Drafting was a huge problem during the Edmonton Oilers’ Decade of Darkness.

Just over a year after coming oh so close to winning the sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history, the Oilers had three first-round picks in the 2007 draft. The sixth overall pick was used to select Sam Gagner, the 15th overall pick (acquired in the Ryan Smyth trade) was used to select Alex Plante, and the 30th overall pick in the Chris Pronger trade was packaged to move up to the 21st overall pick. The Oilers selected Riley Nash, who elected not to sign with the Oilers.

That kick-started a trend of poor drafting. Over the next seven drafts, the Oilers had 47 picks after the first round, with only 17 of those players playing an NHL game. Of those 17 players, only nine played 100 or more games, with Anton Lander, Tyler Pitlick, and Jujhar Khaira being the most notable names.

Martin Gernát was one of those 30 players who never appeared in an NHL game. However, he was involved in one of the best trades during the Decade of Darkness.

The left-shot defenceman was drafted in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, then came to North America in time to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2011-12. Gernát spent another season with the Oil Kings before playing parts of three seasons with the Oilers’ AHL affiliate Oklahoma City........

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