Has Gagner Set the Bar Too High?

It was the great debate on Draft Day 2007. Voracek or Gagner? Voracek had been ranked as high as number one at one point in the season. Gagner was the youngest player in the draft, played on the Canadian World Jr. team as a 17-year-old and lit up the OHL with fellow London Knight, Patrick Kane. A lot of people said that Gagner would be number one in 2008, if only he had been born a few weeks later. The end result. "With the 6th overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers are proud to choose, from the London Knights, Sam Gagner." Since then Voracek has played well in the Q and Sam has played well in the NHL. But it'll take 5 years to determine if the Oilers made the right pick.

Before the 2007-2008 NHL season, a Canada-Russia Super Series had taken place. The best hockey players in Canada and Russia, who were under 20 played in it. One of those people happened to be Sam Gagner. Fresh off being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, Sam scored 15 points in 8 games against what was supposedly the second best team in junior hockey.

Shortly after the Super Series, Gagner came to Oilers rookie camp. After rookie camp, he went to training camp, so by the time he hit TC he was in peak form. Sam impressed coach Craig MacTavish and got Kevin Lowe to sign him to a contract. During the 10-game tryout stint for Gagner he impressed even further and the team decided to keep him for the full year.

The year was full of ups and downs for Gagner. Ups were the spectacular highlight reel shootout goals, downs being the healthy scratches. But overall he performed very well.

Last June during the draft the Oilers held the #22 overall pick. They did not feel the need to move up and chose small, shifty, sniper Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats.

Since then, a lot of fans have suggested the possibility of Eberle making the jump to the NHL as per Gagner. The simple answer to these questions is no. For many reasons. Gagner was a top 10 pick and the youngest player in his draft year, still managed to play for Canada at the World Jrs. as a 17-year-old and the Oilers were in a rebuilding stage when Gagner made the team. It's not like last season the Oilers had a whole bunch of great young talent on the NHL roster. But since making the team Gagner scored 49 points in 79 games (very impressive for an 18-year-old) and proved he could take over the top unit on the powerplay over Horcoff.

In conclusion, I still believe Eberle is three to four years away from setting foot in the NHL. He needs to get bigger and stronger before he can even play a game in the AHL and has to prove he can be a force in the WHL.