Luca Munzenberger Is Latest Oilers’ Draft Failure From Ken Holland Era

The 6-foot-3 blueliner had a solid but mostly unnoteworthy college career at Vermont, totalling six goals and 23 assists in 123 games for a Catamounts team that never finished higher than ninth in the Hockey East standings over his four seasons.

The Athletic Oilers reporter Daniel Nugent-Bowman speculated that Edmonton considered giving Munzenberger an American Hockey League (AHL) contract, but a deal with the defenceman didn’t approach fruition.

Holland’s Dismal Draft Record

Munzenberger’s departure marks the latest failure in what is shaping up a spectacularly disastrous run of drafts for the Oilers, beginning in 2019 shortly after Ken Holland was hired as the team’s general manager. Holland oversaw six drafts during his Edmonton tenure before parting ways with the team late last June, eventually being replaced by Stan Bowman.

Of the 32 draft selections that Edmonton made from 2019 to 2024, so far just four have reached the NHL, none of whom are still part of the Oilers organization: Matej Blumel (#100 in 2019 – never signed with the Oilers, now with Boston Bruins), Philip Broberg (#8 in 2019 – signed with the St. Louis Blues to an offer sheet that the Oilers declined to match), Dylan Holloway (#14 in 2020 – also signed with the Blues to an offer sheet that the Oilers did not match), and Rapheal Lavoie (#38 in 2019 – claimed off waivers by the Vegas Golden Knights).

None of Edmonton’s draft picks made from 2021 to 2024 have played in the NHL yet. Every other NHL team has had at least one of its draft picks over that four-year span reach the NHL, and in most cases, it’s three or more.

That’s an unbelievably poor draft record for Holland. There may be later bloomers, but as of now, there doesn’t seem to be any Oilers-drafted prospects trending in the direction of becoming impact NHLers.

This has left the veteran-heavy Oilers without much promising young talent that could be ready in the years to come. To make matters worse, Edmonton has traded a number of draft picks, leaving it poorly positioned to restock its prospect pool.

Best Picks Thriving Elsewhere

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Edmonton’s best two draft selections of the last half dozen years, Broberg and Holloway, are now thriving in St. Louis. That, however, can’t be blamed on Holland, who was gone by the time Broberg and Holloway signed their respective offer sheets with the Blues last summer. Rather, responsibility for the egregious error of letting those two promising young players walk falls on the shoulders of Bowman.

The 2025 NHL Draft, held June 27 and 28 in Los Angeles, was the Oilers’ first of the Bowman era. Edmonton made five selections: Tommy Lafreniere (83^rd overall), David Lewandowski (117^th), Asher Barnett (131^st), Daniel Salonen (191^st), and Aidan Park (223^rd).

Edmonton received some positive reviews for its draft performance, especially considering it didn’t have a selection in the first two rounds (the result of trading away so many picks, as previously noted). With Munzenberger now in the rearview mirror, Oilers fans are hoping that Bowman’s draft classes turn out much better than those of the previous general manager.