BLOG: Wright preaches 'due diligence' to combat draft challenges

EDMONTON, AB - Oilers Director of Amateur Scouting Tyler Wright spent his weekend 'scouting' extensive coverage of the NFL Draft to get a good look at what the NHL's own version might look like later this summer.

"I watched all three days," Wright told Bob Stauffer on 630CHED's Oilers Now on Monday afternoon.

The draft was completed over the weekend through a virtual 'Draft at Home' format after the coronavirus outbreak forced to event to be completed remotely.

"I think they did a really good job, to be honest with you," he continued. "There was so much unknown, and you've got so many feeds coming in from so many different places. I thought they handled it pretty well."

While the NFL's format is by no means an exact copy of the route the NHL will take towards completing its own, the NFL's circumstantial alteration of the annual event due does present a potential roadmap.

"Obviously, if we do it early, we're going to have something along the same effects, so it should be interesting," Wright said. "It's definitely trying times right now and we'll see what the NHL comes up with."

Wright and other scouting departments around the League are left preparing for an unscheduled draft with less information than seasons prior, including no major-junior playoffs and NHL Scouting Combine to supplement players' regular-season performances and interviews.

"I think everybody's doing a lot of video at the end of the day," Wright said. "We have a lot of platforms."

"Scouts have been told to do their due diligence on guys in their areas, and we're starting to wrap up some meetings in the next week-to-10 days just to get things in order in case we have to get this thing going at the beginning of June."

Thoroughness from the Oilers scouts while sifting through what's readily available on this year's draft class is taking on added importance.

The Oilers are without their second and fourth-round picks in the upcoming draft, with the potential of sending a third-round pick to the Calgary Flames as a condition of the club's summer acquisition of forward James Neal pending the restart of the schedule.

Where the Oilers will go on the board is still yet to be determined, but the putting together of a universal list by the scouting staff from what's available to determine who's the best player at any spot in the draft takes that factor out of the equation in the hopes of picking a player below his expected position.

Oilers 2019 selection Raphael Lavoie was a first-round talent that the club had ranked much higher than their position at 38th overall, where they scooped up the prolific QMJHL sniper.

"With us, we're putting our list together and we're hoping that maybe somebody slides," Wright said. "Now with what pick we're getting, that's still up in the air. We're picking 20 right now in the first round if things were slotted points-percentage wise. Does somebody slide out of that group to where we're at 20? That's kind of what you're hoping for."

"It's an interesting time for us and we want to make sure we get this right. We don't have much room for error," Wright added.