BUFFALO, N.Y. - They call it 'the list.'
And it features players the Oilers scouting staff has targeted throughout the 2017-18 season.
"We prep that we're going to get any player that we have on our list," said Oilers Assistant General Manager Keith Gretzky Friday at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y. "We start from one to 120 that we have on the list."
At the Combine, prospects meet with teams for interviews or informal dinners then display their athleticism during physical testing. It's an opportunity for management groups to learn more about the players they've already circled. Gretzky and his staff interview about 17 prospects a day at the event, which comes to roughly 80 players total by the end of the week.
Around this time of the year, every team and scouting service has a list of their own but the Oilers are dead set on the one they've comprised.
"When you have this job, you have to have the mindset that it's your list and it's nobody else's list," said Gretzky. "You use some of the other lists for checkmarks to see if you're in the same ballpark but when we put our list together, all the scouts have worked all year. They've gone to 200 games in the year and if they want a player, we're going to put him on the list and it's because we want him, not anybody else.
"We're comfortable with what we have on our list."
DRAFT: Gretzky details the Oilers prospect list
Oilers management have compiled a list of players on their radar at the NHL Scouting Combine and June's NHL Draft
