Edmonton Oilers Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey (6/29/26)
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What is the significance of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft for the Edmonton Oilers?
Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. This is Oilers Now. We got the young gun with us, Aiden Ganim. Aiden, when I was forming my tree planting cruise one day... I decided to add, like, an F-350, and we hooked up some speakers to it. And at, like, 8.05 out in the block, because we'd leave, like, at 7 o'clock, I had a rule. My crew needed to be on the block first. You need to be ready to go. Time matters. It matters in radio as well, by the way. They'll remember if there's a mistake, the patient doesn't die on the table. But I play that like full bore to get my guys all jacked up. This is before we had things like ear pods and stuff like that back in the day, right?
That would work well, though.
I mean, that would wake you up quick. Everybody loved it. And then I ended up meeting a guy like at the year of the Heritage Classic in 2003, 2004. And he was a huge Oilers fan from the late 1980s. Kind of like another huge Oilers fan that might be joining us on Wednesday's edition. We're going to go. We will tell you, courtesy of our friends at Friesen Brothers, we're going to have our free agent frenzy from noon until 2 that day. Myself and Cam Moon, Aiden and a cast of thousands. We'll be jumping aboard over a four-hour span. And then we're going to do a special live edition of Oilers Now around 5 o'clock. You never know who's going to make an appearance on Canada's Day. But it might be a guy that is a pretty significant Oilers fan.
Time will tell in that regard. So that's known as a tease. We have a busy show coming up. Emerson Loiters, director of amateur scouting. Rick Pricey in five minutes' time. Frankly Hockey's Frank Cervelli for summer's drilling at 435. Craig McTavish for contract equipment limited at 505. And Brick Invitational Tournament chairman Craig Stiles. Terry Jones wrote a book on the Brick called When They Were Ten, highlighting all the superstar players that have been in it over the years. Did you watch the NHL draft the other night?
I did. It was very interesting.
How about the San Jose Sharks?
Man, they cleaned house. That was one of the smartest moves I've seen by a GM and a staff ever. Mike Greer deserves his flowers on that day.
How does Rick Pracey feel about not having a first-round pick?
Yeah, it was quite something to watch. I mean, you sit there and all I'm going to say, and it's a strong statement and not everybody's going to agree with it, But it amazes me, but it doesn't surprise me, that so many amateur scouts can't reconcile the differences between playing versus kids versus playing versus men. So... away we go on that front. And because there's no way Verhoff should have fallen to nine and San Jose, they are set. Like who wouldn't want to go to San Jose? Well, apparently there are rumors out there that a guy by the name of Darnell Nurse, three teams, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, those are three of the teams that are repeatedly being mentioned. Nobody in the Western Conference has believed that both San Jose and Anaheim are interested.
But to this point, at least of an hour ago or so, Nurse hadn't opened up his list. Time will tell in that regard. As for the draft itself, Gavin McKenna goes number one out of Penn State, playing for Guy Grodowski. And Verhoff, who started the year in the eyes of many, including myself, being maybe in the two hole, drops all the way to nine. But San Jose got Ivor Stenberg. and they got Keaton Verhoff, and they got Ryan Lynn. Like a lot of people thought that's three of the top ten players in the draft at the start of the year, so they did pretty good. So lots to get to. We'll tell you that the River Creek Resort Casino hotline is 780-451-8800. Get ready. Edmonton legendary rock band Collective Souls coming to the venue at the River Creek Resort Casino July 28th, one night only, with iconic hits like Shine, December, and The World I Know.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the significance of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft for the Edmonton Oilers?
0:00–2:16
2
How does Rick Pracey feel about not having a first-round pick?
2:16–4:45
3
What insights does Rick Pracey share about the Oilers' scouting philosophy?
4:45–6:29
4
Who are the notable players selected by the Oilers in this draft?
6:29–8:40
5
What are the strengths of Latvian center Rudolfs Bereskalns?
8:40–10:31
6
How does Rick Pracey evaluate the potential of Andrew Robinson?
10:31–13:05
7
What makes goaltender Ryan Cameron a valuable draft choice?
13:05–16:36
8
What lessons can be learned from the Oilers' past draft choices?
16:36–18:26