"The Edmonton Oilers' old boys club became the young boys club at the NHL entry draft on Saturday.

Dillon Simpson, the son of former Oilers forward and ex-assistant coach Craig Simpson, was Edmonton's first pick in Round 4 on Day 2 of the draft.

Keegan Lowe, the son of former Oilers defenceman Kevin Lowe, now the team's president of hockey operations, was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 3. Keegan told the Oilers he would rather make his own way in the world and not to consider taking him.

"Deep down, I wanted to be an Oiler. This is perfect. We (family) can finally exhale now," said Dillon, who had his dad and his mother, Christine, in the seats at the Xcel Energy Center.

Simpson played junior A hockey with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, before attending the University of North Dakota as a 17-year-old student scholar/defenceman.

"There may be some skeptics with my dad playing there (two Stanley Cups), but he's not part of the organization now. He's distanced himself," said Dillon, who just finished his freshman year studying business at North Dakota with a 4.0 grade-point average.

His day attended Michigan State for two years, but Dillon, a puck-mover with power-play ability, may stay the full four years to get his degree.

"My dad was a special case, being the second overall pick (1985, Pittsburgh Penguins)," he said.

"I enjoyed this more for Dillon than I did myself. When you're going through it yourself, it's a blur. You don't absorb it," said Craig, now the lead Hockey Night in Canada colourman working alongside play-by-play guy Jim Hughson.

"I wanted Dillon to soak this in. He wasn't sure if he'd come to the draft. He said, 'maybe we'll go golfing. We talked about Dillon going to the Oilers. He said he'd love it. It's different for Keegan when dad works there.

"If I was still a coach, I might feel differently, but our whole family is really proud."

Did Craig have any indication Dillon was going to the Oilers?"