Should he stay or should he go? Raphael Lavoie poses risky dilemma for Edmonton Oilers
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Published Oct 05, 2023 • 4 minute read
Raphael Lavoie skates during the Edmonton Oilers development camp in 2019. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia
Raphael Lavoie is making things nice and complicated for the Edmonton Oilers.
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With two goal-scorer’s goals in his past three pre-season appearances, the 23-year-old dropped a big, fat dilemma on the lap of general manager Ken Holland.
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Either give him a spot on the team on opening night, even though a young and unproven winger isn’t exactly what the Oilers need on their fourth line right now, or risk losing a 6-foot-4, 215-pound, high-end prospect for nothing.
“You don’t really think about it, you go day by day,” said Lavoie, who will either be playing in Edmonton, Bakersfield or an entirely different organization when the NHL season begins on Wednesday.
“If they tell me I’m here, I’m here. If they tell me I’m somewhere else, I’ll go somewhere else. If I start to sit around and think about every place I might be playing hockey, it’s going to tear my brain apart.”
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Imagine how Holland’s brain is feeling right now. The Oilers spent a high second-round pick on Lavoie and invested three years in him and they know there is every chance he will grow into a very good NHL finisher.
He’s trending up in the American League (five goals the first year, 13 goals the second and 25 in the third) and watching him pull the trigger in training camp leads everyone to believe there is more to come.
How do you risk letting young potential like that walk out the door for nothing, especially when the organization already traded away its first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks in 2023, its first- (Reid Schaefer), second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2022 and will very likely move their first-round pick this year?
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But Edmonton’s most pressing need in the 12th forward spot, the one and only opening on the roster, is for a veteran two-way centre who can win faceoffs, kill penalties and provide a physical dimension.
Lavoie is not that guy, but he’s playing his way into the conversation anyway.
“I see growth in Raphael Lavoie,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “That’s a credit to him working at his game and investing in his summer the right way. He’s having a good camp, he’s highly competitive. It’s going to be competitive here for that last forward spot.
“He’s fighting for a spot on the Edmonton Oilers and that’s what we want to see.”
Lane Pederson, a natural centre with some NHL experience, could me a more natural fit, but is he worth losing Lavoie over? But if they keep Lavoie and send Pederson down, they also risk losing him on waivers. The previous time a team (Vancouver) placed Pederson on waivers, he got claimed by Columbus.
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So therein lies the dilemma when salary-cap issues reduce your roster to 21 instead of 23 — risk losing a talented prospect to satisfy a more pressing need in the here and now of your Stanley Cup window or keep the kid and risk being shorthanded in an area that cost you in the playoffs last year.
“When the time comes to make a decision based on the constraints of a 21-man roster, you want to make sure you’re making the right decision, and with that decision are consequences,” Woodcroft said.
“I don’t think we’re overly concerned with any type of end-game scenario right now, we’re concerned about making sure we’re paying attention to what the players are showing us so we can make the best decisions possible and usually that other stuff plays itself out.”
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But the decisions and the end-game concerns are now just days away.
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“We’re going to work our way through the last two days of camp and then there are going to be some discussions between our management and the coaching staff,” Woodcroft said.
“We have a few days here. We have time and we’re going to use it. We’re going to continue to evaluate. For me, in the end, the Edmonton Oilers are going to try and ice the best lineup possible, whatever that is, whatever the ramifications are. I’m sure all of that stuff will be taken into consideration when the decision is made.”
All Lavoie can do is make the decision even harder by showing the Oilers what they’ll be missing if he somehow slips through their fingers.
“It’s a day-by-day thing,” he said after his goal against Calgary on Wednesday night. “I don’t control what management does with their decisions, I’m just showing up there every day and whatever happens, happens.
“I feel like I’m playing well. I’m making some mistakes here and there but I feel like my game is in a good spot right now and I’m trying to build on it.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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