Raphael Lavoie didn’t get much power-play as an AHL rookie, and Dylan Holloway received a helluva lot more of it in 2021-22 with the Bakersfield Condors. It doesn’t matter now, Holloway is in St. Louis and Lavoie could be on the waiver wire later today.
It’s clear the organization doesn’t see him as a pure offensive option, and with RW populated with Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson (and Connor Brown and Corey Perry), Lavoie’s role would be strictly checking line and penalty kill.
Those are not his skills.
Compare that situation with the skill set of Noah Philp, who possesses a perfect skill match for Oilers needs. I don’t think this will be a tough decision.
You might say “well they don’t have that many prospects” but Lavoie isn’t going to see time in any role on this team. I cheer like hell for all these kids, it’s one of my favourite things about sports, but there’s a reality here.
The Condors who will be Oilers one day are Max Wanner, Jayden Grubbe, Matthew Savoie and maybe Olivier Rodrigue.
The Oilers probably waive Lavoie and Rodrigue today and then make a decision on Philp. Josh Brown versus Travis Dermott also needs an ending. I would run this lineup opening night:
Note: This is what I would do. I am fully aware the Oilers are in the mood to accrue. I think this gives the team the best chance to win Game 1, and that’s more important than accruing cap space. As the season rolls, they can tweak as needed to ensure room at the deadline.
Losing Lavoie to the Knights sucks!
It looks like Philp was this years “September Darling.”
He auditioned so well, but he missed an entire year and more than likely his performance would have dipped in the next 3-6 weeks.
I like the fact they sent him down for a stint, probably best for him to gain some momentum and return.
How much more momentum is required? He rocked camp and beat all he was competing against. Little to learn in the AHL that he can’t learn better on the 4th line in EDM.
It’s very common for a rookie to have a dip in performance after camp. That is the definition of the September Darling effect. It’s not a slight on him.
if you are upset that he was sent down, send an email to hockey operations.
It seems very apparent that he did not in fact beat all he was competing against did he?
Summarizing!
A good day for the Vermonters in exhibition activity as Münzenberger and Määttä both scored, the latter on the PP. Määttä also went 12-for-17 (70.6%) on the dot.
Mazura and Akey did not incur soup, and so shall have to content themselves with stale marshmallows.
Prospecting takes a break until Wodin’s Day.
Hoglander signs a 3×3 bridge deal. Canucks playing chess!
24 goal scorer.
Nice bet.
Totally. Big chess move. Guy played 12 minutes a game and shot 20%. 7th highest PDO on the Vancouver PDO ponies. Queen’s gambit.
They say good teams are locking up their RFAs long term for super cheap.
I guess the Canucks are not a good team.
Ritchie with a seeing eye shot that is tipped by Petrov in – not sure if it was intentional or not.
FIxed it for you…….I think this gives the team the best chance to win Game 1 of the playoffs, and that’s more important than accruing cap space.
Hey I get all the cap accrual and and Connor likes having Perry around issues, but the 4th line is dead slow, mediocre and will end up needing top 6 double-shifts to help which is not what we need. Would have rather given Carrick the Brown contract (which he got in NYC). At least he would have been useful.
The Buffalo Sabres are off to a roaring start. Lost both games to the Devils in Europe to start the season. Must feel like an awful beginning to those Buffalo fans who have endured 13 seasons out of the playoffs, 17 seasons since a playoff series win and only 4 playoff appearances this century.
Meanwhile the Oiler have been in the playoffs the last 5 seasons, (6 of the last 9), and got to within 2 goals of winning it all (losing to the cup winner for the last 3) yet there are still some in the fan base whose reaction to most Oiler moves is “because Oilers”. This is now a well run franchise. Not without its mistakes or above criticism from time to time. But being cautiously optimistic about this team is more reasonable than being cynically pessimistic at every turn.
Yeah but Buffalo lit up the preseason!
Feels like just yesterday the 2020-2021 Krueger led Sabres were supposed to go deep in the playoffs.
And Buffalo also came back with three guys injured, including JJ Peterka, last year’s leading goal-scorer.
