad as any in the league.
Fans will be expecting big things right away at least individually from the electric forward, and big things from the club not too long after.
However the Oilers problems extend far beyond one offensive position. In fact with all the young talented forwards coming down the pike — including Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson and Jordan Eberle — the Oilers’ biggest hole is on the blue-line.
But still people will be looking to the top pick for answers and likely to questions he is no more qualified to answer than the equipment manager.
For a franchise that has been in a perpetual state of rebuilding since 1992, Hall/Seguin represents the bright light at the end of a very long tunnel.
After battling that kind of a storm for so long, those expectations will hit all-time highs.
For the Edmonton Oilers it is just one pick — but it is also so much more.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com