The Oilers have re-acquired Raphael Lavoie off waivers, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He was lost on the wire to the Golden Knights just two days ago. If Edmonton was the only team to submit a claim, they can now assign him directly to AHL Bakersfield.
Even if Edmonton wasn’t the only team to submit a claim, they can still get away with having him on the active roster for now. They had two open spots and were up to $1.06MM in cap space before the claim after moving Evander Kane to LTIR, per PuckPedia, enough to shoulder Lavoie’s league minimum cap hit.
It’s good tidings for the Oilers, who never wanted to lose Lavoie in the first place. A victim of roster math, he’s on the cusp of a full-time NHL role after posting 50 points in 66 games for their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield last season. The 2019 second-round pick has intriguing size at 6’4″ and 216 lbs and can play both center and wing – an appealing mix for a depth scorer.
He’s especially so on a contending and cap-strapped Oilers club, who would likely insert him into the lineup the first chance they get if an injury strikes. The Golden Knights were hoping to see what they had in him by giving him some runway with their AHL affiliate in Henderson, but it wasn’t in the cards.
Good news.
Kings should put in a claim and put him on the 4th line!
Well who saw that coming!
Apparently another team also put a claim in so the Oilers can’t just send him down now.