That franchise really looked like it was ready for prime time. (Then again, the 2017-2021 Oilers know all about that feeling.)
I hope they succeed. Buffalo is a good hockey town, an actual cold climate that deserves a team, unlike so many of the sun belt teams. Also, they were robbed in the 2006 ECF G7 by a puck-over-glass penalty while four (!) of their defensemen were injured. I would have been a lot less angry losing to them in the SCF than losing to Carolina.
— Wave Baby: I assume Honeymoon Suite.
— kids : there was a time that Canadian Bands made music that was mostly listened to in Canada by a Canadian Music Industry: not necessarily great bands but they were made in Canada and fun music: Platinum Blonde The Spoons Loverboy Chilliwack, Parachute Club, Glass Tiger, Gowan and on an on.
— That doesn’t exist now: Canadian bands that used to make the Top40 in Canada alongside the American (and some UK) bands.
I loved Honeymoon Suite. Played by every one horse band in every one horse town across this country.
McDavid is cooking up a surprise.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers/latest-news/connor-mcdavid-is-cooking-up-something-big
All revealed tomorrow.
One in the oven?
Sounds like he might be opening a restaurant.
Nothin says lovin like somethin in the oven.
More likely he is going to switch hands and play defense. Solves are d problems and that way he can play 30 min a night.
Ketchup substitute?
Red Pesto or Salsa.
Savoie and Wright with a gorgeous give and go on a 2 on 1 and Savoie buries it.
https://x.com/condors/status/1843054377940275448?s=46
I’m very concerned with overall team speed. This team is drastically slower than last year’s team. Immensely slower.
Mcleod Holloway Foggy is a lot of speed to lose
Arvidsson for Foegele is a downgrade in speed but not by a ridiculous amount
Emberson for Ceci, I haven’t watched Emberson enough to know but I’m guessing this is an upgrade in speed or a wash at worst.
Skinner for McLeod also a downgrade though Skinner isn’t slow.
Stecher for Descharnais is a clear upgrade in speed.
Podkolzin for Holloway is a clear downgrade in speed.
D-core is quicker and forwards are slower, but better hockey IQ. We will see how it plays out, though immensely slower is definitely hyperbole.
Top 6 is still fast, bottom 6 looks like it could use a speed upgrade (Philp would help provide that).
Well put
Skinner is Derek Ryan fast, unfortunately…
Arvidsson for Foggy is a small downgrade
Holloway for Skinner is a big downgrade
Henrique for McLeod is a huge huge downgrade
we are much much slower unfortunately
You ignored defence, and everyone you listed played bottom 6 mainly (except Foegele who Arvidsson is a clear upgrade on).
So as I said the bottom 6 is slower and looks like it could use a speed upgrade. PK will be interesting to watch as there is a lot of turnover there.
Three downgrades in speed but 3 upgrades in hockey performance.
Nice to see they did the right thing and waived Josh Brown. Nothing else really surprising except sending Philp down. That will leave them with slightly over $1.8M in cap space with Travis Dermott to sign. Would they claim anyone off waivers? Pierre Engvall sure would look good beside Henrique & Brown on that 3rd line. That would make for some more tough decisions, to make the money work, unless some other team claims him first. This roster is not set by any means, I expect there’s still room for more finagling.
I don’t even think sending Philp down was surprising – it was the easy way to start the season with some cap space to start to accrue before they are forced out of it – from day 1 Bowman had talked about wanting to accrue.
I don’t think the Oilers will claim anyone – is there anyone cheap that is a reasonably better bet than Lavoie? Engvall would be nice at a million, not at $3MM for six more seasons….
I don’t see how they do anything for a player that isn’t happy being in the A
For me the test comes when the 4th line starts to bleed goals. That or ~ 20 games for Philp in Bakersfield. If they don’t react to either of those things it will be a fail by the organization imo.
Mike Griffith has confirmed the Condors will have a “vet issue” once Brown and Drake clear and join the team.
They’ll have 3 forward vets and 4 on D. There will need to be some vets sitting.
Yamo turns his PTO in to a one year (2-way) deal with Utah.
Go Yamo.
After playing on the 4th line on Friday, Petrov moves up to play on the 3rd line this aft along with Swetlikoff as his center and De Jong.
Mike Griffith (great source of Condors’ info) opines that Petrov “needs to go to the ECHL to get in shape”.
Yikes!
https://x.com/friedgehnic/status/1842995836411883802?s=61
Full list:
Brown, Bussi, Patera, Sweezey, Viel (BOS)
Clague, Reimer, Rousek (BUF)
Cooley, Pelletier, Schwindt (CAL)
Josian Slavin, Smith, Suzuki (CAR)
Phillips (CHI)
Dries, Holl, Lagesson, Rafferty, Snively (DET)
Brown, Caggiula, Lavoie, Rodrigue (EDM)
Copley, Fagemo, Studnicka (LA)
Del Gaizo (NASH)
Bowers, DeSimone, Foote, White (NJ)
Bolduc, Engvall, Fasching, Foudy, Hogberg, Hutton, Karlstrom, Skarak (NYI)
Robertson (NYR)
Gaudette, Jenik (OTT)
Aho, Imama (PIT)
Schuenemann, Tucker (STL)
Goncalves, Santini, Ylonen (TB)
Murray, Rifai (TOR)
Villalta (UT)
Brannstrom (VCR)
Aston-Reese, Laczynski, Rondbjerg (LV)
Shepard (WASH)
Anderson-Dolan (WIN)
I would claim Erik Brannstrom.
For the Oilers? Why? Isn’t he small and bad at defence?
He’s actually got pretty good underlying numbers. He is small (about stetcher sized), but more skilled than both Emberson, Stretcher, and Brown. He shoots left but prefers to play the right side. I’ve read some online randos that seem to think he is indeed more effective on the right side too.
This is a casualty list of HH’s kiss of death. Yikes.
Jim Matheson:
Some team might claim ex Oil Kings D and Rangers farmhand D Matthew Robertson. Only 23 and is 6’4” and 210 defensive LD blue liner. Played for Knoblauch in Hartford
Stop – poor Robertson is trying to have a career. Don’t do this to him.
I’ve got a theory; if the best thing about is a player is their height and weight, they aren’t a very good player.
Well he’s 6’4 and 210 now but if a team besides Edmonton picks him up, he’ll become 6’7 and 225.
[Spits.]
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
The #hurricanes have released Sam Gagner from his PTO.
12:48 PM · Oct 6, 2024
They don’t deserve him anyway
Injuries are a thing, and all these waive babies could get time on the Oil this year depending on injuries and performance.
i wonder if MTL claims Lavoie with the French language connection and their injuries. Likely he clears but it wouldn’t shock me to see him claimed. I tend to think Savoie would be the top call up option for a top6 injury anyways.
All Lavoie can do is play his best in the AHl and wait for his opportunity.
I can see the reasoning behind both the Lavoie and Philp demotions. Both Perry and Ryan are fresh – Send the kids to the farm so they can play more minutes short term, and be prepared for lots of Air Miles covering for injury and load management for Perry and Ryan. I expect one or both of them will spend a fair bit of time in Edmonton over the course of the season, and are hopefully seasoned well for playoff participation by the time we get there.
The Athletic had an article about the top 10 potential waiver claims.
Lavoie wasn’t on it.
I think we’re safe.
But his NHL career may be in real jeopardy.
Both Rafferty and Snivley on waivers today – famous names!
You take my nephew’s name out of your mouth!
Whore mouth, at that
Is that like the famous line from The Wedding Crashers – “You shut your mouth when you talk to me!” ??
I’m sure Lagesson is honoured to be included in their company.
Well at least we can stop worrying about the Avs doing smart things as they trade for a Tucker Poolman
Playing chess.
They traded for Poolman’s LTIR cap hit.
Vancouver has already put Brannstrom on waivers.
LOL.
