October 9, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

There was a bit of a fire storm on Twitter after Raphael Lavoie, Lane Pederson, and Ben Gleason were placed on waivers by the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Many people were confused about these moves because all three players had good camps. As it turns out, it was all much ado about nothing.

I learned something new yesterday. Puck Pedia (@puckpedia) shared this information:

A reminder on #LetsGoOilers, with Niemelainen injured, they had no choice but to send Lavoie & Pederson down in order to be cap compliant. They will not have room for a recall until Niemelainen is healthy, waived, & sent down.https://t.co/onpGRVAQKN https://t.co/UZjX2jlQGW

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 9, 2023

The deadline for submitting the season opening roster to the NHL was Monday at 5 pm ET, and Sunday was the last day to waive players in order to be sent to the AHL prior to the deadline. The Oilers only have enough cap space to carry 21 skaters, so they had to waive three players on Sunday. The Oilers had to keep Markus Niemelainen with the team because he is hurt. Niemelainen didn’t skate with the team over the holiday weekend.

The organization certainly took a risk by waiving those particular players. The degree of risk was the highest with Lavoie, the team’s second round pick from 2019. They’ve spent four seasons developing the kid, and he hasn’t played an NHL game yet. They don’t know what they have in Lavoie at the NHL level. That’s why it would’ve been so hard to lose him; but that’s also why teams ultimately decided to pass on claiming him.

Pederson and Gleason have more professional experience than Lavoie. Both will prove to be useful organizational depth pieces this season. I believe that both will get into games for the Oilers. There was a degree of risk in waiving these useful players, but they ultimately could’ve been replaced.

While the data doesn’t lie, Janmark also scored 25 points in 66 games last year, and 25 points in 67 games the year before that. Points aren’t everything and they don’t tell the whole story, but they are an indicator of a player making smart decisions with the puck. They’re an indicator of skill. Janmark rarely made poor decisions with the puck, and he was an effective forechecker. He also averaged the most ice time per game for forwards on the penalty kill. The results were underwhelming, but the team clearly likes him on the penalty kill.

Related: Oilers Place Lavoie, Pederson, and Gleason on Waivers

Janmark would’ve been one forward to potentially waive. Who would the second one have been? Derek Ryan? The team loves his hockey IQ and his ability to win faceoffs as a right-handed player. He was a part of an effective checking line with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele during the playoffs. Head coach Jay Woodcroft was a fan of that line.

I personally would not have waived one of the eleven established forwards on the team in place of Lavoie or Pederson. I believe that Gleason was going to be waived regardless of the situation because the defence was basically set in stone based on their performances last season. It was a risk to waive these three players, but as many people suggested, perhaps the best time to take that risk was on the same day that many other teams had to place a bunch of players on waivers because it would be easier for the players to slip through the cracks amid the chaos. It was a risk that paid off in the end.

For now, we as fans get to wait it out to see how Niemelainen’s health progresses and how it will impact the roster for Wednesday’s season opener against the Vancouver Canucks. 

Currently, there are only five healthy defencemen on the roster. Both Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak skated with the team on Monday, which is an encouraging sign leading up to Wednesday’s game. Having all three of Ekholm, Kulak, and Niemelainen sidelined would mean that the Oilers would have to dress eleven forwards and five defencemen on Wednesday. Should that continue to be the case for the second game of the regular season on Saturday, the team could call a player up on an emergency basis. That player would likely be Gleason based on positional need.

If Niemelainen is healthy but Ekholm and/or Kulak are not, then the team could either dress Niemelainen or waive him and call up Gleason with no issue.

We’ll learn the results of the battle for the twelfth forward spot once Niemelainen and at least one Ekholm and Kulak are healthy. At that point, there would be at least seven healthy defencemen. The team could then decide to waive Niemelainen, send him to Bakersfield, and call up one of Lavoie or Pederson. They could also sign Erne to a contract and have him on the active roster.

Sunday’s moves were much ado about nothing. Lavoie, Pederson, and Gleason clearing waivers means that they can switch between the Oilers and the Bakersfield Condors without needing to go through waivers again for thirty days. We still do not know the result of the battle for the twelfth forward spot. Time will reveal all.