The Edmonton Oilers bled young NHL talent in August (the twin offer sheets by the St. Louis Blues to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway) then bled a little more this week while helping educate the hockey world about the waiver wire.
The Raphael Lavoie saga was something else. One of Edmonton’s top prospects (I ranked him No. 7 on the summer list) found his playing rights move from the Oilers to the Vegas Golden Knights and back to Edmonton. Then things got weird.
Lavoie spent almost a week going on and off waivers only to end up in the minors — albeit with a different organization. What a bizarre trip. https://t.co/WvDAgeB7wK
— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) October 11, 2024
The Golden Knights claimed Lavoie a second time, and since that organization was now his previous club (before the Oilers’ re-claim) and no other team made a claim, Vegas got a free player.
No matter what new Oilers general manager Stan Bowman felt about the player, the look of this series of transactions doesn’t reflect well on his management team.
Did the club know about this wrinkle? Did the hockey ops department collectively prefer the cap room? If so, why claim him? Why allow a player once valued enough to invest in to walk to a rival team without compensation?
In the short term, losing Lavoie as an NHL-ready prospect doesn’t look good.
In the long term? Lavoie’s ability to shoot the puck is impressive. He is a good bet to score goals in the NHL given the chance. The problem for Vegas, as it was for Edmonton, surrounds Lavoie’s ability to take playing time away from established NHL right wingers.
The Oilers have Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson on the top units. Vegas has Mark Stone and Alexander Holtz. There’s no room on the skill lines in either city.
If the Golden Knights were looking to troll a division rival, it was a terrific ploy. It’s clear the team doesn’t see Lavoie as an instant solution, as reflected when he was optioned to AHL affiliate Henderson Silver Knights after all of the waiver excitement.
For Bowman and the organization, Friday night’s AHL season opener offered an opportunity to change the prospect storyline and prove once again that developing prospect wingers depends on outstanding AHL centres.
Friday night lights
The Condors were on the road Friday night against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
In that game, Bakersfield centre Noah Philp was the best player on the ice.
More important, coach Colin Chaulk ran Edmonton’s top prospect (winger Matthew Savoie) on the top line with Philp and veteran winger Drake Caggiula.
Early in the third period of Friday’s game, the Firebirds were defending against six skaters due to a delayed penalty. Another young winger, Matvey Petrov, jumped on the ice and finished a gorgeous passing play.
The play below featured Philp (he belongs in the NHL) bulling his way across the blue line, then sending a deft pass to Savoie, who dished to Petrov for the tap-in.
Wasting no time in the third. #Condorstown pic.twitter.com/R6uXXBWpxk
— Bakersfield Condors (@Condors) October 12, 2024
That kind of goal takes tremendous talent and anticipation. All three men involved in the play have the potential to deliver NHL careers of note, but the AHL is a tough league and prospect failure is high in every organization.
Through the fire
The Oilers have had success in spite of themselves over the years. Miroslav Satan was slow-played because management couldn’t understand why he wasn’t a regular on the 1994-95 Detroit Vipers (which featured a ridiculous lineup for the IHL). He played for the team during a period when the two top centres (veteran Ron Wilson and teenager Petr Sykora) were on fire and didn’t need much help. Satan eventually found his way to the Cape Breton Oilers (AHL) where he would score 24 goals in 25 games.
Sometimes the Oilers hit on a perfect combination and the wingers still don’t develop as NHL players.
In the early portion of the 1991-92 season, the Cape Breton club had a line so hot they earned a nickname. The VCR line was led by slick Shaun Van Allen, a complete centre who would go on to a long and productive NHL career. Both wingers, Dan Currie and Steve Rice, scored at will through mid-November and beyond. Van Allen was the only one of the trio to have a long and productive NHL career, but the chemistry was real that season and all three men benefitted from the experience.
Later in the same decade, the Oilers affiliate (Hamilton Bulldogs) enjoyed great success with a line that featured wingers Daniel Cleary and Michel Riesen between centre Brian Swanson. The “Bulldog line” was so successful new head coach (at that time) Craig MacTavish brought the entire unit to the NHL to start the 2000-01 Oilers season.
Cleary turned that opportunity into a long NHL career and that is the hope for all involved this year in Bakersfield.
New management
It’s a tale as old as time. New management tends to fade the previous group’s handiwork, and that includes draft picks and matriculating prospects.
The Oilers started accumulating talent for the Jeff Jackson era shortly after he arrived in the summer of 2023.
Fans can look at the prospects acquired since then (like Savoie and Sam O’Reilly) and get a good idea about the skills valued by the current administration.
The Jackson-Bowman management group likes skill but also a determined player. Speed is important and if an edgy style is included that’s a positive.
That doesn’t mean the inherited group is doomed. In fact, men like Max Wanner and Jayden Grubbe flourished a year ago and were in the lineup for the opener this season.
Wanner and Grubbe may play in the NHL as soon as this season, but will not own a skill role.
It’s vital for Chaulk and the Oilers organization to see the top-prospect wingers develop this season.
Lavoie is a talented player but Savoie is a more talented one.
In writing about Savoie in July, I wrote, “The best comps for him are Logan Stankoven and Jordan Eberle. Stankoven spent less than four months in the AHL, Eberle played 54 games in the league with none of those coming in his age-20 season.”
Savoie has the kind of skills that get a player out of the AHL before Christmas. That may not happen for the same reasons Lavoie was placed on waivers (team depth) but a strong start could force the issue if there’s an injury.
Lavoie has a great release. An NHL future is not guaranteed to him.
Savoie was chosen three years later and 29 selections earlier than Lavoie. In prospect terms, that’s a lifetime.
If Jackson, Bowman and Chaulk can develop Savoie into an NHL player soon, the loss of Lavoie (and Holloway) will be less severe.
Friday night in Coachella Valley was a very nice start.
(Photo: Perry Nelson / Imagn Images)