Tell me you don’t know how to play chess…
Chess:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5822673/2024/10/06/canucks-avalanche-trade-poolman-brannstrom/?source=user_shared_articleCanucks trade Tucker Poolman, draft pick to Avalanche: Why it’s a key cap move
Did you even bother to read this article you reference?
Why, yes I did.
You have questions?
Why, yes I did.
You have questions?
“This is a shrewd, creative trade by the Canucks to open up in-season cap flexibility.
Poolman hasn’t played a game since the 2022-23 season and was going to miss the entire 2024-25 campaign. By clearing his contract off the books, Vancouver is under the salary cap and no longer needs to use LTIR. This means that the Canucks can begin accruing cap space that they can wield at the trade deadline to make roster upgrades.”
yes we all know why Vancouver did it. Question is why Colorado went out of their way to help another team
Are you really that obtuse? You used an article explaining why this was a good move for Vancouver to make to defend your position that this was a chess move by Colorado.
I also explained why it is also a good move for Colorado.
A full 90 minutes after you used this article as a direct response to a comment about this being a dumb move by Colorado. And your own 2 cents on the merits of this move by Colorado are as meaningless as the Pennies Canada no longer circulates.
@PuckPedia
By trading for Poolman (injured), #GoAvsGo :
-Can submit opening roster just under cap (if Ritchie down), getting them close to an optimal LTIR capture. Can then place Poolman & Landeskog on LTIR
-When/if Landeskog is activated, don’t have to exit LTIR
Colorado now just a few bucks above the cap with Landeskog on the roster.
I imagine they traded for Poolman’s LTIR cap hit in anticipation of Nichushkin’s return but will have to make another move to accommodate that.
@PuckPedia
By making trade, #Canucks no longer need to use LTIR. They effectively took $900K Brannstrom + $500K retained on Poolman vs potentially Poolman on LTIR, but now are under cap & can accrue space.
They have $1.19M Proj Space with 23 active (12F/8D/3G)
It should be noted the Canucks gave up the 4th they got in the Podz trade to get rid of the Poolman contract.
Yep…but they have another pick in that round.
Moving Podkholzin who would likely have been lost on waivers and getting an asset facilitating the disposal of $2 million in dead cap while getting out of another million for Podkholzin is a tidy bit of business.
Coack K to management “thanks to Josh Brown folks are calling me Dallas celery sticks Eakins!”
Management “Coach, He’s always been destined for California. Calm down! we know you like steak and donuts”
Coach K “ranch dip is banned!”
The Oilers will likely recall a forward on opening night.
Hopefully it’s Philp
Or shortly thereafter. Not sure how long Ryan and Perry can stay in the lineup without needing a rest here and there. Start with the vets, get timing and systems tightened up, then put the kid into the rotation to keep the old farts fresh.
So what is the difference in loaning Philp to Bakersfield vs waiving him? Is it simply that he makes NHL salary rather than AHL ?
He’s not eligible for waivers. When a player is waived it means all other NHL teams have the option to claim him and place him on their NHL roster. Since he’s just being loaned and doesn’t have to go through waivers, no other team can pick him up.
Unless someone can’t play (illness, injury, personal matter), I don’t see any reason why they do that.
They will likely makes recalls to get a Philp/Lavoie in the lineup to give the likes of Perry/Ryan a rest and, eventually, injuries will require a call-up but they clearly want to accrue cap space while they have the opportunity (i.e. before additional injuries).
Saw something about Josh Brown recently buying a home (like a kiss from the Godfather) in Edmonton after signing his 3 year, UFA contract. Unless someone claims him off waivers or the Oilers make a deal to eat some of his contract, that contract still counts against the cap, doesn’t it?
No, his contract can be completely buried in the minors.
It’s a low contract ($1 million) and doesn’t reach the cap event horizon. The team will save money if they sign Dermott to the minimum. I believe the cap threshold this year is $1.15 million but stand to be corrected.
https://puckpedia.com/player/josh-brown#:~:text=See%20the%20latest%20contract,%20injury%20news,
When Josh Brown signed on July 1, the Oilers had:
Bouchard
Broberg (slated to play RD)
Ceci
Stecher (re-signed for two years the same day).
