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.
Both Rafferty and Snivley on waivers today – famous names!
You take my nephew’s name out of your mouth!
Well at least we can stop worrying about the Avs doing smart things as they trade for a Tucker Poolman
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 ?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
@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…………