The Edmonton Oilers once again landed the No. 1 draft pick as their never-ending rebuild continues, and this prompted a great question for Panthers fans: how do the rebuilds between the Panthers and Oilers compare?
Panthers fan website Litter Box Cats has a lengthy explanation of what happened in Florida compared to the process in Edmonton, but as the writer says, the two teams are very similar in terms of lengthy periods of poor performance, similar numbers of draft picks and similar appearances near the top of the draft. The main difference is the Oilers hold a 4-to-1 edge in No. 1 picks.
Florida finished just outside of the playoffs this season, while Edmonton was one of the teams accused of tanking by the end of the year. So where did Edmonton go wrong?
According to the Litter Box Cats writer, it was a middle-of-the draft issue.
So while everyone will be watching as Edmonton selects Connor McDavid first overall this June, the more important part of the draft will come later that day and the next when the Oilers -- and Panthers -- make their middle-of-the-pack selections.
Panthers scouts and Dale Tallon have done a better job at using more of their draft picks to build a very healthy prospect pool. Edmonton management has done a poor job of drafting outside of their first round picks- the vast majority of which are near "can't miss" early picks. This factor is amplified over this period of years- as it takes time to develop these players and allow them to mature. As Panther fans know better than anyone- yesteryear's mistakes are felt for quite some time. … There is good reason that the San Antonio Rampage had their best regular season ever. The Oilers have lost critical years of development due to poor middle round drafting and must play catch up.
