It's widely believed the best player in the 2012 NHL draft is Nail Yakupov, the Russian forward that spent the past two years playing for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League.
The Edmonton Oilers, the team that currently owns the top pick in the draft, might have other ideas.
While appearing on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Thursday, team president Kevin Lowe gave Canadian defenseman Ryan Murray a ringing endorsement due in large part to his surprising play at the World Championships.
Maybe it's reading into something that isn't there at this point, but when discussing Murray and his current standing on the Central Scouting rankings (he's second) Lowe called him the top player.
“He’s played remarkably well for a young fellow and I’ve talked to the other GMs and scouts that are here [at the World Championships] and they all agree that he’s going to play in the National Hockey League next year, no question," Lowe said.
”There’s no surprise why Central Scouting has him rated second. He’s the top player. And often with the top players, or occasionally with the top players, they’re not ready to play in the National Hockey League, but I don’t question his readiness for next year.”
Again, maybe it's nothing, but when the president of the team that owns the top pick in the draft calls a prospect "the top player" it might be worth paying attention to. Especially when it goes against the consensus. There's been a lot of speculation as to what Edmonton should do with the top pick due to Yakupov not really fitting a "need" for the Oilers. Should they trade it? Or should they make the pick based on their greatest weakness at the NHL level right now?
Edmonton, having picked first in each of the past two years, already has a collection of smaller, skilled forwards in Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. What the Oilers don't have is many quality defensemen.
But are the Oilers really in a position to draft for need at the risk of passing up a superior prospect? I've said it before, but even if Edmonton already has other players that are similar to Yakupov, you don't finish as the worst team in the league over a five-year stretch because you have too many good players at any position. The Oilers simply need talent, whether it's a forward or a defenseman.
Murray has played for the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League for the past three years and in 46 games this past season scored nine goals and was credited with 22 assists. He's appeared in four games for team Canada during the World Championships.
Defensemen tend to be tougher to project and take more time to develop and become impact players than forwards, and rarely get selected No. 1 overall.
The last defenseman to be selected first was Erik Johnson by the St. Louis Blues in 2006. Since 1990 the only others have been Chris Phillips (Ottawa, 1996), Bryan Berard (Ottawa, 1995), Ed Jovanovski (Florida, 1994) and Roman Hamrlik (Tampa Bay, 1992).
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