Quoting: ConnorMcHellebucyk
His trades suck but look who he drafted. Everyone thought Sam Bennet would go before Drai, sure Pulju was bad but it was a slam dunk at the time. And grabbing Jones and Bear in the late rounds was not bad at all. He took Yamamoto, a ppg guy at 22. He drafted Pastrnak at 25, John Marino in the 6th round, Marchand in the third and Matt Grzelyk. Sure trading hall for Larson is terrible and he doesn’t think to carefully but he has one of the best drafting records in the league. Not to mention he won the bruins a cup. There’s a reason people still want to hire him.
Chiarelli joined the Oilers in April 2015, to think he magically had something to do with the Draisaitl pick in 2014 is not reasonable. He also had zero impact on the picks made in 2015 - the 1st was a no-brainer and the depth picks are all on the scouts, not the GM. The impact he had on the 2015 draft was negative: he traded the Barzal pick and a high 2nd (#33) for a 2nd pairing AHL defenseman - probably the worst trade in the entire NHL in the past 30 years.
While he may have had a better draft record than previous Oilers GMs, his draft record in Edmonton was average at best. He really only had influence over 3 drafts: 2016, 2017 and 2018 in Edmonton. Really only the 1st round picks from those years have had any impact, and none of those guys have had a LOT of impact.
2016
1. Puljujarvi - seems to be turning out finally, 5 years later, after Chiarelli did his best to ruin him
2. Benson - may possibly become a bottom-6 guy at some point in his career, Oilers fans were all screaming for McDavid's junior teammate DeBrincat who was still on the board. Huge miss by Chiarelli
3. Niemelainen - career AHLer
3. Cairns - not even that
3. Berglund - career SHLer
5. Wells - flop
5. McPhee - nothingburger
6. Rasanen - may get an AHL contract
7. Desharnais - zero
He had 9 picks and came out with 1 NHLer, and overpaid for him based on draft capital - mostly by screwing up his development. Final Grade: D-
2017
1. Yamamoto - full value for #22 pick, his scoring pace is 0.57 P/GP so far. Chiarelli had him in the NHL at 18 (!!), could've screwed up his development too but Kailer perservered, credit to him. Would likely go 10 spots higher in a redraft
3. Skinner - Hasn't proven himself in the AHL yet, isn't starter material but maybe he can work himself into an NHL backup 5 years down the road
3. Samorukov - Massive improvement since being drafted, he's emerging in the KHL as a premier shutdown guy. Should make the Oilers roster out of camp next fall. Would go in the 1st round in a redraft
4. Safin - stalled completely
5. Maksimov - struggling to get his footing in the KHL this year after an unimpressive AHL rookie season. Played in the VHL too, but he's too good for that league. Could become a bottom-6 NHLer in the future which is good considering draft position
6. Brind'Amour - no making an impact in NCAA, not a prospect
7. Kemp - developed into a shutdown guy whose skating could preclude him from an NHL career. Could make it as a 3rd pairing guy, but won't play above that IMO. AHL for the foreseeable future
This was a decent draft, at least NHL average. Yamamoto was a hit and there's a few guys here that could become bottom-of-the-roster types, with Samorukov possibly having a higher ceiling. Final Grade: B
2018
1. Bouchard - looks like he's in the NHL to stay now, he should be full value for #10 overall. It was between him and Dobson, I'm not sure which will be better but both will be good NHL players
2. McLeod - not enough offense to play in the top-6, this was obvious at the time of the draft. Could play as high as 3C, but not a top-6 type
2. Rodrigue - seems to be tracking well, should spend a couple of years in AHL developing. Probably not starter material, the goalie taken two picks later is one of the top prospects in the league
6. Kesselring - impressive tools, needs to develop the toolbox. Meh play in the NCAA so far, needs to show real progress over the next 2 years to get a sniff at an NHL contract. This is good for the draft position, but not a player that can be projected as an NHLer at this time
7. Siikanen - zero
Got a player at the top, but that should be expected when you're picking at #10. None of the others are tracking as top-6/top-4/1G, although to be fair there's still some development time. Final Grade: C
Overall, Chiarelli's drafts in Edmonton are about league average. He gets a complimentary player in the 1st round and then nabs a few bottom-6 types later on. Nothing game-breaking here, just average stuff.