If you pay attention to one team for long enough, you begin to adopt some things as fact, others as fiction and often become a blind devotee of a lost cause. Or 30 lost causes, and maybe it’s 150 for me by now. If I made a list of players I championed over the years, it would run from sunrise to sunset. Some, like Rusty Patenaude, had enough success to burn bright as fond memories. Others, like Dan Currie, remain on a special shelf and are in some ways more compelling.
Cheering for laundry is what we say when we want to distance ourselves from our own individual feelings. Cheering for Patenaude and Currie was an investment, it was real to me. Life as a fan, at least for me, is partly pulling for the underdog. The appeal? We don’t know how the story turns out, so the possibility of grand success lurks always. I wish the best for Raphael Lavoie.
RAPHAEL LAVOIE
I’ve written about him about as much as I did about Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto, mostly because Lavoie’s profile is so interesting. When a feature prospect fails to make the grade, it’s usually because said player is a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none’ or too slow or too small.
Lavoie has one strong skill and it’s a good one. He can shoot the puck, hard and heavy with a quick release. He can change angles and find quiet ice. That will have extreme value in the hockey city Lavoie eventually calls home. That I know.
What I don’t know is whether that will be an NHL city, a KHL city or a city in Switzerland. NHL teams have their prospects too, and Lavoie’s exit today, should it happen, will come about because a team is facing an extreme number of injuries.
I would encourage you to ignore all people who know Lavoie won’t make it or people who know he will. The truth is he would be an easy ‘tweener’ call without the shot. If I were his Dad, I would suggest going to a good European league for one year. Make sure he gets power-play time and a feature role at even strength. Fill the freaking net. Maxim Tsyplakov was 26 a year ago and scored 31 goals in the KHL for Moscow Spartak. He currently plays for the New York Islanders of the NHL.
Lavoie will be 25 on September 25. He’ll hang around the NHL/AHL bubble this season, but next year he could be 26 years old and score 40+ in that league. I bet someone takes a chance on him with that rippling across his resume. Fans who look to be experts online always talk about what a player can’t do, and honestly that’s a winning bet almost always. Lavoie is just different enough to be wildly interesting.
Don’t listen to any one person on a prospect. You never know. Lavoie’s chances of playing in even 100 NHL games during his career isn’t high, but’s more than zero. Especially today. Godspeed young man. I wish you all the best.
At noon today, we have a wild Friday show in front of Thanksgiving weekend. It’s on Sports 1440 and we’ll feature Steve Lansky, Tyler Yaremchuk and Declan Krueger (Declanations!) as well as talk about the Oilers massive weekend ahead. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio; Radioplayer Canada, we tweet out the show after it’s done and you can catch us on Apple and Spotify.
NEW for The Athletic: Why Edmonton Oilers’ issues in season-opening loss were predictable
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5834019/2024/10/11/oilers-jets-loss-nurse/
Hamblin, Pederson, Savoie, Caggiula and Carrick as PP1.
After 24 saves Rodrigue lets in an awful one from a bad angle, bottom of the faceoff circle – great shot under the bar but should never go in.
Irma product Jagger Firkus.
Philp with a great entry on a delayed penalty 6 on 5, dishes to Savoie who fires a great shot pass that Petrov tips in for a 2-0 lead.
FANTASTIC to have those three combine.
Assuming Petrov was at the net-front for that goal? Nice if he is making an effort to play in the dirty areas.
Yes, he was driving the net – it was rush goal scored from the net front.
Summarizing!
Wakely had an impressive Barrie debut, scoring twice on the PK and adding an aPPle. He was named 2nd star for his efforts.
Solitary assists were also garnered by O’Reilly, Mazura, Fischer and Määttä.
Berry, Akey and Nicholl were denied soup and so shall have to subsist on Rice Krispies straight from the box.
Münzenberger did not dress.
Holt mentions Jarventie should be good to go in November.
Drake feeds Wright for a quick-strike breakaway but he shoots it right in to goalies’ glove.
Holty raving about Drake and Philp – the have both been driving the play.
Petrov swapped with Hamblin and getting shifts with Pederson and Wright.
Condors best player in this 2nd period has been Rodrigue.
Edit: The swap looks like it was just for one shift.
The Lavoie double reverse waiver claim just feels like the league screwing the Oilers again. Why would the team that acquired and then immediately rewaived get first right to send that player to the AHL. It should have stayed Edmonton’s option. Doesn’t make sense to me. If waivers are about getting players a fair chance to play in the big leagues, how does Lavois end up on a different minor team. Bizarre. The mystery claim is weird too, All those other teams already got a chance to make a claim so why do they get a round 2? Maybe one of them had a claim on the first go around too??
of course it’s some obscure part of the CBA and of course it negatively affects the Oilers, again. Might as well send a third to Calgary while they’re at it.
It is the way the rule is written but it goes against the spirit and intent of the rule and is a clear bust in the protocol/procedure
The intent of waivers is to give tweeners a chance in a 2nd organization. The rule is for the benefit of the player, not for the benefit of the team.
The intent of waivers is to give tweeners a chance in a 2nd organization in the NHL – not to change minor league teams. Yes, the rule is for the benefit of the player and the player is right back in the minor leagues.
There is a reason that a team the claims a player cannot simply send him to the AHL – clear evidence that your premise is not 100% correct.
Cam Dineen left the game in the 1st and has not returned and it doesn’t sound like he is going to. LBI.
