The Edmonton Oilers' rally cry has started.

"Let's tank the season." "Let's get a lottery pick." The reasons?

Injured star right-winger Ales Hemsky will not play until next season because of his shoulder. The team has lost more than 160 man-games to injury and illness a third of the way into this NHL season. And with a team that's closer to 15th spot in the Western Conference standings than the eighth and final playoff spot, it could get ugly here, folks.

But ugly could be beautiful, if you're an Oilers fan who wouldn't mind getting a shot at the three franchise junior players who will be up for grabs in the June entry draft: winger Taylor Hall, centre Tyler Seguin and defenceman Cam Fowler.

You can probably put flashy Russian forward Kirill Kabanov, who is hurt and won't be playing in the world junior hockey championship next month, on that list, too. There are NHL teams, however, who are always leery of taking Russians that early in the draft unless their surname is Ovechkin or Kovalchuk.

Only five teams that finish with the worst records after the regular season will have a shot at the first overall pick in the annual lottery.

Right now, the Carolina Hurricanes are in last place, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues and the Oilers in the running to call out the first name.

The Boston Bruins actually have the Leafs' first pick in the draft, however, because Toronto general manager Brian Burke surrendered it in 2010 and '11 to get Phil Kessel who has been a scoring machine for the Leafs this season.

It has been proven that most top-five draft picks play like top picks --right away. Just take a gander at: John Tavares, who has 21 points with the New York Islanders; Victor Hedman, who's playing 23 minutes a game on the Tampa Bay Lightning's blue-line;Matt Duchene, who has 11 points with the Colorado Avalanche; and Evander Kane, who is a second-liner with the Atlanta Thrashers and has eight goals. They were the top four choices last June.

Hockey players are conditioned to keep playing, no matter what the odds are.

Oilers fans, however, are growing weary of the season-in, season-out battle to finish somewhere between seventh and 11th in the Western Conference.

Here's the book on Hall, Sequin and Fowler.

- Hall: The six-foot-one, 180-pound winger was the Memorial Cup MVP last spring, playing for the Windsor Spitfires. His dad, Steve, was a Canadian Football League receiver in Winnipeg and Ottawa and on Canada's bobsled team, so he comes by his athleticism easily. He sent Tavares to hospital after a hit last year and his speed is "Pavel Bure like" according to Detroit Red Wings assistant GM Jim Nill.

- Seguin: The Plymouth Whalers centre reminds people of a young Steve Yzerman. He has a right-handed shot, and has been the captain of his junior club even though he's only 17. He could be the No. 2 centre behind Cody Hodgson on Canada's world junior team.

- Fowler: He had a scholarship to Notre Dame, but changed his mind and is Hall's teammate on Bob Boughner's Memorial Cup team. He's bigger (six-foot-two, 190 pounds) than the other two players, and is a wonderful skater, puck-mover--a huge talent

For you Oilers fans screaming at Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini to make a trade now that Hemsky's gone, you must realize there are no quick fixes out there.

There have been three trades since the NHL season started: Chuck Kobasew from Boston to Minnesota for a draft pick and prospects; Daniel Paille, from the Buffalo Sabres to Boston for draft picks, and Benoit Pouliot, from Minnesota to the Montreal Canadiens for Guillaume Latendresse. Those are a long way from blockbusters.

You can't make a trade unless the salaries are equal on both sides or one team has salary-cap room.

The last time I looked, nobody was offering Tambellini Chicago Blackhawks centre Patrick Sharp.

Tambellini has a surplus of puck moving/offensive defencemen, but he can't trade anyone until Denis Grebeshkov, for example, recovers from his knee injury.

jmatheson@thejournal.canwest.com