While the contract terms were somewhat wild, I (and others) expressed the opinion that this was a depth D signing and a player slated for the AHL to play the Ryan Stanton role.
The Oilers lost a RD option with Broberg (and Ceci was replaced with Emberson but kept the same number of RD options) and Brown moved up the depth chart.
He was given every opportunity to make this roster but got outplayed by everyone including a PTO (that played ahead of him in Arizona last year).
The contract terms still don’t make sense but I do think that waiving Josh Brown to the AHL was something in contemplation the day Jackson signed him – it looked less likely post-offer sheet.
This is also a lesson (including to me) that what Stauff says is not necessarily gospel – within the last 48 hours he “didn’t see a world” in which Brown was waived.
Is Stauff’s intel a little different under Jackson/Bowman than Holland?
I think the big change from beginning to end of camp is Brown’s play. He wasn’t good enough and whatever the scouts saw wasn’t backed up by math. Vincent Desharnais had similar numbers in preseason a year ago, but the visual was better. Dermott is a far better option of Edmonton, as is stecher.
Yes, agree with most of this except I would suggest that Josh Brown’s play during camp was, well, reasonably expected.
I mean, the man is 30 years old, with a history to analyze and the best thing that could be said about him is “he’s big” and “he’ll fight”, right?
He was below both Dermott and Stecher on the Arizona depth chart last year including playing less PK than either.
His play during camp, to me, while disappointing, was not really a surprise.
Not sure the down votes here. Brown’s play has been no surprise. He has 6 years of NHL history
You seemed certain just a day or two ago that Knoblauch and the Oilers had lost their way and wouldn’t recognize that Brown’s play wasn’t what the Oilers would need to start the season. They were all in on toughness. I guess they surprised you?
It does seem that Jackson and co. keep their business more in house than previous regimes. Floating trial balloons to gauge fan approval is no way to run a franchise anyway.
Any management team that uses fan approval to make their roster decisions should reconsider their career path.
I only watched the last exhibition game, so don’t really have any thoughts on the new players but I’m not sure this team is better.
Liked the Arvidson signing ( he’s a much better player than Foegele), and the last minute trades for Emerson and Podkolzin.
Lukewarm on the Henrique signing and subsequent Mcleod trade. If Savoie can score at the NHL level it may work out, but the Oilers are going to miss McLeods speed through the neutral ice this year.
Absolutely hated losing Broberg and Holloway to the offer sheets. I would have matched on both, certainly on Holloway. As a result, I am not a fan of the Skinner signing.
We’ll see how it all plays out, but the Oilers are older, smaller and slower than last years team.
Skinner is pretty fast.
This year is the best Cup window, before Drai’s extension kicks in, and Skinner gives us a better chance to win this year than Holloway would have.
I hated losing both to the offer sheets too, but what’s done is done.
Not sure if you were able to watch games, Skinner has Derek Ryan speed, so not fast. Exceptional edges, but he is definitely a slower NHL player.
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but fans in Buffalo warned me about him after his signing this summer. I think he will eventually end up on the 3rd line and possibly this gives Lavoie a window of opportunity in a few weeks…
Over the last 3 seasons, Jeff Skinner has more 5 on 5 goals than any of Ovie, Draisaitl, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Guentzel, Nylander, Kaprizov, etc.
I do think (and have thought since July), that he’s a better fit with McDavid and Drai and could see Nuge and Skinner swap at some point but Jeff Skinner scores goals at 5 on 5 – he doesn’t drive play but he scores goals.
They may indeed miss Mcleod’s speed through neutral ice but his flybys and stick waving in the offensive zone may not be a loss.
OK, this is the official:
Edmonton Oilers@EdmontonOilers
The #Oilers have loaned forward Noah Philp to the @Condors
while also placing goaltender Olivier Rodrigue, defenceman Josh Brown & forwards Raphael Lavoie & Drake Caggiula on waivers.