Condors down to 5D.
Noel H. is the scratch tonight (healthy I believe).
Pederson and Grubbe as PK1 with Pederson taking the draw – with that said, it was Philp’s line that was out there (Drake got the PIM) so I would think maybe Philp would have been out there over Pederson if fresh.
Grubbe flubs two opportunities to clear (the first was a tough backhand) – Rodrigue bails him out.
Philp out for PK2.
Gets a 2 on 1 with Drake coming out of the box but rips it over the net.
Dineen with a poor neutral zone step up leaving Wanner alone on a 2-1. Wanner presses the puck carrier poorly and its a pass for a clear breakaway – the post makes the save (maybe off Rodrigue first).
Not a great play by that pairing.
The feed is all but unwatchable but Caggiula with the year’s first goal – a seeing eye wrister from the halfboards, bar down.
Carrick with the helper.
Another assist for Broberg tonight, maybe more to come. That’s one goal and two assists in three games. His prowess as a passer is obvious. The Oilers gave that up for the oldies.
Same as last night. Long forwarding pass up the ice. Then Broberg steps off the ice for change. Forward scores. An assist, but no plus.
Wakely goes roof daddy for a shortie in his Barrie debut:
https://x.com/OHLHockey/status/1844901548385763440
He just added another.
I’d get excited but then I remember that he’s an over-ager, already 20, turning 21 in-season.
Betwixt the legs!
https://x.com/OHLHockey/status/1844910852467720602
Methinks that goal will make the Wakely Top 40.
Why all the frustration on Oilers management about Lavoie? If you think he’s top 6 on this team I just need to disagree. He is not a bottom 6 player. He’s a scorer. He has never had a chance with his skill set. That’s not on him or the team. It’s literally shitty luck. The crazy waiver rules are what they are. I wish him good luck where ever his career takes him. So please stop with asset management criticism. There was no room at the Inn and obviously no trade to be made.
Your not the boss of me.
It isn’t a single event
it is the long term trend
No. This is a single event I’m talking about. Not the past years.
Raphael Lavoie could be Patrick Maroon.
But who would he replace? I don’t disagree with his ability I just don’t know what role he would play on this team.
Potentially the Patrick Maroon role. He played 4th line winger on three Stanley Cup winners in a row. When physicality and a shooter were required, he moved up the lineup.
To be specific. Corey Perry.
I get the thought but he’s never played that role or proven he can. Obviously never given a chance but this is not the year to gamble
Such bullshit. Last year wasn’t the year to gamble, or the year before. Or next year. This is why I am glad that a player like Lavoie, who may have a legit chance at an NHL career, gets an opportunity elsewhere.
Well ok. And hopefully he takes advantage.
Not a greater gamble than relying on Corey Perry.
Raphael Lavoie could be Martin Frk.
Don’t blame the waiver rules. They help to set free prospects who are trapped in impossible situations. Lavoie, like other Oiler prospects, was never given a reasonable, fair chance. That is mismanagement of assets. We should talk about this. And we are left with a bunch of oldies; we are left paying for past performances that cannot be replicated.
Ok let’s talk. Who would he replace and where would you slot him in?
If they had not acquired Skinner–He Who Has Never Tasted the Playoffs–there would have been an opening. Moreover, the Skinner money could have been used for Those Who Shall Not be Named.
The Oilers either bleed talent or hold onto it until it has no value left. They’ve got a track record, why the fark would anyone come to an oiler blog and not criticize it.
Well I thought this blog was for discussion. Maybe I’m wrong
No. It is. And we’ve discussed asset management repeatedly. The EDM approach is to keep vets until they are unplayable, then lament that there are no suitable in-house replacements, because they mostly never get a real chance or are traded away/lost before it’s known what they have. This is followed by spending more draft capital/prospects at the deadline, when asset cost is at a premium, for guys on the decline that have only a few years of useful tread life at best. Wash, rinse and repeat. Ekholm was the exception. Look at VGK. Hertl, Barbashev, Hanifin, Stone. And acquiring Eichel and Pietrangelo. They are not rearranging deck chairs with 3rd pairing/3rd or 4th line guys.
Shouldn’t it tell us something that every team in the league has had multiple chances to take him off waivers for free, and no one was interested until this week? That includes many weak teams that should want such a talented asset, including some with AHL clubs in the same division as the Condors. Those teams would be very familiar with the player, yet they all passed, every time. You might think Montreal would take the big French scorer, but no thanks. Dozens of professional hockey men whose jobs depend on evaluating prospects all said no, every time.
Why ruin a good discussion with facts? Haha
Caggiula/Philp/Savoie
Hamblin/Pederson/Wright
D’Amato/Grubbe/Stefan
Petrov/Swetlikoff/Kannok-Leipert
Gleason/Brown
Dineen/Wannar
Carrick/Kemp
Rodrigue
Petrov needs to climb – its on him – if he earns it, coach will move him up – he’s underwhelmed every game he’s played from Penticton, to NHL exhibition to AHL exhibition.
Holty is saying that Petrov has a great attitude and is putting in the work.
He has to earn the minutes and ice time but he’ll get some PP2 time, as he has had in exhibition.
There have been a surprising number of decent goalies on waivers recently.
Jiri Patera was another name that a lot of Oilers fans on Twitter wanted to claim.
