Oilers' Chiarelli sees 'real legitimate chance' to trade No. 4 pick

The Edmonton Oilers find themselves in unfamiliar territory - picking outside of the top three in the NHL draft.

For only the second time in six seasons, the Oilers will have to select someone outside the top trio of prospects, and although they fell two positions to No. 4 in the newly designed lottery, general manager Peter Chiarelli has made it clear he has options.

Chiarelli indicated Sunday that the Oilers pick is "definitely in play," and on Monday, he re-affirmed his statement.

"There's a real legitimate chance to look to move this pick, to improve our team - to get bigger or to get a D and get something else," Chiarelli told Reid Wilkins of CHED. "There's also a chance, as I said in my previous comments, that we could move the pick to get an NHL defenseman, too. That is a top four defenseman. We're going to look at a lot of different things."

Considering the forward depth the Oilers already have, selecting a defenseman seems like the obvious choice at No. 4, but Chiarelli is enticed by the entire field of prospects - if he opts to keep the pick.

"In that next cluster of players there's some nice, big forwards, wings and centers, and there's like three really solid defensemen ... If we choose to move it and/or move down or move the pick, if we move down we're going to get a really good player. So the options are still available."

Finding a suitor for the fourth overall pick shouldn't be too tricky for Chiarelli, as long as it's for the right price. But if he opts to keep the pick and targets a defenseman, he should have his choice of Olli Juolevi of the London Knights or Jakob Chychrun of the Sarnia Sting - both considered the top blueliners available.