After Edmonton Oilers fans clamoured for Raphael Lavoie to get a spot on the team’s roster, he finally did. Not after training camp, but after a few games when needing injury replacements.
Unfortunately, his debut with the team may not have lasted as long as he, or the fans, would want.
On Tuesday afternoon, Lavoie was loaned to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL.
Raphael Lavoie performance
In his five game stint with the Oilers, Lavoie looked solid and showed he belonged on the ice in the role he was filling. However, he failed to register a point.
That cannot be held against him too much as he spent most of his time in a fourth line role with Derek Ryan and averaged less than 10 minutes of ice time per game.
He did plenty of other stuff well and showed he can have the drive and hockey IQ to handle playing against NHL players.
Impact of this move on the roster
The timing of this move is curious as even if Connor Brown is ready to return from injury for Wednesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, the Oilers will still only have 11 forwards able to play with Dylan Holloway suffering an injury in Monday’s win over the New York Islanders and Mattias Janmark still out of the lineup.
Which leads to the consideration that this is simply a paper transaction and Lavoie will be recalled for the game against the Kraken. Or, Brown and Janmark will both be ready to go versus Seattle.
