DRAFT: Past Oilers picks

EDMONTON, AB - With the 195th-overall selection in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers are proud to select… From the AJHL's St. Albert Saints…
Fernando Pisani.
That's right.
The Oilers selected the Edmonton, AB, product in Round 8 of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, then held at the Kiel Center on June 22nd in St. Louis, MO.

Of course, Oil Country watched the hometown talent transform into a trusted depth forward and postseason saviour, who scored 14 goals including five game-winners in the club's 2005-06 Stanley Cup run.
In the 2018 edition of the NHL Draft, the Oilers hold the 10th, 40th, 71st, 133rd, 164th and 195th slots.
Who knows who could be chosen this time 195th-overall. Another future playoff performer?
10TH OVERALL - Magnus Paajarvi (2009)

Ottawa Senators winger Magnus Paajarvi is the only Oilers draft pick in franchise history to be selected 10th overall. The Swedish forward's penchant was and still largely is speed, as he was drafted out of Timra IK of the Swedish Hockey League at the 2009 NHL Draft in Montreal's Bell Centre.
Edmonton's lone 10th-overall selection spent three seasons with the franchise from 2010-13, scoring 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 points in 163 outings. Edmontonians became accustomed to watching the forward turn his head down and turn up ice, driving wide towards the opposition's goal any occasion he could.
Paajarvi's best campaign to date was his rookie year in 2010-11 when the Swede scored 15 goals and 34 points in 80 games.
On July 10, 2013, Paajarvi and a second-round pick were traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for current Vegas Golden Knights winger David Perron. Paajarvi played 189 games for the Blues, compiling 39 points during his tenure in Missouri.
40TH OVERALL - Anton Lander (2009), Mike Golden (1983)
Coincidentally, Anton Lander - drafted in the same year and from the same team as Paajarvi in 2009 - was one of two 40th-overall selections the Oilers made in their draft history.
The depth centre played 215 games with the Oilers in his career, netting 10 goals and 25 helpers. He averaged 12:07 of ice time and a 50.4 faceoff percentage during his time with the Oil.
Most of Lander's North American professional success came from playing in the Oilers farm system for the Oklahoma City Barons and Bakersfield Condors. In 178 American Hockey League games, Lander put up 62 goals and 163 points, proving his capability at that level of play.
Lander remained a member of the Oilers organization until the end of the 2016-17 season, deciding to sign with the Kazan Ak-Bars of the Kontinental Hockey League for the 2017-18 campaign. He won the Gagarin Cup as the League's top squad this past season.

In 1983, the Oilers drafted American centre Mike Golden in the second round at 40th-overall. Being as difficult as it was to crack the Oilers roster at that time, Holden never suited up for the Orange & Blue, playing primarily in the International Hockey League and AHL.
71ST OVERALL - Troy Hesketh (2009), Paul Houck (1981)
Only twice have the Oilers drafted 71st overall.
Defenceman Troy Hesketh was selected in the third round in 2009 and winger Paul Houck was taken in the same position in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft.
Hesketh never appeared in the Oilers threads, while Houck played a total of 16 games in the NHL for the Minnesota North Stars after being dealt from the Oilers for goaltender Gilles Meloche.
133RD OVERALL - Olivier Roy (2009), Philippe Cornet (2008), Bryan Pitton (2006), Jussi Markkanen (2001)
There's something about the 133rd-overall choice and goaltenders.
Because three of the four times the Oilers owned the 133rd pick, they've selected a goaltender, with some keepers becoming more common among Oil Country than others.
Former backup netminder Jussi Markkanen, selected in the fifth round of the 2001 NHL Draft in Sunrise, FL, is the most notable of the 'tenders, having guarded the crease for the Oilers 102 times in his career and assuming the starting role after Dwayne Roloson was injured in the latter portion of the Oilers '05-06 run.

With Edmonton, the Finnish keeper posted a 35-35-14 record, .898 save percentage, 2.74 goals-against average and five shutouts in two separate stints with the club. On June 30, 2003, Markkanen was moved to the New York Rangers but returned a year later on March 3, 2004, in a trade that brought Petr Nedved to Alberta's capital city.
Fellow netminders Olivier Roy and Bryan Pitton are the other two guardians Edmonton selected with the 133rd pick but neither goalie ever got a cup of tea with the big club and largely served their time in the organization's farm system.
Forward Philippe Cornet - taken in 2008 - played two games with Edmonton in the 2011-12 season, registering one assist.
164TH OVERALL - Roman Mejzlik (1990)
Left winger Roman Mejzlik was taken 164th-overall in the 1990 Entry Draft by the Oilers, experiencing the bulk of his hockey career overseas in the Czech Republic.
Interestingly enough, former Washington Capitals star Peter Bondra was chosen eight spots ahead of Mejzlik, while current NHL referee Wes McCauley was also drafted before both players, going to the Detroit Red Wings 150th-overall.
195TH OVERALL - Fernando Pisani

He needs no introduction.
Oil Country still knows and loves Pisani, the Oilers second-last draft pick of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. This one coming in Round 8 as opposed to Round 7, as the League had 26 teams at the time.
Pisani's legacy is forever immortalized due to his postseason contributions in the Oilers '05-06 Cinderella story. The Edmonton native scored 14 goals - 10 at even strength, three on the power play, one shorthanded - with five being game-deciders in 24 games, helping bring Edmonton back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990.
Pisani's best moment with the organization was his Game 5 heroics in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes when he scored on a breakaway shorthanded in overtime to lift Edmonton over Carolina 4-3.
The forward ended his career with 169 points in 462 games. Pisani now serves as a development coach with the Western Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings.