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October 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg
It’s been a roller coaster of a week for Raphael Lavoie. The Edmonton Oilers placed Lavoie on waivers on Sunday. They thought that they would be able to send Lavoie down to the AHL after he cleared waivers, but the Vegas Golden Knights foiled that plan by claiming him on Monday.
The Golden Knights placed him on waivers on Tuesday so that they could send him to their AHL affiliate. However, the Oilers reclaimed him on Wednesday. The Oilers would’ve been able to send him to the Bakersfield Condors if they had been the only team to put a claim in for him, but someone below them in the waiver order also put a claim in for Lavoie.
The waiver order is based off of the regular season standings at the end of last season. The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and Boston Bruins are the teams that finished ahead of the Oilers last season. One of those eight teams put a claim in on Lavoie on Wednesday, which prevented the Oilers from being able to send him. There’s reason to believe that team was the Avalanche.
The Oilers placed Lavoie on waivers for the purpose of reassignment again on Thursday. The Golden Knights claimed him on Friday. No other team made a claim this time though, which meant that the Golden Knights were able to send Lavoie to their AHL affiliate without having to place him on waivers again. It took a week, but the Golden Knights wrestled Lavoie away from the Oilers.
The Chambly, Quebec native was the Oilers’ second round pick in 2019. Lavoie didn’t record a point in seven NHL games for the Oilers, all of which were played last season. The 24-year old put up career highs in goals (28), assists (22), points (50), and games played (66) for the Bakersfield Condors last season.
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Lavoie’s greatest weapon is his shot. A big winger that can score from distance like Lavoie can is a nice asset to have. However, the 6’4”, 215 lb winger isn’t noted for his physicality, and his skating has always been a question mark. Those issues, along with a lack of opportunity from the coaching staff, led to an unproductive seven-game test run in the NHL last season.
Some fans are looking at Corey Perry and Derek Ryan and wondering why the Oilers opted to sign old veterans rather than making a little bit of room for Lavoie on the roster. The argument is that Lavoie is younger than those two players and that he has more upside, so he should have been prioritized over the old veterans.
I would argue that Lavoie’s seven-game stint from last season is the answer to that question. Oilers GM Stan Bowman said that he liked Lavoie earlier in the week, but he was clearly comfortable with taking the risk of losing Lavoie on waivers. If they were scared of losing him, then they would have worked harder to keep him.
I had hope for Lavoie, but I think that some fans are overvaluing him. I don’t think that it’s a guarantee that Lavoie would have outproduced Perry or Ryan in a fourth line role this season. Lavoie doesn’t play a fourth line game, and there’s no room at the inn for Lavoie on a scoring line on the Oilers. One might have opened up for him at left wing on the second line next season, but I honestly don’t think that he will be top six ready by next season. I don’t think the timing of Lavoie’s development matched the Oilers’ timeline for needing his services, which is unfortunate.
I would have time to listen to an argument about trying to get an asset for Lavoie if he was never going to get an opportunity to succeed with the Oilers. I felt that Lavoie was a trade candidate for quite a while.
I question Lavoie’s trade value though. Consider that Vasily Podkolzin was acquired for a fourth round pick. Podkolzin was the tenth overall pick in the same year that Lavoie was a second round pick. Podkolzin has played 130 more NHL games than Lavoie has. There’s no arguing that Podkolzin’s trade value is higher than Lavoie’s. Lavoie would yield a mid to late round pick at most. Knowing that and knowing the odds of a late round pick turning into a useful player, I understand the Oilers taking the risk of losing Lavoie on waivers. Ideally, Lavoie would’ve cleared and the team would’ve kept him; but the risk didn’t pan out. It’s a loss, but a minimal loss in my opinion.
Lavoie was one of the three draft picks from the Ken Holland era that has played NHL games for the Oilers up to this point in time. The other two were Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who both signed offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues that were not matched by the Oilers in August. There are no longer any Holland draft picks that have played for the Oilers remaining in the organization.
That doesn’t mean that none of Holland’s other picks will ever play games for the Oilers. However, it absolutely speaks to how utterly dismal the drafting and development was during Holland’s tenure with the Oilers.
Lavoie joins Curtis Hamilton, David Musil, Mitch Moroz, Marco Roy, Tyler Benson as leaves that have fallen and disappeard into in the wind. They’re all former Oiler second round picks since 2010 that played less than 40 games for the Oilers.
I hope Lavoie finds success in the NHL, and it’s too bad that it couldn’t have been with the Oilers.
2 Comments
Before calling Holland’s draft choices ‘dismal’, maybe we should cast a shadow on the choices this management team led by Jackson and Bowman are making with respect to all the young talent which Holland did draft. I certainly wouldn’t call Broberg and Holloway dismal,
I wonder how much of the uninspired play of the oilers in the first game could be on the ‘Human Psychic” and how long it might last. Some say a Stanley Cup hangover, but maybe it is more. The team builds tremendous chemistry and friendships during a cup run and then when the team restructures for the next year to try and make improvements a lot of chemistry is dismantled. For example; they may miss the speed and toothless smile of MacLeod, the ever improving skills of Foegle, the friendships earned like between Leon and Cody, and the inability to keep 2 young players who contributed in the playoff run. Also, I wonder what effect the hiring of Bowman had on the team since we all know how it affected many fans. It was surprising how a team which has earned so much respect by donating to so many good causes could hire someone who would not expose a paedophile because it might affect a teams performance. Yes, the players are all professionals but the ‘Human Psychic” does and will affect all players in different ways whether we want to believe it or not. This team has gone through many different things this summer and I am sure it could have some lasting effects.