Pickard is a 32-year-old journeyman goalie who had a decent season last year. I don’t bet on it continuing.
Patera or Kahlonen would have been intriguing bets imo.
The Bowman hire took a lot out of me this summer. I watched game one with a detachment I don’t recall from before.
This team is not well managed. It is hard to see how his hiring has made any positive contribution so far. Meanwhile I don’t see an outpouring of social commitment you might have anticipated by now.
I cheer for these players and will be ready to cheer hard for them when they play like the team the know they can be but game one felt like a mirror of my fandom: a bit bitter and exhausted from the massive and ugly vibe shift.
Can we leave that where it belongs, in the past? We have read your strong feelings on the matter, they aren’t universally shared, and it serves no one to keep picking that scab off, it’s done
As for poor starts, at this point it is on the leadership player group, and having not found a stable goalie in years. How many coaches and GMs? The top players have trouble starting seasons and games on time, Connor and Leon have to remember to play 200 ft hockey each season, Nuge gets the flu, Leon probably has SADS, Connor is beyond impatient to get things going, Bouch has to wake up, etc etc, like clock work
The only way to change it is change the roster. We’ll see what KK has to short circuit this trait in the short term
I respect that not everyone shares my feelings. And I won’t turn this into personal attacks I won’t guarantee I won’t bring it up again though that seems a bridge too far, given it’s not “done”, he is the GM, and unless I’ve missed something there hasn’t been a series of decisions indicating the hire made strategic sense, indeed the opposite is true and there are concerns here. My litmus test will be the deadline: can Bowman still play with the other established GMs? We will find out.
His hiring needs to be evaluated with the lights on and in the context of the hire. I feel it is completely legitimate to question the intelligence of hiring a manager coming off a three year suspension. This is a small universe run by emotional men. We saw favours go Holland’s way. We were able to credit his deep respect in the community after his Duncan Keith maneuver was revealed for what it was; by the same token we ought to be able to question Bowman’s ability to do his job: to influence decisions amongst a community where is reputation has taken a massive hit.
It’s not personal. It doesn’t have to be taken personally or left in the dark. I don’t see the benefit of this either.
But I’ll tell you what, this team gets their stuff together I’m sure I’ll be back into the beauty of the game and remember how much I love Leon and Connor and the logo on the front.
And I’ll circle back to Bowman at the deadline.
No one is forcing you to cheer for the Oilers.
That’s a mirror that every fan who criticizes the org, including yourself, could hold up and look deeply into.
It’s like saying if I wanted to be a fan of Gretzky I would have needed to take management’s position on the Gainers strike. I’m totally fine with people disagreeing with my position but I’m not ok with people suggesting my relationship with the team is contingent on how they see the world.
I don’t understand the implication of what you are saying please elaborate.
It sounds like your at a crossroads. I myself didn’t agree with the Bowman hire either and I have no idea what really transpired in Chicago and I don’t think any of us will. As I get older I’ve learned that everything isn’t black or white. Anyhow It’s only been 1 game they’ll be lots of opportunities to crucify whipping boy Bowman if this team underperforms. For now I still have my Dave Dryden jersey ready for action once the real season begins in the spring.
One does not have to be willfully blind to bad managerial decisions in order to cheer for the Oilers.
Would it be fair to say that attributing the play of the team in game 1, a TV show that we’ve seen on re-run for five years or so now, to the stigma of the Bowman hiring engendering a bitterness on the roster might be considered transference (in the psychological sense) on your part?
Oh for sure I want meaning to imply otherwise. That’s one thing going on.
If I can just characterize it as vibes, they were off. But I drew a distinction between that and how the team is currently also being managed. So maybe a bit clumsily put and now I am catching up to myself… but here is the thing: Nor do I think these aren’t necessarily related. The organization has a culture. Culture matters, it just does. And I wish to be able to speculate on it. We need to see evidence that Bowman is advancing the culture and that his reputation isn’t hurting his ability to make decisions. Anyway I need to go to dinner or my wife will leave me.
— I hear you. He wasn’t a good hire even in the absence of him being a cover up loser
— It’s just disappointing: of everyone available in the league (or not in league) it’s clear that he was their guy and they were just waiting for him to get reinstated.
— The team lost a lot of equity for me: it was just wrong not classy not needed and he wasn’t any good anyways. Just a supplicant yes man hierarchy old school.
— It’s the oiler way: won a cup in the past? A Your available? Sign here. Won cups in the long past: your our guy. Won Cups bleeding Oil: we got plenty of those come join us.
— It’s a pretty smart (not!) hiring strategy over the last many regimes: they hire winners: ones that won Cups.
Emberson dropped from Nurse pairing. Dermott to get his shot on Saturday per KK via Spec.
Emberson is our best long-term bet at 2RD. Don’t we want to give him more of a chance there?
Nah. He had a few shifts. They planned on this pairing all summer so why give
it chance…???
maybe they can trade him for another 35+ year old contract. Or rush out and sign Giordano or Shittenkirk
this team is pissing me off with their incompetence.
Emberson struggled and got 2 periods there before getting moved down.
If Dermott, who didn’t particularly play great last game struggles on the second pair will the coach cast him aside after 2 periods? My guess is not because it’s ok for vets to sink the ship but we can’t have young players with room for development sink the ship.
