With opening night just three days away, the Edmonton Oilers have made what could be their last round of roster moves to set the opening day roster.
Four players were placed on waivers, Olivier Rodrigue, Josh Brown, Drake Caggiula, and Raphael Lavoie. While Noah Philp was loaned to the Bakersfield Condors.
Some of these moves come as quite a surprise. Especially Philp being loaned down to the AHL. All reports out of training camp indicated that he was playing extremely well and ready to take on the fourth line centre role, including some high praise from head coach Kris Knoblauch. But with him having just returned from an entire year out of the sport, we begin to wonder if it is more akin to a conditioning stint and he will find himself back in the NHL shortly.
Lavoie is another move that may come as a surprise. He played well in camp and scored a couple of goals in preseason, but he was also dealing with an injury that likely held him back. This is a crucial season for him in his development and he will need to start strong to make it back for some NHL action before he misses his opportunity.
Brown, the defender recently signed to a three-year deal in the offseason, appears to have been outplayed by Travis Dermott in camp and now finds himself on waivers at risk of being sent to the AHL before ever suiting up in a regular season game for the Oilers.
What does this mean for the roster?
We now have a pretty good idea of the roster on opening night. The lines at practice today reflecting these moves show what appear to be the winning line combinations.
There are no surprises in those lines. That breakdown is more or less exactly what was expected through the offseason.
Leon Draisaitl gets the scoring wingers that he has needed for years. The Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique, Connor Brown line that was potent in the post-season will start the season together again, though that may not last if they can’t sustain their performance. Newcomer Ty Emberson won the second-pairing right-defender spot alongside Darnell Nurse.
The only real difference is that Josh Brown is not on this roster with Dermott as the seventh defender instead. It is worth noting he is still on a PTO and has not signed officially yet, but his presence on the roster today is likely foreshadowing a contract in the near future.
How do you feel about these lines heading into the 2024–25 season? Drop a comment down below with your thoughts!
4th line is a little slow. I would have preferred both Philp and Lavoie instead of Ryan and Perry. These were the lines most of us would have predicted prior to camp
Fully agree. It’ll be hard for Podkolzin to really do anything noteworthy on that line as well.