Kyle Wellwood on the receiving end of a Cam Barker love tap in the playoffs

The Oilers have been playing really well lately, their best hockey of the season.  That may be somewhat of a surprising position given a look at their record, but it's true.  Without their best player and best all-around centre, the Oilers have strung together three very close defeats at the hands of three very good teams.  They were more competitive against San Jose, Los Angeles, and now the red-hot and loaded Vancouver Canucks than they were in many wins this season.

The Canucks were the best team of the three and it showed, they had consistent puck possession and as the game went along they figured out how to limit the Oilers tendency to create odd-man rushes.  San Jose, not gifted with the fastest players in the league, had the roughest time with the Oilers.  Los Angeles, despite improving defensively in recent games - in particular their wins against Detroit, Nashville, and especially Colorado - is inconsistent at that spot as the Oilers showed.  If it was later in the season, and coaches were gathering video for a potential playoff matchup, I suspect the young Oilers success at breaking LA's defence might make for coach's room or locker room viewing.  LA looked awfully exposed.

Vancouver did not, but they're one of the favorites to win the Cup and the best team in the West along with Detroit.

Today's game against Buffalo will be telling.  The Oilers have had three close defeats in a row, and those can demoralize - especially giving up a lead and then a game winning goal late against Vancouver.  Their compete level against Buffalo today will be telling, since that's a team they can beat.  Hemsky's return to the lineup may very well spark them into a performance, or it may lead to some confusion.  Do you split up Hall and Eberle? Regardless, Hemsky should help the embarrassing power play.

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Scouting is almost a mystical art for me.  Now that we've seen Hall play in the NHL, we can clearly see that he's ready for the show and has some incredible tools and drive.  We knew those things existed when he played in Windsor, but the transition is always the trick.  Can an 18 year old will himself to compete over a much tighter schedule?  Can he handle the extra speed and physicality?  Can he mentally adjust to having less time with the puck?  Above all, will his hands, his moves, his feet befuddle pro competition the way it did amateurs?

That's Kyle Wellwood in that picture.  In his draft year, he scored 118 points in 68 games.  Not quite the points-per-game pace of Taylor Hall, but close, and it was only his second year in major junior.  He kept up the performance in the playoffs, and while his third and fourth year weren't quite as dominant, his playoff performance kept improving.  He was also the highest scoring player on his junior teams.

Given his size and lack of small forward speed, Wellwood wasn't a first round pick on anybody's board for understandable reasons.

Where I get lost, where I have to wonder about how scouts do it, is when he falls to the 5th round.  Why is Kyle Wellwood a 5th round draft pick, but John Tavares isn't?  Tavares has a couple of inches and maybe 10lbs on Wellwood, and is a better goal scorer, but also suffers from foot speed issues while providing similar numbers to Wellwood's (though not as good in the playoffs.)  Or how about Sam Gagner?

How does a scout know that Sam Gagner is a 1st round, #6 overall draft pick, and Kyle Wellwood is 5th round, #134 overall?