VANCOUVER—The Edmonton Oilers took defenceman Philip Broberg with the eighth pick in the NHL draft on Friday.
The selection was the first player move made by newly-hired general manager Ken Holland.
Broberg played last season with AIK in Sweden, scoring twice and adding seven assists in 41 games. He also played eight games for AIK J-20 in the Swedish SuperElit, posting eight points with a pair of goals.
The 17-year-old represented Sweden at the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship, scoring two goals and tacking on four assists in seven games. Broberg also played for Sweden at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, appearing in four games and recording one assist.
Edmonton drafted defenceman Evan Bouchard tenth overall back in 2018.
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The Oilers handed the franchise reins to Holland in May following a turbulent 2018-19 season that saw head coach Todd McLellan fired in November and GM Peter Chiarelli handed his walking papers two months later.
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Holland joined the Oilers after 36 years with the Detroit Red Wings in various capacities. He won four Stanley Cups in the Motor City, including three as GM, but was briefly shuffled into the senior vice-president’s role following April’s hiring of Steve Yzerman before the Oilers came calling.
After his move to Edmonton, Holland tabbed Dave Tippett — a veteran of more than 1,000 NHL games behind the bench — as his head coach.
The Oilers are led by superstar captain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl up front, but have a number of holes elsewhere, including the bottom-6 forward group and on the blue line.
McDavid and Draisaitl, the second- and fourth-leading point producers in the NHL last season, combined to put up 91 of Edmonton’s 229 goals (39.7 per cent) as the club missed the playoffs by 11 points in the Western Conference.
McDavid’s 116 points also meant he was in on just over half of his team’s scoring plays.
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The Oilers have made the playoffs just once in McDavid and Draisaitl’s four campaigns since coming into the league together as rookies in 2015, and have missed out on post-season hockey 12 of the last 13 springs.
Edmonton also owns picks No. 38, 85, 100, 162, 193 in rounds two through seven of the draft, which resumes Saturday back at Rogers Arena.