Matthew Tkachuk reveals he was almost an Oiler with Knoblauch's help

In a recent article on ESPN, Greg Wyshynski dove back into the story of the 2016 Draft where the Oilers were one pick away from selecting Matthew Tkachuk. According to a quote directly from Tkachuk, he believed he was going to Edmonton until Columbus passed on Jesse Puljujarvi, who the Oilers had ranked higher.

«[The Oilers are] kind of staring me down and kind of giving me some smiles. So we're like, 'All right, we're going to Edmonton,' Then Pierre-Luc Dubois went third overall, and the phone started to ring like crazy at the Edmonton table. They threw the jersey under the table and it looked like they stripped off a name and gave it to Puljujarvi»
- Matthew Tkachuk

Just over a week ago, Oilers insider Bob Stauffer shared another story of the team nearly drafting the pest Tkachuk. According to Stauffer, Kris Knoblauch called him back in 2016 stressing that the Oilers should draft Tkachuk.

Instead the Oilers selected the much-maligned Jesse Puljujarvi. Over parts of 6 seasons with the Oilers, Puljujarvi never was able to produce or live up to the hopes the team had for their fourth overall pick. If it's any consolation to the Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks passed on Tkachuk as well. Tkachuk became one of the Oilers biggest enemies, but it's because he's player you'd want on your team, not to play against.

Tonight back on home ice is a near must-win for the Edmonton Oilers. Down in the series by 2 games or even 3 games, it'd still be impossible to count the Oilers out - but a win tonight would make things much easier. Using the crowd of Rogers Place as an extra boost of energy, the Oilers need to leave everything on the ice tonight.

Source: Greg Wyshynski