Here is the article: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/oilers-look-to-find-footing-as-nurse-emberson-experiment-put-on-backburner/
Plenty of context in there but basically the fear is that ongoing experimentation will result in a start similar to last year and thus coaching staff looking desperately for whatever stability they can find now while they get the team’s ability to play the hockey up-to-snuff.
Seems like reasonable to me, at least they aren’t stuck as hard on certain ideas as in the past. Plenty of time to do things after they get it going
I am not sure that logic holds up.
Seems so strange. Nurse and Emberson set up for failure. They have barely practiced together.
Dermott on the second pair is going to go well I am sure.
Knobber looking a lot like Woody. Overthinking it.
Knobber isn’t reinventing his game plan or systems.
Seems they’re seeing who has chemistry with who.
If Stu is going to mostly goalie as he did game 1, that’s the teams #1 concern.
The top pairing was -, the top line was -.
Isn’t Dermott at 2 RHD another expirement?
Absolutely it is.
And it certainly casts doubt on the Oilers plan of replacing Desh, Bro and Ceci with Emberson, Stecher and Brown when by game 2 all 3 are surpassed by the PTO guy.
Maybe it’s Nurse and Kulak that have been swapped, we will see tomorrow which pair ends up seeing more ice time.
My first thought was, oh boy, we’re going to fix the hole at 2RD with a left-shot player signed as a PTO, here come the Oilers!
If Nurse is paired with Dermot, perhaps he will be playing on the third pairing.
Though we don’t know for sure what’s going to happen in any one case, it’s important to consider baseline odds.
Here’s what I know about 2nd round forward draft picks selected between 2000 and 2017. About 1 in 6 have played 100 games and scored at a career 0.4 Pts/GP or better. 0.4 Pts/GP is roughly the threshold for 3rd line players, i.e., the relevant group. (Borrowing from that chirp I heard on YouTube where one NHLer says to another: “You’re irrelevant out here.”)
Here’s what I’m pretty sure I know about those relevant 1 in 6 types. Very, very few, if any, were still looking to score their first point in the NHL heading into their age 24 season. Doesn’t matter how great their play, how special their skill, or how strong their numbers looked against non-NHL competition. If they haven’t produced in the NHL by 24 as a 2nd round pick, they’re very, very unlikely to become a relevant player.
By observation, 2nd round forward picks are long shots to be relevant players in the NHL. And, as time goes by and they haven’t established their relevance, their shots get longer. There’s an interesting discussion around why this should be so that involves labor pools, draft cohorts, and a caste like system when it comes to draft rounds, but… outside scope.
And, btw, cheering for the laundry isn’t a way to distance ourselves from feelings. What the heck! It’s one of the biggest emotional investments people make. That’s what sports are there for. I mean you woke up the day after Game 7 and you published a post. I don’t know what I did, but I didn’t do anything remotely as useful… for the next several days.
I can be committed and still wave bye bye bye to Lander, Lagesson, and Lavoie… pay them no attention whatsoever once they take off the jersey… and still be entirely up in my feelings for the next game or the next moves that management and coaching make.
They’re professional athletes. They’re living a hella life compared to the average male… they should have the elite self-discipline to carve out a successful business career after their pro career… so, go laundry!
2 Mutts saying their intel is it was the Avs the put in the claim for Lavoie when the Oilers did they prevented a Bako assignment (and didn’t put in another claim they would have prevented the Knights from sending him to Henderson).
DNB mentioned in his piece yesterday that Vegas was the only team to put in a claim on the initial waiver transaction (Monday) – so the ‘mystery team’ only appeared the 1 time(and subsequently prevented the Oilers from assigning Lavoie to the AHL)
Considering Bettman’s love of public scandal, I hope @NHL on X is getting lit like Dresden on a February ’45 night. (metaphorically of course)
Dan Tencer
@dantencer
·
4h
Ryan Holt on with Gregor says that Savoie will play with Philp and Caggiula tonight.
As i previously mentioned, with Brown down the Condors can’t play all their vets and Griffith gets the press box tonight
I rarely post, but now that he’s gone I’ll offer my take. The day they drafted Lavoie, he was asked what he knows about the Oilers. He said he knew McDavid and heard of Gretzky. That’s it, and I wondered at the time, isn’t this kid interested in hockey? How are you a top prospect, immersed in hockey culture daily and around 20 guys your age pursuing the same goal, and you know practically nothing about a Canadian hockey team. It seemed very odd to me, so a red flag went up for me on Lavoie. He just didn’t strike me as engaged.
I’d have to say I hoped for the best, but it’s turning out like I feared.
A good take. A guy his size with that shot is usually a first rounder as well
Somebody posted earlier “he had character issues” I don’t think thats true at all. He had effort and consistency issues.
Sometimes the big kid with good athletics manages to work themselves up the leagues, staying ahead of the kids who must bust 100% effort every night to make it. Its very common.
Then the day comes when skill, athletics alone run out and the kid is asked to bust his but to get to the next level. He struggles. Hasn’t had to do it, doesn’t love it. Hits his ceiling.
I posted my thoughts on Lavoie last year. I didn’t like his chances. Doesn’t mean he didn’t have value in some form, and Oilers should be pissed about this.
