7 biggest draft busts in Edmonton Oilers history
Not every NHL draft pick lives up to the hype.
When it comes down to it, there is no guarantee that a top draft pick will turn out to be the NHL superstar they were expected to be. Proper scouting can help teams make better bets on which player will turn out, but even the most slam-dunk choice on draft day can wind up disappointing in just a few short years.
The Edmonton Oilers are no stranger to this, and have had their fair share of draft busts over the course of their 47-season history. Edmonton has had a lot of opportunities to draft high throughout the decades, and while a lot of those players turned out as expected or better, there are plenty of players who fell far short of their expectations.
So, who are the most notorious Oilers draft busts? Here are the seven biggest disappointments in franchise history…
1. Nail Yakupov
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Drafted: 1st overall, 2012
Position: RW
Career NHL stats: 62 G, 74 A, 136 PTS, 350 GP
There may be no bigger draft bust in NHL history than Nail Yakupov.
The hype was massive for the Russian sniper coming out of the OHL, and he was expected to be a major piece of Edmonton’s rebuild in the early 2010s. Yakupov’s first season went well, leading all rookies in goals with 17 in a 48-game shortened season.
However, since then he struggled to live up to his draft billing. He fell into a middle-six role with the Oilers before being shipped to the St. Louis Blues for next to nothing in 2016. Yakupov would play one more season with the Colorado Avalanche before returning to the KHL, where he has played since 2018-19.
2. Jason Bonsignore
Drafted: 4th overall, 1994
Position: C
Career NHL stats: 3 G, 13 A, 16 A, 79 GP
The 1994 draft was a memorable one for the Oilers, but it wasn’t because of their top pick Jason Bonsignore. The fourth-overall pick of Edmonton is forever in the shadow of the player the Oilers drafted just two spots after him at sixth-overall, Ryan Smyth.
While Smyth went on to become one of the most iconic players to play for the Oilers, Bonsignore quickly faded into obscurity. He got just 79 NHL games and spent the majority of his career toiling in the AHL and ECHL.
He officially retired after the 2007-08 season, when he split time between the ECHL’s Fresno Falcons and Trenton Devils.
3. Jesse Puljujarvi
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Drafted: 4th overall, 2016
Position: RW
Career NHL stats:Ā 58 G, 70 A, 128 PTS, 387 GP
There was a lot of excitement when Jesse Puljujarvi slid down to the Oilers at fourth overall at the 2016 NHL draft.
He was seen as one of the big three in his draft class behind Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, but he struggled to live up to that billing. Instead, Puljujarvi struggled to stick in the NHL at all and was frequently up and down from the AHL for his first few seasons.
He bolted back to his native Finland for two seasons, and then returned to the Oilers for the 2020-21 season for a three-year stint that went better, but still not great. Edmonton traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2023 trade deadline, and he proceeded to jump around the league a bit before heading back overseas for this past season.
4. Steve Kelly (1995)
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Drafted: 6th overall, 1995
Position: LW
Career NHL stats:Ā 9 G, 12 A, 21 PTS, 149 GP
Steve Kelly was seen as a speedy forward who could put the puck in the net when he was initially drafted by Edmonton.
His NHL career, however, didn’t live up to his draft position. Kelly didn’t become the top forward that the Oilers expected, but he found ways to stick around the league for quite some time.Ā He was constantly up and down between the NHL and AHL, and even had a four-year stint in Germany’s DEL late in his career.
Despite an underwhelming career, Kelly has his name on the Stanley Cup in 2000, as he appeared in 10 playoff games with the New Jersey Devils that year.
5. Boyd Devereaux
Drafted: 6th overall, 1996
Position: C
Career NHL stats:Ā 67 G, 112 A, 179 PTS, 627 GP
Boyd Deveraux found a way to carve out a fairly lengthy and decent NHL career; it just wasn’t quite what you’d expect from a sixth-overall pick.
A player taken that early in the draft is expected to be a top-six forward at the least, but Devereaux fit the bill as a depth forward in the bottom-six. He lasted just three seasons in the Alberta capital before being leaving to join the Detroit Red Wings, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2002 while playing a depth role.
Devereaux would go on to play with the Phoenix Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs before retiring after spending the 2009-10 season in the Swiss league.
6. Michael Heinrich
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Drafted: 13th overall, 1998
Position: RW
Career NHL stats: N/A
The goal with any first-round pick is for them to turn into an NHL player of some sort.
Even if they don’t live up to the hype, having them graduate into the league shows a minimal amount of success for both player and team. Unfortunately, the Oilers did not get that out of Michael Henrich.
The Ontario native showed enough promise in the OHL to convince the Oilers to draft him 13th-overall in 1998, but he never could find a way out of the AHL. He toiled in North America for several seasons before bolting overseas to play in Germany’s DEL.
Apart from Germany, Henrich also played in Italy, Austria, and the U.K. before eventually retiring after the 2013-14 season.
7. Michel Riesen
Drafted: 14th overall, 1997
Position: RW
Career NHL stats: 0 G, 1 A, 12 GP
Michael Riesen played NHL games with the Oilers, but that’s about it.
It’s an accomplishment to play any NHL games at all, but Riesen’s 12 games with the Oilers was anything but notable.
That would be his only stint in the NHL and he would bolt to the Swiss-A League in 2001, where he would go on a successful eight-season run with HC Davos where he helped the team win three league championships.
Riesen would move to Rapperswil-Jona of the Swiss-A league later on in his career and eventually hang up the skates after spending the 2013-14 season in the Swiss-B league.