The Edmonton Oilers made seven selections during the 2024 NHL Draft on June 28 and 29, including a pair of forwards from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL): right-wing Sam O’Reilly, picked 32nd overall, and centre William Nicholl, taken at No. 196.
Edmonton has now selected a total of 13 Knights players in the NHL Draft since joining the league in 1979. No other amateur team has had more than eight players drafted by the Oilers in that time.
The London-to-Edmonton pipeline has produced mixed results over the years. Some Knights alumni made a huge impact, while others never lived up to their draft status. Here’s a look at the most notable Oilers draft picks out of London, from the good to the bad to the one and only Sam Gagner.
The Good
Evan Bouchard
Drafted 10th overall in 2018, Bouchard has played 265 regular season and 53 postseason games for the Oilers. This past year, he established himself as one of the best offensive blueliners in the NHL today while making noticeable strides in his defensive play under the teachings of Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey.
Bouchard’s 82 points in 2023-24 were fourth most among NHL defenceman in 2023-24 and were the most in a single season by an Oilers rearguard since the aforementioned Coffey in 1985-86. In the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he set the record for most points by a defenceman through the first two rounds of a playoff year, with 20, and broke Coffey’s 39-year-old record for most assists by a blueliner in a single postseason with 26.
Steve Smith
Drafted 111th overall in 1981, Smith far exceeded what anyone would have expected for a mid-sixth-rounder. The feisty blueliner went on to play more than 800 NHL regular season games and is one of only nine players from his draft class to total at least 300 NHL regular season assists.
Smith is most remembered in Edmonton for putting the puck in his own net off goalie Grant Fuhr in Game 7 of the 1986 Smythe Division against Calgary. But putting that disastrous moment aside, Smith had a terrific tenure with the Oilers, winning Stanley Cups in 1987, 1988, and 1990 and playing in the 1991 NHL All-Star Game. Smith ranks in the top five on several all-time leaderboards for Edmonton defenceman and is one of only five blueliners with multiple seasons of 50 or more points for the Oilers.
The Bad
Rob Schremp
Edmonton drafted Schremp in the first round, 25th overall, in 2004, while the American centre was amid a spectacular OHL career. In 247 regular season games, Schremp racked up 154 goals and 230 assists for 384 points, the third most of anyone to play in the OHL this millennium. Schremp was named OHL Rookie of the Year in 2003, won the Memorial Cup in 2005, and led the OHL in points in 2005-06.
Unfortunately, Schremp’s junior prolificacy never transferred to the NHL. He would only appear in seven games with the Oilers before he was cut at the end of 2009 preseason and subsequently claimed on waivers by the New York Islanders. Schremp ultimately played in 114 NHL games, the last coming with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-11. After bouncing around European pro leagues for several years, he retired in 2018.
Nick Stajduhar
Stajduhar was selected 16 overall in 1993, with a pick the Oilers had acquired from the Los Angeles Kings five years earlier as part of the infamous Wayne Gretzky trade. The defenseman was coming off a season with the Knights, and he recorded 15 goals and 46 assists in just 49 games. By the conclusion of his junior career in 1994, he’d amassed 183 points, which still ranks top five all-time for a blueliner with the Knights.
However, Stajduhar played just two NHL regular season games, both with Edmonton in 1995-96, which ranks among the fewest ever by an Oilers first-round selection. While a member of the Cape Breton Oilers, then Edmonton’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, Stajduhar was involved in an altercation at a nightclub and sustained a concussion that seemed to derail his career. Stajduhar was only 26 when he retired following the 2000-01 hockey season.
Sam Gagner
Gagner has a unique place in Oilers history that may never be replicated: He is the only individual to play for Edmonton on three occasions, separated by stints with other NHL teams. That speaks both to his resilient attitude and the vagabond nature of his career.
The center made his NHL debut in 2007, just months after Edmonton drafted him sixth overall. He spent the next seven seasons with the Oilers before he was dealt away, ultimately ending up with the Arizona Coyotes.
Following stints with Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Vancouver Canucks, Gagner returned to Edmonton via trade on Feb. 16, 2019. However, his return engagement lasted just over a year: on Feb. 24, 2020, Edmonton shipped Gagner to the Detroit Red Wings.
After spending parts of three seasons in Detroit, Gagner joined the Winnipeg Jets for 2022-23, but his season was ended by hip surgery, which had many questioning whether he would ever play in the NHL again.
Determined to prolong his career, Gagner signed an AHL contract with the Bakersfield Condors on Oct. 23, 2023. The Oilers called just over a week later, inking Gagner to a one-year, two-way deal. He appeared in 28 regular season games with the Oilers in 2023-24, scoring five times and dishing out five assists, but did not see any postseason action during Edmonton’s run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The 34-year-old has now played 1,043 career NHL regular-season games, fifth most among his draft class. Gagner logged 570 regular-season games as an Oiler, totaling 116 goals and 211 assists in those contests.
Once again, there is speculation that Gagner has played his last NHL game. The veteran wants to keep playing, as reported just a week ago by Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman. Whether he gets another opportunity, it likely won’t be in Edmonton.
Meanwhile, the Oilers just held their 2024 Development Camp, which included O’Reilly and Nicholl, two players that fans in Oil Country hope will one day fall under Edmonton’s London draft selections’ “the good” category. Only time will tell.
