The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun put out an interesting piece today on how Calder Trophy favourite Clayton Keller slipped to 7th overall in the 2016 NHL entry draft.
With Patrick Kane-esque numbers and talent, the diminutive centerman should've easily been a top 5 pick.
The Edmonton Oilers selected right winger Jesse Puljujarvi with the 4th overall pick. It seemed like the most obvious pick at the time, especially considering he was expected go third overall. But with the Columbus Blue Jackets surprisingly taking Pierre-Luc Dubois with their pick, Peter Chiarelli's decision changed.
He admits to drafting based on position rather than BPA ("best player available").
“For us, he (Keller) was in our discussions, but we had a lot of centres, so made a winger a priority,” Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli said. “I mean, his talent was indisputable, it was a little position-based for us.”
This is not to say that Puljujarvi won't be a top player, but his development certainly hasn't gone as quickly as people hoped - while Keller is lighting it up in Arizona, with 18 points in 22 games so far.
As it stands, Keller is actually playing wing in Arizona, not center. And despite that, Leon Draisaitl has proven to be more effective for the Oilers on Connor McDavid's wing.
And Keller's talent far surpasses that of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - a player rumoured in trade talks for ages.
Can you imagine Keller playing with McDavid? The sheer amount of talent might've been a huge factor in helping Edmonton this year with their scoring woes.
That being said, hindsight is 20/20. But it's clear Chiarelli should learn from this lesson - draft the best player available.
