October 13, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they have signed Adam Erne to a one year contract on Friday. The contract is a two-way deal worth $775,000. The 28-year old has 89 points in 355 NHL games with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings.

Erne-d it ✔️

The #Oilers have signed forward Adam Erne to a one-year, two-way contract with an AAV of $775,000 at the NHL level. #LetsGoOilers

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 13, 2023

It appears that we have a winner in the battle for the twelfth forward spot. Erne was duking it out with Lane Pederson and Raphael Lavoie for that spot during training camp. The decision was put on hold because Markus Niemelainen was injured when the opening roster needed to be submitted on Monday. Niemelainen wasn’t able to be waived until he was cleared to play. He was waived on Friday, which means that he is ready to play. That’s why Erne’s contract announcement was made today.

Related: Much Ado About Nothing

Think of Erne as Klim Kostin-lite. Erne had eighteen points in 61 games with the Detroit Red Wings last season. He also had 160 hits in those 61 games, a mark which would’ve led all Oilers players. Kostin had 21 points and 157 hits in 57 games with the Oilers last season. Erne was brought here to replace Kostin’s production and physicality. I personally don’t think he will get the ice time on the third line to replicate Kostin’s numbers, but that’s the thought process here.

Erne started killing penalties last season. The Oilers lost Nick Bjugstad and Kailer Yamamoto from last season’s playoff roster. They logged the third and fifth most penalty killing ice time per game among Oilers forwards last season. That certainly factored into the decision to sign Erne.

Many experts and fans felt that Erne didn’t have a good camp and didn’t earn the spot over Pederson and Lavoie. Many of those people were outraged that Lavoie was waived after a positive camp. In an interview with The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman, Oilers GM Ken Holland explained that Lavoie would have only made the team if they could carry thirteen or fourteen forwards.

“With a 19-skater roster — 12 forwards and seven D (ideally) — it doesn’t give us the luxury to carry a young player that we can grow. We need everybody, all hands on deck.” said Holland. “We’re trying to field the best team that we can.”

“If you look at all these (young) guys [Evan Bouchard, Dylan Holloway, and Philip Broberg], they didn’t just all of the sudden show up and play 80 games. I don’t envision Raphy could do that. When we’re only carrying 12 forwards, we’ve got to carry forwards that are going to be in the lineup every night. They can’t go through growing pains.”

Nugent-Bowman did make a point of saying that Holland does feel that Lavoie will be an NHL regular one day:

“Holland can see Lavoie getting into anywhere from 10 to 30 games for the Oilers depending on the circumstances. He thinks Lavoie — the second draft pick he made as the team’s GM, 38th in 2019 — will be an NHL regular one day.”

Lavoie being sent down to Bakersfield is consistent with how Holland has handled prospects in his time with the Oilers. He leaves them to over-ripen in the AHL, and he makes them earn roster spots by beating out veterans on cheap contracts or on PTOs in training camp. Lavoie was never a guarantee to make the team. There are still question marks about his NHL-readiness based on his small sample size of true AHL success from the second half of last season.

I thought Lavoie had a great camp and I was cheering and pushing for him to make the team. I think he has all the tools to be an everyday NHL player. However, I fully understand the bet on Erne’s experience in a season where there are championship expectations and where there are roster constraints. Lavoie will benefit more from playing more minutes in Bakersfield than he would playing sparingly as the twelfth forward on the Oilers.

Related: Deep Dive: Twelfth Forward Battle

Erne’s contract is a two-way deal. It’s important to note that a two-way contract simply means that his salary would be different in the AHL than it is in the NHL. It has no bearing on how easy it is to send him to the Bakersfield Condors. He would still need to pass through waivers just like any other player that isn’t exempt from waivers. It doesn’t make him any more likely to be sent to Bakersfield either.

It’s hard to tell when Erne will make his Oilers debut. It will depend greatly on the health of Mattias Ekholm. If Ekholm is still not ready to play by Saturday, then Erne will likely dress. If Ekholm returns on Saturday, then head coach Jay Woodcroft will have a choice to make on whether he wants to dress eleven forwards and seven defencemen, or twelve forwards and six defencemen. The next time the Oilers go with twelve and six, Erne will be in the lineup.