The five best drafts in Edmonton Oilers history

The NHL Draft is here, and it’s expected to be a good one. The 2026 Draft will be one of the more stacked drafts in recent memory. There are a number of top prospects ranging from skilled forwards like Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg, to stalwart defenders like Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoeff.

The Edmonton Oilers will be without their first-round pick this year, but there was once a time when the draft was the highlight of an Edmonton season. In fact, the Oilers have a pretty storied history of success in the draft. Before the next rookie class makes their mark, let’s take a look back at the five best drafts in Edmonton Oilers history.

The 1979 NHL Draft

The Oilers’ first year of NHL existence was 1979, after being one of four teams to jump ship from the collapsing World Hockey Association. In their first ever draft, the Oilers hit the ground running, selecting three players who would define their franchise for the foreseeable future.

Kevin Lowe, the all-time games played leader in Oilers history was taken with the 21st overall pick. Mark Messier, the fearsome muscle to Wayne Gretzky’s finesse, was selected with the 48th overall pick, and with the 69th overall pick, Edmonton selected Glenn Anderson, a fearless winger who would be a key piece of the 80s dynasty.

Their very first draft, and the Oilers already had three pillars of the team that would win five champions from 1984 to 1990. But they weren’t done there. In fact at the next year’s draft, they even outdid themselves.

The 1980 NHL Draft

If you thought getting Lowe, Messier, and Anderson in one draft was good, the Oilers one-upped their own work in 1980. With the sixth overall pick, they took defenceman Paul Coffey, still regarded as the greatest blueliner not named Bobby Orr.

With the 69th pick, they selected winger Jari Kurri, one of the most talented scorers ever and the perfect complement to Gretzky’s pass-first playstyle.

In the seventh round, Edmonton selected goaltender Andy Moog, one-half of the goaltending tandem that would lead them to the franchise’s first three Stanley Cups.

Drafting one hall-of-famer is great. Drafting two, one of whom is considered the very best to ever play his position, and a championship winning goalie is a nearly-impossible ask for most teams. Teams dreaming of having a draft like the Oilers had in 1980.

The 1981 NHL Draft

The Oilers drafting hot streak wasn’t done quite yet. In 1981, they would cement their dynasty by making it three drafts in a row, selecting two more key pieces. With the eighth overall pick, they got goaltender Grant Fuhr, the other piece of the championship winning tandem that formed with Moog.

In the sixth round, Edmonton selected defenceman Steve Smith. Although Smith is most well known for his “own goal” in the 1986 Smythe Division Final, he was an important piece of the Oilers defence in the ‘80s. He would go onto win three Stanley Cups with the team, famously being the first pass of the Cup from Wayne Gretzky in 1987, the year after the Oilers avenged the mistake. Three drafts in a row produced six Hall of Famers and two more key contributors to the ‘80s dynasty.

The 2011 NHL Draft

Maybe those first three drafts used up their luck, because the Oilers took a long time to have another good one. However, they got their two best players of the modern era in 2011.

With the first overall pick, they selected Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “Nuge” has become one of the steadiest players in modern Oilers history, and is on track to break Kevin Lowe’s franchise record for games played as an Oiler. It’s expected that he’ll be the longest tenured Oiler to actually retire with the team—all the franchises icons went elsewhere before calling it a career.

With the 19th pick, Edmonton took Oscar Klefbom. Eternally underrated, Klefbom was a rock-solid first-pairing defenceman that sadly battled injuries his whole career, eventually retiring in 2024 after multiple shoulder surgeries left him unable to play for three seasons. However, both Klefbom and Nugent-Hopkins were great picks for the Oilers, and showed that maybe some of the draft magic was possible to have again.

The 2015 NHL Draft

When you get to select a generational talent with the first overall pick, it’s automatically a pretty good draft. The Edmonton Oilers won the great tank battle of 2015 to select Connor McDavid first overall. One of the greatest players who’s ever played the sport, McDavid is the kind of player you dream about being able to play for your team.

Other than McDavid, the Oilers actually found useful players in the later rounds, with defencemen Caleb Jones at 117th overall, Ethan Bear at 124th overall, and John Marino at 154th overall. The Oilers would eventually trade Marino’s rights, but both Bear and Jones became contributors for Edmonton at the NHL level. While neither blossomed into stardom, they were very serviceable middle-pairing players. The McDavid selection does a lot of heaving lifting here though. A generational talent tends to do that for you.