Curious about how involved Michael Parkatti is in the Edmonton Oilers decision-making process? You’d get a good sense watching The Drop. 

The Drop is the Oilers behind-the-scenes, all-access show. In other words, it’s the treat fans get for their hearty $60 contribution to the OEG app for the season. 

Until the latest episode of The Drop came out this week, I’d never watched it before. Usually I feel fulfilled about my Oilers intake during a season. But after going back through old Oil Change episodes on YouTube, hearkening back to Steve Tambellini grinning like a schoolboy at his signing of Kurtis Foster, I thought I’d have a peek and see what the buzz is about. 

Plus, you never know what these shows can reveal. Sometimes you get a little juice, and there’s a free seven-minute insight the Oilers posted to their own channel (no payment required).

Admittedly, there’s little gossip revealed in this bit of state-sanctioned media, which goes behind the curtain into the Oilers draft room, through the Development Camps, and then the free agency war room on Edmonton’s busy July 1. But for those interested in the hockey ops side of running a team, it’s better than an episode of Big Brother this time of year. 

The big revelation of the show is Michael Parkatti.

He was promoted to vice president of analytics and tracking this summer, and it’s clear from watching the show that the Oilers want to show off their man. He is everywhere. Parkatti gets nearly as much screen time and one-on-one asides in the diary room as Stan Bowman. 

Parkatti was originally hired in 2023 in a data role and has been rising through the ranks since. Parkatti’s interview clips, along with Justin Mahe, director of hockey operations and player experience, and his brother Shaun Mahe, manager of hockey systems and design, are the bulk of the draft portion of the show. 

It’s clear the Oilers want to showcase these cogs in the machine that don’t get the day-to-day spotlight, and it certainly looks good if the Oilers show off how analytically inclined they are. But I don’t think this episode is purely for image and keeping up with the Joneses (ie Hurricanes). There’s a concerted effort to have Parkatti and the data-driven systems the Oilers have in place part of player procurement. 

That’s the takeaway of the episode. Few what-ifs or what-could-have-beens in terms of trades and signings. Nothing about the Nurse trade with the Boston Bruins that allegedly included Nikita Zadarov.

It’s the nerds they want to showcase. With how ingrained Parkatti is in the operations, you can squint and see a future general manager potential if he plays his cards right.

How much influence does analytics have on the Oilers draft?

Most of Parkatti’s appearances appear in the draft portion of the show, the first block, as the Oilers navigated the selection process by trading down in the second round and adding another pick. Here he’s speaking to your common fan about analytics in general:

“I think any organization that starts embracing analytics is going to have a period where, when they........

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