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The Oilers stayed on the straight and narrow in Round One, drafting right-shot centre Xavier Bourgault from the Quebec League, then spent much of Day 2 straying far from the board. In fairness, “the board” itself was not the fount of conventional wisdom it usually is, given the limitations of a season that saw many development leagues greatly curtailed if not shuttered altogether. It was an extremely challenging set of circumstances for hockey scouts industry-wide.
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Bourgault becomes the third small-ish sniper chosen at #22 by the Oilers in recent years, following Jordan Eberle in 2008 and Kailer Yamamoto in 2017. Both successfully made the jump to the NHL in relatively short order.
Anything but a reach pick, Bourgault was ranked within a few spots of the slot he was chosen almost across the board.
A range of observations and opinions follows from various amateur scouts:
In ranking Bourgault #21 (exactly where he was taken given Arizona’s forfeited pick at #11),
The Athletic gave his customary thorough review:
Due to his October 2002 birthday, Bourgault has the rare advantage of having just completed his third QMJHL season. In the last two of those seasons, he’s had an impressive run, with a combined 53 goals and 115 points in 97 regular-season and playoff games. He was Shawinigan’s second-most productive player in both of those seasons behind Stars first-round pick Mavrik Bourque. Bourgault’s game doesn’t leap o