August 22, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson doesn’t mess around. He made his first change to the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Operations department on Tuesday. The Oilers announced that the team and Director of Amateur Scouting and Player Personnel Tyler Wright mutually agreed to part ways.

Wright was originally hired by the Oilers in July of 2019, just months after Ken Holland was named General Manager. Wright was the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Detroit Red Wings for six seasons while Holland was with that organization. Wright worked as a Player Development Coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2007-2013 as well.

The Kamsack, Saskatchewan native was the twelfth overall pick for the Oilers in 1991. He played 63 NHL games for the Oilers, the Blue Jackets, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Anaheim Ducks.  

In case you missed it yesterday, I posted a piece as part of a three-part series about Jackson’s potential impact on the Oilers. Yesterday’s piece was about the Amateur Scouting department, and I suggested that I wouldn’t have been surprised if Wright would be one of Jackson’s first targets. I pointed to the fact that only fourteen of the 41 players drafted while he was with the Red Wings have played NHL games, and only Dylan Larkin (the first pick of his tenure) could be considered a “star”.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers: Part Two – Amateur Scouting

I also pointed to Wright’s work in Edmonton thus far. I erroneously included draft picks taken in the 2019 draft, which happened shortly before Wright was brought into Edmonton. The fact remains that Dylan Holloway is the only player that the Oilers drafted in Wright’s tenure that has played NHL games. 

Wright’s work in the first round of the draft might have played a role in Tuesday’s decision. Holloway’s development has been delayed by injuries, but he only has 51 NHL games under his belt entering his draft plus four season. Meanwhile, Dawson Mercer, a right handed centre/right winger, went four picks after Holloway and scored 42 points in a full NHL season in his draft plus two season. Mercer has two full seasons under his belt already. Holloway has potential as a middle six forward, but Mercer is already there.

2021 first rounder Xavier Bourgault is an exciting player, but the Oilers traded the pick used to select elite goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt in order to move back to take Bourgault, who is not expected to make the team out of camp in his draft plus three season. Wyatt Johnston was taken with the next pick, and he played a full season for the Dallas Stars last season. 

There are some intriguing prospects that were picked during Wright’s tenure developing in the pipeline. 2020 picks Carter Savoie and Ty Tullio each spent their first full seasons with the Bakersfield Condors last season.2021 looks like it could turn out to be a strong draft class for the Oilers. Third rounder Luca Munzenberger figures to be a solid shutdown defenceman. Fourth rounder Jake Chiasson is about to enter his first professional season. Sixth round pick Matvei Petrov is looking like a potential steal. Shane LaChance was also taken in the sixth round, and he’s off to Boston College this season after scoring 33 goals in the USHL last season. Oh yeah, and Maximus Wanner was taken in the seventh round. Wanner had an extended stay at Oilers camp last year, and his stock has risen steadily since his draft year.

It’s not fair to critique the rest of Wright’s work since 2022 first rounder Reid Schaeffer was traded away and it’s too early for players drafted last year or this year to be expected to be making an impact. 

While Wright’s drafting has been unspectacular and unfruitful to date, his drafting hasn’t been so poor that it warranted being dismissed so quickly under Jackson’s reign. The biggest stain on the Amateur Scouting department was the fact that the team didn’t have a dedicated scout based in Ontario. The OHL is a gold mine for talent, and it makes absolutely no sense to not have a scout based there.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers- Part One: Player Development

Wright was also heading up the Player Personnel department. That department is in something of a transition phase with the recent departure of Steve Staios. I’m unsure whether or not Duncan Keith is still with the organization, but he doesn’t appear on the team’s hockey operations page and he was hired days after Staios was hired last October. 

Jackson is apparently taking this opportunity to get a full reset on player development in the organization. It’s important that some of those mid to late round picks that were made during Wright’s tenure contribute meaningfully to the Oilers. It’s entirely possible that Wright and Jackson weren’t on the same wavelength in regards to how player development should be handled.

The Oilers hired Rick Pracey to succeed Wright as the Director of Amateur Scouting. Notice that Pracey’s title does not include anything about Player Personnel. I’m sure Jackson will hire someone else to take over the Player Personnel department. The decision to not have a person holding both of these titles simultaneously should benefit both departments.

Pracey was an Amateur Scout for the Colorado Avalanche from 2001-2008, then their Director of Amateur Scouting from 2008-2014. His tenure as Director of Amateur Scouting in the Mile High City was highlighted by the 2009 draft (Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly, and Tyson Barrie), taking Gabriel Landeskog second overall in 2011, and Nathan MacKinnon first overall in 2013.

However, only nine of the 47 players taken in Pracey’s tenure in Colorado played more than 100 NHL games. Most of the ones that have played in over 100 NHL games are great players, but the list of players with over 100 NHL games is short. 21 of those 47 players have at least one NHL game to their credit. That’s 50% better than Wright’s rate of fourteen out of 47 players drafted in Detroit.

Pracey was most recently an Amateur Scout for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2014 until today. The Flyers’ drafting record was pretty dismal during Pracey’s time there. I can’t fairly speculate how much of that is on Pracey himself. Regardless, the Flyers missed the playoffs six out of Pracey’s nine seasons with the Flyers, and they only won one playoff series. They have initiated a full blown rebuild.

Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Carter Hart, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, and Cam York were the most impactful Flyers picks during Pracey’s tenure there. Nolan Patrick was a miss with the second overall pick in 2017, but injuries have derailed his career. 2023 seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov is a tantalizing prospect that is at least a few years away from playing in North America.

This is an important hire that was made swiftly by Jackson. Pracey must have Jackson’s full trust for Jackson to have made this move so early in his time with the Oilers. I’m excited to see how this hire plays out and to see how the drafting strategy might change over time under Pracey.