Its not surprising that they are going with 12 healthy forwards to start the season and will try to bank as much accrued cap space as possible until injuries require call-ups cratering the ability.
Pleasantly surprised that they are actually waiving Josh Brown – good on management.
That likely means that Dermott will be signed before the season starts – the versatility of Dermott and the likely $200K-$225K cap savings will be great.
I think there is some risk with Lavoie but today is the last day for teams to waive players for opening roster submissions tomorrow – there will be a ton of similar type players on waivers – he likely clears.
This is mostly good. Putting Lavoie on waivers is kind of brutal.
I understand the Philp assignment but I would have him on the roster.
The Brown assignment is surprising and welcome. Maybe he was just playing so much because Stretcher is still recovering.
Another bonehead move by management! If Lavoie gets claimed,it’s another young draft pick gone for nothing.If they had waived Ryan or Perry,no one would have taken them,and if so…..who cares.
This is pretty much a copy and paste from last year on cut-down day (and on previous cut-down days with the likes of Tyler Benson).
I do agree there is a bit of a bigger waiver claim risk than last season but he does likely slide through just like last season.
Lordy. Please stop clutching your pearls….
Is it?
The flames put Pelltier on waivers today – although a much smaller player, he’s had more NHL production that Lavoie.
Just because another franchise made a questionable waiver decision does not make the Oilers decision less questionable.
Just because another franchise made a questionable waiver decision does not make the Oilers decision less questionable.
The point is that this is business as usual at this time of year and there are multiple players on waivers right now that are just as famous as Lavoie.
Why are you the only poster on here that almost weekly does not use quotes properly.
I like the idea of some Ahl time for him even though he won a roster spot. Gonna get more ice time for a guy who didn’t play last year. First forward call up
I figure about 20 games in Bakersfield barring injury.
I would have kept him and foregone the accrual but unless they leave him to languish down there while the 4th line is bleeding goals I understand why they did it.
So is this evidence that last weeks’ anguish over ‘moar bigger’ and ‘same old Oiler mgmt’ was unfounded? Is the machine is learning, and in the esteemed words of our fabulous host, we can calm our tits?
“Coke Machine Learning”. 🤓
YESSSSSS.
That would make a great name for an Oilers blog.
I think the LT phrase “CYT” is the perfect Oilers blog title.
I kind of like the title ” Clutching the Pearls…”
Brown was terrible. KK gave him every opportunity to win a roster spot. Time to move on.
Philp will play NHL games this season but his conditioning level is probably not at NHL level, even though his skill set appears to be. Ryan had a good camp too, and he’s still a valuable part of the PK crew. If age catches up to him this season, then Philp should be ready to step in.
Lavoie needed go full Clattenberg to hold down a bottom 6 role … he didn’t and so he’s back down in the minors. I doubt he gets claimed.
There’s going to be lots of gnashing of teeth about Perry being on the roster, but not from me. He’s a world class scoundrel and this team needs the gamesmanship that he brings. He’s always been slow but he’s fearless in front on the net and still has those soft mitts.
But he skates like his skates are each 40 pounds.
Absolute evidence and a very good sign. Outscoring is the main goal. I love rugged players but they have to contribute to outscoring. This move reflects those things.
From Brar:
Potentially relevant to Josh Brown.
Good to see Pickard back on the ice also.
Tony Brar @TonyBrarOTV
Three days away from the opener. Oilers lines & pairings at practice this morning:
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Skinner – Draisaitl – Arvidsson
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Podkolzin – Ryan – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Emberson
Kulak – Stecher
Dermott
Skinner
Pickard
Right, also relevant to Philp.
Edmonton Oilers
@EdmontonOilers
The #Oilers have loaned forward Noah Philp to the @Condors
while also placing goaltender Olivier Rodrigue, defenceman Josh Brown & forwards Raphael Lavoie & Drake Caggiula on waivers.
https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1842973107385954304/eBkc3Gow?format=jpg&name=900×900
From nhl.com
11:00 AM · Oct 6, 2024
·11.6K
Views
The waivers are not a surprise, I’m not sure anyone thought Caggiula was going to stay and as mentioned Lavoie didn’t have a role.