Good points. There is a reason so few make it, there are a lot of very talented players out there, just not cut out for the NHL for whatever reason. The level of work year round would be hard for most people to do on an ongoing basis. I think you have to be obsessed these days
It had to have been personal the organization did not give Lavoie one lick of praise or any TLC that high pedigree players usually receive. I do believe this new regime will be more prospect friendly are else we’re in a world of trouble when Hyman-Nuge-Kane-Arvidsson-Henrique-Brown-Nurse-Ekholm-kulak age out
There should be a proper investigation on the handling of Lavoie by the NHL. Initiated by the agent and investigated by Players association.
Team trying to out-f*ck each other at the expense of the player goes against the spirit of the rules.
Step in Bettman (or players association) and do the right thing with these situations.
Why? The player and his agent are perfectly happy with the end result.
They’re happy he’s back in the AHL and has to build favor with a new group in order to get a shot?
Whoever the team is that claimed him then decided to not reclaim him is probably not on Ralph’s or his agents Christmas card list.
That was probably MacCrimmon’s doing, asking someone in the Bowman Haters Club for a favor. Or maybe Lavoie agent asked a GM for a favor.
The fact that there even could be a Bowman haters club in theory just reminds me how stupid a hire this was.
I’m telling you all right now vibes are a thing and they matter and you won’t be able to identify that you’ve thrown it away until it’s too late.
Stupid stupid hire and if Edmonton gets boxed out at the deadline we’ll know and I will never forgive Jackson.
A poster typing the phrase “Bowman Haters Club” doesn’t make such a club a fact.
There could just as easily be a Kelly McCrimmon Haters Club, in particular among agents, given how he’s treated some player out there.
This was not a positive result for Lavoie – he’s back in the AHL.
I guess we will have to disagree.
Why? The player and his agent are perfectly happy with the end result.
I’m sure they are very much NOT happy. The primary purpose of waivers is so that teams can’t hoard and bury prospects in the AHL and to provide them with opportunity to play in the NHL in other organziations.
Moving from Bakersfield to Henderson is definitely not a great outcome for Lavoie.
Maybe you can have your secretary figure out the quote thingy for you? You continue to ignore this after having been called out by multiple posters. Get with the program, OP.
I’m sure you have “no idea” whether or not the player or his agent are happy or unhappy with the waiver result. And while the primary purpose of waivers may indeed be what you state, it clearly has worked in this case. EDM can no longer “hoard and bury” Lavoie in Bakersfield. And I would argue that his chance to play in the NHL is much better with VGK, a team that clearly has demonstrated they want him, as opposed to EDM, a team who at best seems conflicted with this player.
Wow, quite the comment from you given that you started the conversation with:
So, in your own words, I’m sure you have no idea either, but you were the first to make such a claim.
How has Vegas demonstrated they want him any more than the Oilers? They refused to keep him on their NHL roster and gave him away for free instead.
Lavoie has been assigned to Henderson, of the American Hockey League so, no, the primary intent of the waiver system has not worked. Lavoie is buried in the AHL.
Are they? Jerked around and hasn’t played for a week.
They had to follow the rules or it wouldn’t have flown. I don’t feel sorry for players outside of Babcock type things. They are pro athletes and the worst of them makes a ton of money in real world terms. You have to take your lumps as you try to get into the best league in the world, in any sport, or anything really. At the end of the day he ended up in a very good org, could be worse
I would suggest that only the best of the best ever make a dollar in any league. Most don’t. You give no thought to thousands of players with no teeth and poor knees that remained just out of the money.
And the end justifies the means is not acceptable.
This is another example of bending rules to gain advantage. The rules exist for fairness.
The investigation should be done regardless if the “player is happy” and done by a third party who cares about fairness, not the outcome of one circumstance.
Lavoie getting claimed should have resulted in NHL playing time. Im not buying that he is now happy working his way up the Vegas depth chart. He waited for his opportunity, He got it when Vegas claimed him. It was then taken away again.
I suppose if you are on the side that people are owed things they haven’t earned or are seen to have earned. I’m not, it doesn’t work. There was nothing wrong with how this went down. The rule makes sense to me for the first team that loses a player – they were trying to send them down, if the claiming team also waives you have a chance to get them back and do what you intended to
I’m not sure how you tighten it up in a case like this. If you make it that any team but the original one has to keep them in the NHL or waive them, it would limit the already low player movement more. Lavoie has a new opportunity, the point of waivers, which isn’t bad for a player stuck in the cogs of the previous team with new management and a bunch of their forwards coming in soon. LT’s lost sheep because new GM
As for money, they keep ~40% of their salary after everything. At league minimum that’s ~310K US in the bank. Not many ways to make that income for most people except radio jocks like LT. D Ryan didn’t make it until 29, his career earnings are put at 16.3M US. Strudwick apparently made 7M US and wasn’t a regular usually and retired in 2012. Yes there are some sad stories with athletes, and also tremendous earning opportunity if they are smart, lucky enough, and can stick around even at the margins
Why? This is a good result for the player, which is why the rule is designed this way. It gives the player a 2nd set of eyes well before Group VI free agency.
Lavoie and his agent are probably overjoyed.
They’re not overjoyed he’s still in the AHL.
Is he even top 3 forward recalls for the club? Are they going to play him ahead of Brisson or Sapovaliv? Lots of competition over there for Ralph to contend with.
There is competition everywhere, by definition. I suppose the OIlers have a new GM so that is a fresh set of eyes, but like when a new coach comes in, everyone gets a clean slate in a new org
Guy can shoot the puck. They will give him a fair shake. That’s all he can ask. It wasn’t something he was going to get here.
