Oilers Draft Day News And Notes And Required Reading

It's here, it's here!  The draft day truck is here!  It's the most exciting day of the year for some NHL fans and could signal the makeover of the Edmonton Oilers.  But today we start off with an update on the Sheldon Souray rumors.  I'm not privy to much insider info, but I have been told directly that the number of teams interested in Sheldon Souray is nowhere near the ten or so teams that are being floated around.  There are only two teams that are kicking the tires hard enough to do serious due dilligence right now, but I wasn't told who they are.  My best guesses after talking it over with a couple of MSM types and studying Capgeek:

1.  New Jersey Devils - they need defensemen and they have a similarly poor contract to move in Brian Rolston. though he has a no-trade clause.

2.  New York Rangers - Michal Rozsival's contract coming back the other way makes sense, but the Oilers would likely have to send a young, affordable forward back to make it work.

3.  Buffalo Sabres - With Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder both in the outbox, Darcy Regier might want to bring Souray in as a stopgap.  If the Oilers include a young forward, maybe Tim Connolly comes back the other way.

4.  Carolina Hurricanes - Damn near the entire team goes UFA after this season, so if they want to make a run at the playoffs, they might want to add Souray to the power play.  Sergei Samsonov could come back in a deal.

5.  Washington Capitals - I have no logic here.  Just a gut feel.  Call this one z2.

This is pure speculation, and remember, only two teams have shown true interest, not five, but my belief is that both teams are on that list.

Now, before you dive headlong into the draft, make sure you read the excellent articles and essential draft links after the jump:

Western College Hockey Blog has done a tremendous job of tracking all of the prospect profiling that is going on around SBN.  He's got the comprehensive list over there and he's done an immense amount of work on college players and high schoolers.  WCH is the go to resource tonight and tomorrow.

Speaking of prospects, long-time 'sphere commenter doritogrande struck out on his own with his new Bubbling Under blog.  He's got a number of excellent profiles there already as well as an organizational depth chart consisting of players not on the NHL club.

B.C.B. at Bringing Back The Glory looks at his ideal pick list.  The goaltender at #31 is a bit discouraging, but Scott will be happy to see Matt MacKenzie on his list.

Pat is hungover and live-blogging his draft day.  If he's still the man he once was, he would be drinking this hangover away.  He went the tylenol and water route.

Back to B.C.B. where he's dug into the positional drafting of the recent worst-to-first teams, trying to find a link to the Oilers' strategy.

Stop back at 4:00 PM as Ben opens up his live-blog from the draft floor.  I expect it to be like Andy Rooney if he were a hockey and soccer fan.