Josh Brown lost a job, and now we wait for Dermott’s signing or a waiver claim.
I think sending Noah Philp down is a bad call, and doubt the team runs the fourth line as currently constructed for long.
Yup. As I have mentioned more than once – and I try hard to not repeat my takes over and over – calling that group of three stretches the definition of a ‘line’ at the NHL level.
What is the update on Jarventie? Where is he at, how does he look?
Edmonton’s injured go into a stasis bubble as it pertains to news. We’ll hear about him when he’s on the ice in Bakersfield or when the team updates. It’s more difficult to get info about injured guys than at any time I can recall. We’ll get something in the next few days I expect.
I believe the intel from the coach is that he’s getting close to the point where he can be re-assigned.
Here is hoping he can stay healthy for the year in Bako and I hope the fanbase is patient as, given the circumstances, it likely takes him a while to get up to speed and a slow start should be expected.
Interesting tweet by Matty.
This would be like Jarventie and he’d had a cap hit pro rated to the number of games on the NHL roster last season – probably around $100K.
I’d wondered about that possibility as well. We should find out very soon what they’ve decided.
Cam Wright is still really interesting to me. More common in baseball to use this terminology, but, he really looks like a hockey player out there.
Late bloomers do come along. He looked better than a lot of the others out there.
He brings a lot of what Edmonton needs and he’s been doing is since arriving in Bakersfield. I agree completely.
I agree as well – he was very good in Bako’s first exhibition game on Friday – top line (although I didn’t even recognize half the names in the lineup).
He’s scheduled to play with Grubbe and Savoie this aft.
I see an NHL 2-way deal in his future.
I think georgesx nailed it yesterday. The biggest risk to the Oilers early season is residual fatigue, mental and physical, from last year (and even the last few years). Last year was so high/low. The team was running on adrenaline for months. Hard to replenish and recharge in a short offseason. Especially with a veteran team.
I would like to remind folks that historically this has been a discussion blog. Not a fan blog. Meaning there is room for opinions and I enjoy this.
Results don’t have to drive or validate your opinion. I think it is best to voice before results.
Jumping on the team when they are down and pumping their tires when they up is results based, emotional perspective.
I enjoy predictive foresight rather than reactive criticism.
I prefer supportive when they are down and looking to get better when they are up.
I doubt posters here are “trying to be right” or “I told you so” wishing the team ill will. It is just sharing worries, opinions, perspectives, and they won’t all be the same.
Yes. Agreed.
except one guy ;)…
Craig Conroy was on Hello Hockey yesterday and was asked about making trades with Edmonton. He started about talking about recently making trades with Vancouver but did throw out talking to Holland last year and “you always need a little more from Edmonton than anywhere else”.
And he always gets a little less from every other team. Calgary gets the GM that they deserve.
Conroy is quite the talker, reminds me of MacT in that way.
More like “quite a bit more” but kudos to him for acknowledging publicly what everybody already knew. And I don’t blame him. Making a mistake on a trade with your arch rival (pretty sure that is how he sees Edmonton) would not go well for a GM.
Lavoie has also played a lot of LW as a pro and, while it simply won’t happen, I could success as 3LW on Henrique’s left wing. A solid 2-way vet center on a line with some potential to score and be solid seems like a perfect place for Lavoie’s skill set.
It would also bump Janmark to 4LW where he should be. He’s simply not longer an every day 3rd line player in this league – in my opinion.
This won’t happen and I think it’s exploration was a missed camp opportunity.
I agree with this point. A different league and a different time. The Eskimos moved from from QB to QB between 1970-1990 almost perfectly and they created a dynasty.
Lemmerman to Wilkie to Moon to Allen to Ham to Ray. They seemed understand when an impact player needed to be inserted to the line up.
No Matt Dunigan?
Yikes yes Matty….
Lemmerman to Wilkie to Moon to Dunigan to Allen to Ham to Ray
Janmark had a really good playoffs. I do think they have him too high in the line up for a full season.