Overjoyed to be buried in the AHL by an org that didn’t draft him and may not even be the first choice to be recalled to the NHL?
Maybe overjoyed by a new org that doesn’t have an axe to grind with him.
I mean, Vegas waived him once already. They may not have an axe to grind because they may just be indifferent towards him. Not sure an agent or the player would be overjoyed in either case.
What axe did the Oilers have?
I am as disappointed as anyone at losing another young player. The thing is though, Ralph didn’t push his case enough in the A, like Holloway did. As OP pointed out, nobody sees him as an NHL player not getting his shot
Vegas is depleted and took him because they could. Maybe Bowman can return the favour to someone at some point. Poaching seems to be in vogue
For years the oilers couldn’t keep young players past their second contracts, devoid of veterans. Now, we let players walk before we know what they are. If a cup isn’t forthcoming, this is DoD level bullshit.
24 years old.
7 NHL games and 0 NHL points.
Not a single NHL team is willing to keep him on their NHL roster at league minimum.
I think the above statement is a bit exaggerated.
Lavoie is the third this summer alone. I don’t think it’s exaggerated at all. If Broberg pops and the Oilers falter it’s easily on point, but thanks for your input. I mean where would we be without it….
Good thing we started slow playing the prospects.
Liljegren is a more talented player than the 3 or 4 new fellas, can skate and move the puck. A quick perusal says he can get out of position by being too aggressive (not what Nurse needs, that is Nurse), doesn’t really hit, is weak net front, is also not a strong in zone defender and plays a really vanilla game.
They don’t need more of that. Give time to the newbies and see what happens with J Brown in the A. If they acquire a D, they need to balance the group. To me that means a hard guy to play against that can play. That can be like Ekholm who isn’t violent, but he plays guys hard and is huge. The group isn’t big, and it isn’t mean, and mean and hard to play against works in playoffs
I still have Oiler dreams about Radko. I think they broke the mold. The Oilers at their best over the years were a meaner team than most, or all. A fast offensive team that can play you in the trenches and come out with your lunch is the Oiler template, it’s the org DNA
I appreciate the overview of Lilegren’s game. A tough, capable defender is ideally what the Oilers acquire at the deadline (or sooner).
Just curious, do any of us think that Lilegren is a better D than any of the 6-9 that the Oilers have? I have no idea if there is a potential fit there for the 2 teams, but I was surprised to see TML moving on from a capable right hand puck moving D.
Then again, I don’t think much of Berube as a coach.
Yes, I do think he likely is but the issue here is $3MM on the cap.
Oilers could do and dig in to the LTIR reserves if they wanted to.
Don’t think they do.
There is no a single team in the NHL that is willing to keep Raphael Lavoie on thier NHL roster.
I don’t like the way this has played out but the vitriol towards management and “awful asset management” seems highly over-stated given no NHL team is willing to have this player on their NHL roster at league min (and the Oilers are getting screwed by the waiver process and an unintended bust that has allowed Vegas to send him to their AHL team).
howcome Vegas can send him to the minors but the Oilers can’t?
because when Vegas reclaimed him, after previously losing him on waivers, no other team put in a claim.
when the Oilers reclaimed him, after previously losing him on waivers, there was an additional claim.
There is a bust if the process.
I’m irritated the Oilers were so quick to fill the bottom 6 with old dudes, when they had Holloway and Lavoie ready to step in. Now they are both gone for nothing, and the team is slower than it was last spring.
Nothing to do with being “too quick”.
If the Oilers wanted to keep Lavoie over one of the old guys, they could have done so today without issue.
The organization values the old dudes over Lavoie – end stop.
It is awful asset management because the Oilers management degraded the asset and then lost the player for nothing. Management has not been keen on the player for years. So trade the player while they still have some value instead of waiting until the asset is worthless. Buy high sell low has been Oilers management MO for so long.
It’s bad management because the Oilers knew this would happen and still put him on waivers.
So did Vegas just 3 days ago….. was that bad management?
You know they put in two claims that day right? Were successful on both right?
They had the rights to Lavoie, waived him knowing they’d lose him and lost him – no different than the Oilers yesterday/today.
But that’s not the case. They waived him knowing that they had another team backing them up with a frivolous waiver claim and that the player would not only be coming back but could be loaned to their AHL outfit without issue. Vegas waiving and Edmonton waiving were not equivalent actions.
I’m not saying I agree with SVR here, I just think your response is inaccurate.
You are presuming that they had knowledge – you have no way to know that is the case and are presuming there was colusion.
There are likely at least 15 players on the Condors that would not be claimed if put on waivers. Should they all be given away for nothing?
Three things: 1.) Setting Free the Bears – brings back great memories. My brother and I used to flip books back and forth. We had similar tastes. This makes me think of those days and how much we enjoyed John Irving’s novels. Also if you’ve never read them – John Updike “Rabbit series”. Sad though my brother died at 61, 11 years ago now. 2.) Rusty Patenaude. I used to buy my sticks from the sports store close to old Northlands, can’t recall the name of the store but I always bought the Rusty Patenaude curves!! 3.) I am worried about the entire team this year. Sluggish preseason, VERY sluggish first game and TBH, I just can’t understand waiving Lavoie when he could have been kept on the roster and at least given a couple games. Anyway my thoughts today.
There is clear issue with the waiver claim process when Vegas is able to now send Lavoie to the AHL without having to clear waivers.
