DRAFT: Oilers must find added value with fewer picks in 2024 draft

LAS VEGAS, NV – Oilers Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey, entering his 24th NHL Draft – and first with the Oilers – is well aware that there is a price to be paid for his team competing for the Stanley Cup, and that price is usually draft picks.

“That’s the price of winning,” Pracey told Oilers TV’s Tony Brar on Friday. “When you have less draft capital over the years, it takes its toll, but that’s not a judgmental statement or anything. We were just 20 minutes (away from the Stanley Cup), so whatever it takes.”

That’s how it goes in the NHL when building a championship contender, but it makes the process all the more valuable for Pracey and his amateur scouting department to dig deeper and try to find value in some of the later draft picks for the Oilers, despite their depleted draft selections for the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft this weekend at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

The Oilers own a second-round pick (64^th total) and selections in the fifth round (160^th), two in the sixth round (183^rd & 192^and) and two in the seventh round (196th & 218th.^th) after giving up their 2024 first-round pick as part of the deal that brought Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from Anaheim to Edmonton at the trade deadline.