Quoting: oilersguy
why is it mentioned that the super genius that can never do no wrong that is Steve Yzerman drafted Cossa before Wallstedt the goalie who some people are saying was just the clear cut franchise goalie in this draft class which the stupidest thing I've ever heard because if it were that obvious he would have been a top 5 pick.
And people are acting like the Oilers don't have good goalie prospects, Konovalov is finding his game in NA after not doing so well in the first month of the AHL season and had great numbers in the KHL, and there is Rodrigue who isn't as promising but still not bad and the the Condors have been really good recently with them rotating the net. And don't forget about Skinner is who is gonna be great for us
Konovalov had one good KHL season 3 years ago. Rodrigue isn't that high end, his only okay year was his DY+2 year in the Q. Skinner's probably the best of the bunch but even he's not that great, he might be a 1B. There's no excuse for passing on Wallstedt when a starting goalie for the future was the clearest need for the Oilers. They already have 2 decent young RWers in Puljujarvi and Yamamoto, Nuge/McDavid/Draisaitl locked up for a long time (and were pretty clearly about to sign Hyman), and Holloway in the pipeline (along with some lower end guys that might pan out like Lavoie, Savoie, Petrov), they didn't need another forward.
As for why Yzerman selected Cossa over Wallstedt, on draft day they were basically 50/50. Most scouts had them both in the 10-15 range (I'm pretty sure Pronman had them at 10/11 in one of his final rankings, Bob McKenzie had them at 12/15 in his final rankings). The difference if I'm remembering correctly is that Wallstedt possesses elite technical skills and hockey sense (meaning he's very good at reading the play, and is always in the right position), while Cossa is very good as well, but also 6'6". My bet is that Yzerman felt he could ride Nedeljkovic for a few years, and teach Cossa to perfect the positioning side and take advantage of his larger frame (longer time developing in the AHL, maybe 2-3 years, whereas Wallstedt is likely to crack the NHL by the time he's 21). Really you can't go wrong with either though. I feel like Wallstedt has Vasilevskiy upside but Cossa has Bishop upside, and is more likely to at least make the NHL due to his sheer size.