Oilers notebook: Raphael Lavoie reaches a tipping point in Edmonton

Raphael Lavoie is at that tipping point, turning 24 on Wednesday, of a player who clearly has the answers in the AHL with his 50 goals in his last 127 games in Bakersfield but still can’t get past the question mark stage in the NHL.

At what point does the Edmonton Oilers farmhand get past the “tweener” stage?

A first-liner in the minors, good enough for a short call-up, but not good enough to be an NHL regular. He’s an AHL point-producer (95 points in those 127 games) but he’s behind Zach Hyman and free-agent signee Viktor Arvidsson on right-wing in the Oilers top six and not a tried-and-true penalty-killer like 3RW Connor Brown or the 1,000-game RW Corey Perry on the fourth line.

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And it’s tougher today to make the Oilers, the oldest team in the NHL, than it’s ever been with the team in win-now mode, losing in Game 7 of the Cup final in late June. Where could Lavoie fit, with the team realistically having no more than one open forward spot with 12 healthy guys on one-way contracts, and Evander Kane out for months after hernia/hip/abdominal surgery on Friday? They could open the season, for cap reasons, because of only $946,000 available space, with just 12 forwards and seven D, along with Stu Skinner and Calvin Pickard in net, or they could opt for a 13th forward (Lavoie makes $775,000) to severely crimp the cap space.

But, that’s only a maybe.

Lavoie is not waiver-exempt. He cleared waivers last October after two goals in six pre-season games when sent to the farm, before his 28-goal Bakersfield season.

Would he do so again?

Maybe the Oilers trade him for a draft pick as Vancouver did with the waiver-eligible winger Vasily Podkolzin before his trade here last month. Right now, Lavoie, who played seven Oiler games last season but was barely given a sniff (seven and a half minutes on average, ranging from a low of 4:11 to a high of 9:46) is a right-winger, in limbo.

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“It’s a Stanley Cup contending team, there’s so many good pieces,” said Lavoie, before the Oilers first pre-season game against Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place.

“I’m trying to take a spot and, obviously it’s not going to be easy because the Oilers are one of the best teams in the league. But it’s part of the business. It’s hard to make the NHL,” said Lavoie.

Raphael Lavoie (62) battles Darnell Nurse (25) in front of goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during Edmonton Oilers’ training camp at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

What has he tried to take from the minors that might get him NHL employment?

“I know you have to be relied on in the defensive zone and to finish games when you’re winning, playing the 5-on-6 (goalie pulled by the opposition),” he said. “You have to block shots, bring some physicality (he had 64 PIMs in 66 games this past season in Bakersfield). You have to round out your game, bring more and more to the table,” he conceded.

Minor-league players are minor-league players until they’re not, though.

“Last season we didn’t have many injuries so he couldn’t play many games for us,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “But Raffi’s a strong hockey player, it’s very difficult to take the puck off of him. That’s a great asset, but we’re also looking at his speed, things like getting in on the forecheck… that part of his game to add to the rest.”

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An example from the past might be fellow forward Terry Purcell, but he didn’t get that love until he left Los Angeles Kings and went to Tampa Bay, then finding his scoring way here. He was a talented offensive player, too, but spun his wheels.

Lavoie barely got a sniff as a fourth-liner in his call-up last season, but at least he finally played NHL games after being a second-round draft in 2019.

“It’s part of the game (very little ice-time as call-up). You just keep grinding. Like in the minors, I was sitting beside (Dylan) Holloway and he wasn’t playing much either in the NHL but he kept grinding, got back up, and was a big part of the team in their Stanley Cup run,” said Lavoie.

“You keep pushing and pushing and eventually you deserve more (NHL) minutes. You can’t expect to play 20 minutes (right away) in the NHL. You have to earn those,” said Lavoie, but, major league baseball teams call up their best farm team player because, say, the shortstop is hurt and play that guy in left field.

Hockey is different.

With the call-up last year, does he consider himself an NHL player?

“That’s a good question. No, I don’t. You have to be there night-in, night-out. You have to be there (for games) full-time,” he said.

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You’re an NHL player when the coach says you’re an NHL player.

“Yeah, you’re not a bubble guy any longer,”  said Lavoie.

Woodcroft at Flyers camp

Former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft spent two days at Philadelphia’s training camp as an observer, sitting in the stands like the fans, not up with the Flyers brass. Flyers’ bench boss John Tortorella extended an invitation to Woodcroft, who lost out to Dean Evason for the Columbus head job earlier in the summer.

No job offer in the organization, just a classy move by Torts.

“I used to do it myself as a young coach, reaching out to see if I could just view a practice and sit down later and talk a bit. This is a young man who has no job right now, trying to use his time correctly to try and be better. I’m all for that,” Torts told The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz.

Woodcroft is still being paid by the Oilers after being replaced by Knoblauch last November.

This ‘n thatAn excellent Oilers addition Saturday: Dominik Zrim, the co-founder of CapFriendly, the player/team salary website which started in 2015 and was bought by the Washington Capitals this summer. Zrim’s official title is Oilers director of hockey strategy…Jesse Puljujarvi, maybe fully recovered after double hip surgery, broke out in a big way with all three goals for Pittsburgh Saturday in their 7-3 loss to Buffalo, two goals on the power play. “To me, he looks a lot stronger, he’s able to sustain his skating through the course of his shifts,” said Pens’ coach Mike Sullivan…The Leafs have sent Czech import Miroslav Holinka (Toronto draft pick this past June) and tryout camp forward Marshall Finnie back to the short-staffed WHL club, which started regular season with losses in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

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