Edmonton Oilers fumbled pick used to draft sensational rookie

The Oilers during the Holland era were known for how bad their drafting was, with many stories of how the Oilers passed up on great picks to draft someone who hadn't planned out well. With each year that goes by, there are more and more players that turn out to be hidden gems in the draft. The Oilers missed on an absolute steal in the 2020 draft when they traded away their second round pick.

https://www.houseofhockey.net/nhl-team/edmonton-oilers/oilers-missed-out-on-one-of-the-top-defenders-in-the-nhl

The Oilers traded away their second rounder along with a 2021 second rounder to acquire Andreas Athanasiou from the Detroit Red Wings. This pick ended up being the 45th overall selection, which was flipped to the Kings where they drafted Calder runner-up Brock Faber. The Kings then traded Faber to the Wild as part of the Kevin Fiala deal.

Brock Faber would be exactly what the Oilers are looking for, being a premier shutdown defender that could also pitch in offensively. Faber had an amazing season last year with 47 points in 82 games in his first major season in the NHL.

Faber would be a great addition for the Oilers, slotting in on the second pairing behind Bouchard. The one thing the Oilers could never have given Faber is the extension the Wild just signed him to, when they gave him 8 years at $68M ($8.5M AAV).

If the Oilers drafted him he would've been stuck waiting for an extension behind Draisaitl and Bouchard, and most likely would've been shipped off due to a lack of cap space. They would've tried to bridge him for a low value deal, or even flipped him to another team to acquire more win-now players.

It's always interesting to look at the what-ifs of the NHL, but it's very important to remember that drafting is such a hit or miss area of the game. 44 picks were made before Faber and his breakout didn't happen until much later than most. The NHL is a league where many players can breakout out of nowhere and the Oilers wouldn't know they missed such a great prospect until it was too late.