Edmonton Oilers center Matt Hendricks (23) is stopped by Montreal Canadiens goalie Dustin Tokarski (35) as Montreal Canadiens defenseman Nathan Beaulieu (28) moves in during first period National Hockey League action Thursday, February 12, 2015 in Montreal.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Perched in the upper reaches of the Bell Centre, Edmonton Oilers general-manager Craig MacTavish got a long look both at what is and what might have been.
It's a little soon for sweeping, definitive judgments, but the early returns on the 2012 NHL draft suggest the Oilers, owners of the top pick, would have been better off to select forward Alex Galchenyuk. Instead, they picked Nail Yakupov and Galchenyuk, the former's linemate with the OHL's Sarnia Sting, fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the three slot.
The two remain good friends: Yakupov had dinner with Galchenyuk on Wednesday ("We're friends, we talk to each other a lot") and enthused about going head-to-head with his friend.
"It's pretty cool to play junior together and now play against each other here. It's a really cool life to play in the best league of the world," he said before the game.
It's a safe bet Yakupov enjoyed his team's 4-3 overtime win a good deal more than his pal, having created Anton Lander's winner.
Yakupov has had his moments with the Oilers, and showed flashes of his considerable skill in the first period – in the sixth minute, he scooped up a puck on the right side, turned on the jets and snapped a sneaky hard shot that Montreal goalie Dustin Tokarski had to fight off (it was a sign of things to come for Tokarski).
In the final frame he was sent cartwheeling to the ice after a knee-on-knee collision with Montreal defenceman Alexei Emelin, but returned to set up Ryan Hamilton on a two-on-one break. The puck clanged off the crossbar.
Meanwhile Galchenyuk, who turned 21 on Thursday, has more points than any other player selected in his draft year and continues to show that he may be the kind of player top NHL teams build their forward corps around.
In the second period, the Habs' P.K. Subban picked up a puck from a Tomas Plekanec faceoff win, danced through the neutral zone and threw an absolutely delectable pass across the slot that Galchenyuk hammered into the top corner.
It was the young American's 16th goal of the year, and his 36th point of the season (Yakupov has chalked up six goals and 16 points in 56 games).
Granted, Galchenyuk had the good fortune of being drafted into a perennial playoff team that already had solid veterans and young cornerstone players Carey Price, Max Pacioretty and Subban in the fold.
But the diverging early career arcs of Yakupov and Galchenyuk are emblematic of the things that separate successful teams such as Montreal from failure-to-launch rebuilds such as Edmonton.
Namely: drafting intelligently, and developing young players into solid pros.
The Oilers' high-end talent is manifest – former top pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice, his second with 25 seconds to play – but their inability to get mid- to late-round picks into their NHL lineup is telling. Contrast it with the Habs, who had fifth-round pick Brendan Gallagher and sixth-rounder Andrei Markov in the lineup.
Where Edmonton gave early exposure to enticing teenagers such as Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisatl – both of whom are back in junior – Montreal had 2013 second-rounder Jacob De La Rose play a year in Sweden and half a season in the AHL.
De La Rose, 19, has opened eyes since arriving in Montreal. Against the Oilers, the lanky centre created a turnover that led to 22-year-old rookie Christian Thomas's first NHL goal, a rocket wrister past Viktor Fasth.
The Canadiens are no one's idea of a talent-development juggernaut, but they have proven more adept at it than the Oilers, who have three players chosen first overall.
They will have a decent shot at adding a fourth in June.
It's not something the players are especially excited about. Mostly, they're just sick of losing.
"It definitely wears on you," said 24-year-old winger Jordan Eberle. "You never want to be tagged as a loser and a losing team. The biggest thing you have to find in and grasp right now is we're playing better"
There has indeed been a change in outlook since soft-spoken coach Todd Nelson was handed the reins, and after going down 2-0 early, Edmonton clawed back a pair of goals through Matt Hendricks and Nugent-Hopkins.
Perhaps a new dawn is at hand. The Oilers will hope it's not another false one.