The intent of waivers is so that teams cannot bury players in the AHL without ever giving them a shot and that fact Vegas, who also waived this player, is able to send him to the AHL when the Oiler never passed on the opportunity to retain him in their org, is egregious.
There is no way Vegas should be able to farm the kid and not the Oilers.
I agree, but Edmonton did this to themselves. Totally bungled a situation that was well within their control. As I,ve been saying all week, bad management of the asset
Everyone in the west is absolutely terrified of the Oilers, that’s the only conclusion to the collusion that’s taking place.
Love it!
Or maybe they don’t think Cover Up Stan should have a job in the NHL.
Has absolutely nothing to do about Stan and everything to do about trying to weaken the best team in the conference they’re all terrified of.
Yup. WPG was scared shitless the other night.
I didn’t initially realize that Vegas could claim Lavoie and send to AHL. Just remphasizes that waivers is something the Oilers should use more for depth at the NHL and AHL levels. Why not claim a player even if you want them for AHL?
It’s not that simple – you if you want to send a claimed player to the AHL he has to clear waivers. Vegas was exempt from this provision because Lavoie was their property earlier this week, and, nobody else put in a claim today
Yes, I know. But if you value a player why not try? This was an unusual situation with a team putting in a claim for Edmonton but not Vegas, but claiming a players then sending them down might still net the player if team doesn’t reclaim, or could have a multiple claim situation like this.
Lavoie claimed by Vegas.
If noone else claimed Lavoie – Vegas can send him to Henderson.
Hopefully the same team that claimed him along with the Oilers did again.
Puckpedia advising that no other team put in a claim for Lavoie so he can go straight to Henderson.
So, which ever team (that finished higher in the standings than Edmonton last year) that put in a claim the other day, concurrently with the Oilers, which was the sole reason the Oilers couldn’t send him to Bako did NOT put in a claim today?
We may see a ‘Las Vegas sends a 7th round pick to Edmonton for future considerations’ announcement shortly
I wouldn’t bet on it.
I think it would be more “Vegas sends 7th round pick to whichever team put in the claim after Edmonton”
Smells a bit fishy to me.
I’d guess it’s more likely Kelly McCrimmon owes Drury, Zito, Tulsky or Sweeney a nice bottle of scotch.
Yes – it appears no one was doing Stan any favors with this whole charade
Ok… what the actual “F”!!! (explicit)
How is this even ethical? We own him, waive him, he’s snatched up by Vegas, waived, we grab him back, waive him, and now Vegas reclaims him and he’s not obligated to be part of their roster!
This makes zero sense to me. Can we not just reclaim him again, essentially keep playing the game? Why did Vegas win this rock, paper, scissors dance?
“F” Vegas!!! (explicit)
“F” Tkachuk too!!! (explicit)
Bettman “and in addition to Vegas claiming Lavoie off of waivers, the Edmonton Oilers owe a 1st round pick to the Las Vegas Golden Knights”
and a 3rd rounder to Calgary just because
Where’s that other team than stopped the Oilers from sending him to Bakersfield now? It’s an absolute joke what this league does.
Dermott paired with Nurse at practice today.
Interesting, I thought that Stecher would get the game, with Kulak, and Dermott would sit.
Seems, least for now, Dermott is solidly ahead of Stecher on the depth chart, even the right side depth chart.
No changes to the forward group at practice.
Yikes. They should be getting Nurse and Emberson as much time together as possible. Very weird.
If Dermott is the Oilers best option at 2 RHD then we in trouble.
Per Matty: Carter Savoie has now signed with and is joining the Ontario Reign (which is LAK’s affiliate) – leaving his team in Finland.
Gonna be facing off against his brother a bunch this year. Fun
That winning goal he scored late in that exhibition game is a perfect example of how he can score with very little room, kind of out of nowhere. He got a tiny bit of space, took some strides towards the net and then snapped a shot from a less than optimal puck placement and angle and beat the goalie.
His release and ability to shoot from less than optimal puck positions is a high end skill and I do think that it would like him to produce a good 8-12 goals from a bottom six position if he got to play nightly.
I do think that he could fit well with Adam Henrique as 3LW – a solid 2-way vet center that can help at both ends of the ice, on a line that can score but isn’t pressured to socre nightly – sounds like a perfect spot – pushing Janny down to 4LW would be great as well.
We are likely never going to see it. The Oilers currently value accruing on $775K of cap space more than having Lavoie as the 13F and spelling off the likes of Perry, Ryan and even Podz who don’t need to play ever night (depending on how each are playing).
Because the vibes are low, I can just see him getting plucked again today (maybe Colorado) and then an Oilers forward getting banged up on the weekend and them needing to call up a health 12th forward and Lavoie could have just been there.
You’re determined to undermine Janmark at all times, weird.
I have an opinion that Janmark is a 4th line player at this stage of his career.
You had spent years “undermining Foegele at all times” – tell me the difference?
Foegele was/is never a top 6 forward, while Janmark fits like a glove alongside Henrique and Brown. I’ve never called for Janmark to be placed in the top 6, he’s perfectly placed.
Coach was scratching Foegele while Janmark was making hay.
The amount of spew projected at the Oilers 3rd line is wild, 3 professional forwards that all know their role. Play responsible hockey.
