Edmonton Oilers' opening roster exactly as projected: 20 known commodities and 1 still-enduring mystery
Oilers opening roster set... almost Edmonton Oilers' opening roster exactly as projected: 20 known commodities and 1 still-enduring mystery has failed to load, with Ryan McLeod signing a one-year deal for $798,000 an hour before the first on-ice session of camp. The team was aiming for a 21-man roster with only a couple of roster decisions to be determined, and the process has nearly been as straightforward as a year ago. The names of the players involved in those battles are exactly as anticipated for weeks, with Raphael Lavoie, Lane Pederson and PTO Adam Erne still yet to be resolved. With no spots available, all three players have been waived on Sunday and can now be designated for assignment by the Oilers. This is an essential part of the process that has worked well on the team during his first tenure, but it’s not a single single single season for the Oilers, as they have worked hard to gradually work up the ladder.
发表 : 2年前 经过 Bruce McCurdy, Edmonton Journal 在 Sports Finance
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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or For the second preseason in a row the Oilers’ roster was virtually set before camp even began. In 2022-23 the die was cast the moment Ryan McLeod signed a one-year deal for the very specific figure of $798,000 an hour before the first on-ice session of camp. From there it was clear that Holland was aiming for a 21-man roster with only a couple of roster decisions to be determined:
Here at the Cult of Hockey we correctly forecast on Sep 24 that Ryan and Malone would win their respective battles, and thus nailed the entire 21-man season-opening roster that was declared nearly three weeks later. Now it’s the fall of 2023, and the process has nearly been as straightforward as a year ago. Again a 21-man roster has been expected, but without the dollar-for-dollar intrigue that necessitated the Ryan vs. Janmark showdown a year ago. This time, thanks in parts to significant pay cuts accepted by both vets, there was always going to be room for both and indeed that turns out to be the case. Better still, the club has finally emerged from cap jail after spending the last three years locked into Long Term Injured Reserve status due to the career-ending injury endured by Oscar Klefbom in 2020.
This time around the roster was again eminently predictable. Back on Sep 13, we projected this opening group of 20 identified players, with just one open spot. Here we are nearly four weeks later, and on Monday the opening roster was effectively declared as exactly those 20 players. Even the forward lines are accurate, for now. There has been some churn on the d-corps due to multiple preseason injuries, while the situation in goal is very competitive. But the names of the players involved in those battles are exactly as anticipated for weeks. The 21st spot, an apparent showdown between forwards Raphael Lavoie, Lane Pederson and PTO Adam Erne, still hasn’t been resolved. Instead, it is temporarily occupied by defenceman Markus Niemelainen, who is injured and cannot be waived; given his one-way contract he must stay on the roster until his situation is resolved.
The Oilers have come out ahead on one key matter, though. With no spots available, all of Lavoie, Pederson and depth defenceman Ben Gleason were waived on Sunday. To the surprise of some, all three cleared that process on Monday and can now be designated for assignment by the Oilers. With those successful waivers comes a new level of flexibility for Holland, who can now move any and all of those tweeners between the farm and the big club for at least the opening 10 games of the season and likely much longer than that depending on how he plays his cards. One thing the GM was quite clear about was that Lavoie is unlikely to be the first to get a look. He told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic: “With a 19-skater roster — 12 forwards and seven D (ideally) — it doesn’t give us the luxury to carry a young player that we can grow. We need everybody, all hands on deck… When we’re only carrying 12 forwards, we’ve got to carry forwards that are going to be in the lineup every night. They can’t go through growing pains.”
In fact the designated 12th forward does not need to be in the line-up every night, as Jay Woodcroft has the option of dressing a 7th defenceman instead. That’s an approach Woody has used in close to half of his NHL games to date. It’s not like younger players have the market cornered on making mistakes, either. In a perfect world, they make a few along the way and learn from them. It’s an essential part of the growth process. But as Holland correctly pointed out about three former first-round picks that have worked their way on to the team during his tenure, it’s not generally a single leap to NHL success. All of Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway took parts of two if not three season to gradually work their way up the ladder. Broberg and Holloway remain entangled in that process, even as both project to be full-timers in 2023-24 after splitting last season between NHL and AHL.
Similarly Ryan McLeod, the Oilers’ second-round pick the year before choosing Lavoie in that same range, also bounced around a little between leagues for a bit, even as he found a full-time home in the NHL before the expiry of his ELC. By contrast, Lavoie has played out his first contract without a single NHL game, and now begins his bridge deal still in the lower league, having been passed over by all 32 NHL clubs, not just 1. Worse still from his perspective is the qualifying offer he controversially signed in the summer has a much lower AHL component than he might have been able to negotiate in concert with a two-way deal that paid minimum salary at the NHL level. He now faces the enormous challenge of putting all of that to the side to focus on furthering his game in yet a fourth season in the AHL, awaiting an opportunity that might arise in the event of injury on the big club. Worked for Klim Kostin a year ago.
Meanwhile, veterans like the 26-year-old Pederson (71 career games) or 28-year-old Erne (355 career games) appear to have the inside track on that 12th forward position when it comes available. That might well be sooner than later; while the Oilers couldn’t put Niemelainen on LTIR to open the season without consequences, now that he’s opened the season on a cap-compliant roster, he could well be LTIR’d as soon as Day 2, which is the day Edmonton actually plays its first game. At this distance we don’t know enough about Niemo’s actual injury status to do more than speculate, but he left the Oilers’ fifth preseason game early and then missed the final three games altogether. The other option is to go with the 20 healthy guys on the roster in an 11F/7D/2G deployment until such time as Niemelainen heals and potentially goes on waivers himself to make room for that 12th forward. Though he is on the roster for technical reasons just now, the towering Finn may well have dropped below Gleason on the potential call-up list once the dust settles.
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