History Will Be Made

I must admit, those new NHL Playoffs commercials are pretty cool; and of course, there are some pretty funny parodies that have been done with that history theme.

The nerd inside of me calls out again to blog about hockey, and more specifically the Oilers. I have no opinion on what the team will look like next year, especially with Souray now having gone public with his frustration and trade request. I'm not going to talk about Souray, because this could go on and on about finger pointing and who's right and who's wrong type of deal.

With the draft lottery coming up tomorrow, I've been more solid on who I think the Oilers should take, should they draft first overall. The Oilers have a 25% chance of winning the lottery, but a 48% chance of retaining the first overall pick; so the when you look at it, it doesn't really seem very good. But in the grand scheme of things, we have the best chance - theoretically. However, it's just our luck that I really don't think the Oilers will win the lottery tomorrow, and be forced to take Seguin.

I firmly believe that Taylor Hall should and go first, whether that be the Oilers or another team. Sure, Tyler Seguin has that huge first line center potential, but it's not immediate, and not guaranteed that he'll reach that. Hall has been the superstar for a longer time, and that's exactly what the Oilers need. Whether or not Seguin will be the better player, or Hall will be the better player, the Oilers could use a player like Hall. Seguin being a center isn't enough for me to think that the Oilers should settle on him to take three or four years to develop into that first line center that we need so desperately. If we want to wait for Seguin to develop, we're better off with Gagner, who I believe has first line potential, but it'll just take him longer to get there because he's a brains guy. And the Oilers need a player who has that star status especially with the shaft that we've received for the last half decade. So, I think the Oilers should take Taylor Hall. Hall has also made it known that he'd be welcome to the idea of playing for the Oilers, where Seguin seems to rather play out east close to his home. Hall has all the connections he needs here in Edmonton, and it also opens us options for the wings and for trades.

However, I honestly won't be overly disappointed if we got Seguin, because he'll fill the organizational need over the "best player available" pick. But with the Oilers' luck, we'll probably be picking second and drafting Seguin.

/endnerd (=