New Edmonton Oilers General Manager Ken Holland will be setting a tone with the number eight pick at the 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver this weekend.

After missing the playoffs last season, the team finished ninth in scoring in the Western Conference. Fortunately, this year’s draft class features plenty of goal-scoring forwards who could help the team out, according to TSN Radio 1260 host Dustin Nielson.

“It’s an interesting year because it lines perfectly for the Oilers,” Nielson said. “If they truly feel that they need a forward, then they are going to get a good one because this draft is very top-heavy with forwards, so it doesn’t matter who they get at eight. They are going to get a player that a lot of people projected to go in the top six or seven.”

With Connor McDavid in his prime years, Nielson said there is some desperation from fans to turn the ship around in a timely fashion, to avoid wasting the team’s best chance at winning a Stanley Cup in nearly two decades. Adding to the challenge ahead of Holland, Jesse Puljujarvi threatened to play in Europe if the team didn’t trade him before June 24.

Considering what the Oilers have to work with on draft night, Nielson says Holland’s experience could prove to be valuable.

“The experience he has is probably exactly what you want if you’re the Edmonton Oilers right now,” Nielson said. “Whether that’d be taking someone with the eight pick, or trading down a little bit and drafting somebody different, there aren’t many people in the league who have more experience doing it than Ken Holland, and I think that’s a positive for the Oilers considering how critical of a time it is for them.”

And while Holland is focusing taking the best-suited prospect with the eight pick, he said he’s not against trading it for the right price.

“We’re going to get a good player at number eight,” Holland told reporters ahead of the draft. “We’ve done lots of talking, but there is always lots of talking and we will see if something comes of it”

In his 22 years as GM of the Red Wings, Holland played a key role in building a team which made the playoffs for 19 consecutive seasons under his leadership, winning four Stanley Cup championships along the way. But despite the impressive resume, his exit from Detroit was unceremonious, and many had concerns as to whether he lost his touch when the Oilers hired him on board.

“This is extremely important for a couple of reasons,” Nielson said. “The history alone, considering what they are going right now with Jesse Puljujarvi, who was drafted fourth overall three years ago, you need to get this one right, and I think it is also even more important because it’s the first impression for Ken Holland on this organization.”

The NHL Draft gets underway at 6 p.m. on Friday.