IMO Janmark can play a few games higher in the line up. AND he proved he can play an effective 3LW in the playoffs. A 23 years old 6-4 winger that looked good along the boards is the in game flexibility KK should consider.
i don’t see that flexibility with Ryan nor Perry, given they only have 21 healthy players on the roster until Kane is ready to return, this should be considered as they set the roster on Monday.
Part of coaching is putting players that will impact their part of the game every minute they are on the ice. The game is 360 minutes not 60 minutes.
Perry and Ryan are past impacting the game on the ice for all their TOI. AND we don’t have the cap space to platoon them for their last few minutes in the NHL. They are now Sam Gagner ish.
KK best chance at 360 minutes of impact is.
93-97-18
53-29-33
62-19-28
92-48-13
91
14-2
25-48
27-51
74
30
Big numbers guy are you?
A life time of filling out game sheets.😀
Prospectiny!
Akey played his first game in nigh eleven months yesternight, not impacting the scoresheet. He gets a chance to do that thing this afternoon though.
The Vermonters begin their season today. As seniors, Määttä und Münzenberger have one more year left to prove themselves worthy of a contract.
Same deal with Mazura, who was drafted half a decade ago.
Vermont (Määttä, Münzenberger) @ 2 p.m.
St. Lawrence (Mazura) @ 2 p.m.
Barrie (Akey) @ 4 p.m.
Both times, as usual, are Ryley time.
Thank you for the updates as always. I appreciate the trips down memory lane your destinations invoke.
As a thespian, you may or may not be aware of the local significance of yesterday’s time clock reference of Kelsey. It’s a farm community with likely less than 50 residences in the hamlet and surrounding farms that managed to pull off an impressive annual dinner theatre for about 25 years.
The seating capacity of the hall was about 90 and they regularly pulled in over 1000 customers for their February three weekend run. Folks would come from far and wide to see the shenanigans of the local farm folk. Potential playgoers would line up at 7am at the remote ticket headquarters farm hoping to get a ticket to the shows.
They were brilliant at cobbling together the light and sound technology, which isn’t surprising with their farm background.
A first class meal, a door slamming comedy featuring various locals way out of their comfort zone. My favourite may have been the retired school superintendent with a bit of a stout build going all out in a slightly too small hazmat suit. Good times!
That is awesome; thanks for sharing. City folks would be in for a pleasant surprise at how entertaining small-town theatre productions can be.
We have similar groups in our corner of Sask. And I know that Rosebud (near Drumheller) has a thriving theatre scene too.
And of course {horn tooting alert!} we’re in the midst of rehearsing our own show coming up in several weeks. It contains high amounts of both mirth and murther!
What corner of Sask?
Southwest.
Rosebud also has a nice little golf course if I remember correctly. Beautiful location where you drop into the coulees to play..
@PuckPedia
Swayman #NHLBRUINS 8 year * $8.25M:
Yr 1 $6M Base & 4M Signing Bonus
Yr 2 6M & 4M SB
Yr 3 5.5M & 2M SB
Yr 4 5M & 3M SB
Yr 5 5.5M & 2.5M SB
Yr 6 5.5M & 2.5M SB
Yr 7 5M & 2.5M SB
Yr 8 4.5M & 2.5M SB
Yr 3 to 6: No Move
Yr 7: 10 Approved team trade list
Yr 8: 10 team No Trade List
Covers 2 RFA & 6 UFA years
I will be pleasantly surprised if Brown is on waivers today. Makes sense based on historical performance, recent performance and cap (with Dermott likely to come in at a couple hundred grand cheaper). Listening to Bob and Frank, I’m not convinced this happens.
Drake will also be on waivers today.
I think there is some waivers risk on Lavoie but think it’s super low. He likely clears just like last year and just like all his comparables AHL tweeners have over the last few days.
Outside chance of Ryan on waivers. I don’t see it as he did have a fine camp but I do think they want to accrue some daily cap space until injuries prevent the ability to and only one of Ryan and Philp are on the roster. Could be wrong on that.
That is what should happen. But, because Oilers…………