Foegele with 18 even strength goals and P/G consistently in the top 6 range “was/is never a top 6 forward”
Mattia Janmark “fits like a glove” on a third line despite 4G/12A last year and that line getting caved in their 52 minutes together.
Talk about narratives!
Just chatted with a Canucks Fan, teasing me about the loss. I said theirs was worse
Unprompted he is bemoaning that they signed Desharnais and said good job moving him on, described him as a pylon that can’t do anything. Says they should have paid Zadorov
Healthy scratch tonight for Vinny
Desharnais outside of defending his own zone is like playing a man down
I always thought promoting Des and trading Kesserling was the wrong move.
Des is a great No 7D b/c he can’t move the puck well and in the cap era, that’s not worth $2mill.
Seaweed played great for the Oilers, he held his own and then some. Give him his due.
Oilers should have paid Zadorov
Not my type of player, but I do admire the young guy
Zadorov would have been perfect, couldn’t hurt Drai again being on the team, but 5M is too much for 20 points
Lavoie’s career arc is starting to resemble a blast from our past. Who remembers Alex Giroux, who could put the puck anywhere he wanted into a net, but didn’t have the boots to compete at the NHL level? The perfect definition of an AAAA player, to use an old LT-ism.
The difference is that Giroux had a 60-goal season in the AHL.
Already despising the phrase “lots to clean up” this season.
Translation “play the damn game like you know you can”
I feel for Lavoie. Considering there’s a 39-year-old holding a place on the roster.
Who will be lucky to play 40 games and struggles to get around the ice. For what reason, because of his reputation, which he can no longer duplicate on the ice and hasn’t for years.
Not to mention they actually have cap room to keep him. He’s on the roster right now.
The org values accruing on that $775K of cap space more than they value Lavoie as an option. I guess I could understand but when you factor in that they’ll need to add a player as soon as a forward can’t play due to injury, illness, personal reason, and the org has full knowledge that accruing on that $775K will be gone fairly soon….
With respect to Perry, I think the players, staff and front office value him in the org (on and off the ice) more than most fans. Truth be told, he was one of the few forwards that were decent last game.
I wonder what Lavoie did or didn’t do for the organization to be so sour on him from day one. The way Holland treated is own draft picks was strange. Holloway was treated like royalty where as Broberg and Lavoie were shit on. At least it’s fun again cheering for prospects like O’Reilly-Nicholl-Clattenburg myself believing they will all be given a fair opportunity.
Lavoie fell to the second round because of alleged character issues. Perhaps they persist.
I do believe his lack of opportunities is personal I do believe they asked him to get more physical on a full time basis and that’s just not in his DNA. I do hope he lands in Ottawa or Montreal and goes on a ripper.
Both of those teams have passed on him 3 times each in less than a week….
In limited minutes he still was on the ice for a goal against. The only decent line was the Henrique line. I’m sure Perry is having a fun time in amazement wondering what this organization sees in me LOL. I’ll keep showing up as long as they pay me. Truth be told Corey Perry won’t be a difference maker on the ice in a positive way at any point during the regular season, playoffs, or SCF, if the team makes it that far. So, what’s the point? It’s not a coincidence Perry’s contract can be completely buried in the minors. If they want to accrue cap space which contract should be gone?
Perry played more at 5 on 5 last game than: Podz, Ryan, Henrique and Janmark so your use of “limited minutes” while praising the 3rd line (of which he played more than 2/3 of) doesn’t jive.
Eye test (at least my eye) and numbers show a solid game for Perry – among the best forwards.
I understand your valuation of Perry but it seems clear that the organization values him more.
Where exactly is Perry’s value?
Why not keep him for 13th forward?
Org seems to have valued accruing on $775K of cap space more than keeping Lavoie in the org and giving him the odd game to rest guys and cover for inevitable injury.
What an emotional roller coaster these last few days must have been for Lavoie. And he’s not back on solid ground just yet.
I wish him well also, and agree he could stick in the NHL (and that sticking also isn’t guaranteed).
At least Lavoie is getting a few days on NHL pay (and more, if he keeps getting plucked off of waivers).
Aidan Muir can still make it. He was the youngest in his draft for cripes sake!
Haha!! One of us!!
Is Greg Chase still around?
Given the claims put in during his whirlwind week, I think it’s unlikely Lavoie makes it through under the same circumstances. I also think it’s possible that the Oilers aren’t waiving him without a handshake agreement in place with the previously involved teams.
We’ll know shortly, but just a thought.
Prospectology!
A nontet of NAmatuers numerate the docket.
It’s not certain whether Wakely will play tonight, even though he joined his new Barrie squadron yesterday. (As our host says, we can’t know what we shan’t know.). But we do know they will battle London in a showdown of potentially four NAmateurs.
And for the first time in recent memory, head-to-head battles will be on both sides of the border as Fischer opposes Mazura.
Berry and the Vermonters (a lost folk-bubblegum pop trio from the British Invasion) round out the sched.
London (O’Reilly, Nicholl) @ 5 p.m.
Barrie (Akey, Wakely) @ 5 p.m.
St. Lawrence (Mazura) @ 5 p.m.
Notre Dame (Fischer) @ 5 p.m.
Vermont (Määttä, Münzenberger) @ 6 p.m.
Muskegon (Berry) @ 6 p.m.
All times are just two times and both times are Standard time.
Thanks Tarkus!
Don’t Barrie my heart, my Akey, Wakely heart.