Edmonton Oilers Talk: Is Raphael Lavoie the Next James Neal or Alex Chiasson?

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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The Hockey Writers (Couch)

Oilers Will Have Success in Realigned Pacific Division

The Edmonton Oilers may have lucked out in being in the NHL’s weakest division once again, much like last season in the North Division.
The bottom three teams from last year’s West Division find themselves in the Pacific Division for the 2021-22 season — those teams being the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks. Of them, only the Kings have visibly improved from last season, and should compete for a spot in the top-3 in the division
With not too many impactful subtractions from the team, the Golden Knights are set to take the Pacific Division title for the second time.
The Oilers should finish behind Vegas in the standings in 2021-22. With an improved forward group, a defensive core that was shuffled, and the exact same goaltenders, they will look to build on consecutive playoff appearances.
There should be a little bit of a gap between the top two teams in this division at the end of the regular season and the next tier of fringe teams. The Flames, Kings, Kraken, and Canucks slot into this group.

BLH’s Thoughts: Is it just me or is Calgary trending down a bit? I feel like the end of the season could see Vegas, Edmonton, Vancouver, and one of Seattle or LA making the post-season. I just don’t see the additions that Calgary made as being as substantial as what Vancouver did and I look at the young players in LA coming up and the Kings could be a really dangerous team if they catch fire.

I’d also add that I don’t expect the top teams in the Pacific to be as dominant as they’ve been in the past… There’s an opportunity for a team to step up in 2021-22 in my opinion.

The Cult of Hockey (McCurdy)

Oilers #7 prospect Raphaël Lavoie transitioned nicely to pro hockey with his “volume shooter” rep intact

A superficial check of the Cult of Hockey‘s summer prospect rankings might spark some concern that big winger Raphaël Lavoie has slipped a few rungs down the ladder. The second-round pick from 2019 topped out at #4 in the summer of 2020 after a strong final junior campaign in the Quebec League, but slid a slot to #5 in our final rankings last December, and now two more spots to #7 in the summer of 2021.
He headed over to Sweden to get a head start on his pro career, was cut in his first attempt with Rogle BK of the SHL, but soon latched on with Vasby in the second division HockeyAllsvenskan.
Vasby’s youngest player established himself as that (weak) club’s top scorer, albeit something of a streaky producer.
Significantly, he led the entire league in shots on goal with 202, the only attacker to break the 200 threshold. Did somebody say “volume shooter”?
He sniped his first goal in his third AHL game, and immediately embarked on a 6-game point streak. But then that inconsistency issue made an appearance, as Lavoie went the next 9 games without a single point.
Overall Lavoie played 25 games, posting 6-8-14, his 0.56 points per game slightly exceeding the 0.5 we had established as a reasonable expectation.
Expectations for 2021-22: See above, a feature role on the top line or at least top 6 in Bakersfield, and a significant bump in productivity to closer to 1.0 points per game. No major slumps. A cup of NHL coffee at an appropriate time is a distinct possibility.

“If Raph can put that defensive awareness and responsibility into his game, he’s as gifted a shooter as I’ve seen here at this level. He’s a talented offensive player, if he raises that compete and that defensive awareness, he has a bright future.” – Ryan Holt, Bakersfield Condors play-by-play man

BLH’s Thoughts: Consistency and attention to details are going to be two challenges that Lavoie will need to battle through early on in his career. Maturing mentally and overcoming the challenges of full-season in Bakersfield are couple more.

See, to this point, Rafa’s been able to get by on his physical talents, and they are outstanding, don’t get me wrong; but he’ll need to become a better skater, get his feet moving earlier, and he’ll need to round out the rest of his game a bit more in order to take the next step. I’ll be watching this season to see where he’s deployed on the PP for the Condors too.

I love the potential player that this player holds. I think he could have a comprable ceiling as high as James Neal, but I also believe his floor could be closer to Alex Chiasson. The major difference between Lavoie and those players are his work rate isn’t as high as theirs.

In his post, Mr. McCurdy talks about Adam Cracknell and the mentoring that he’s doing with Lavoie in Bakersfield as they are of similar build and playing style. Cracknell’s been around the globe a bit and he’s definitely got some lessons to pass down to young Raphael. Hopefully they pay off for the Oilers!

NHLTradeRumor.com

Besides a trade for Dvorak, here are four other options that TVA Sports lists as a potential replacement for Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

Elias Pettersson: He’s still looking for a deal with the Vancouver Canucks and even though he has mentioned enjoying Western Canada, he wants to make sure he’s part of a competitive team contending for the Stanley Cup.
Sean Monahan: Perhaps a change of scenery would do Sean Monahan some good…
Jack Eichel: Never say never but the Sabres would want Cole Caufield as part of a package.
Eric Staal: He took a little while to get started when he joined the Canadiens by way of a trade on March 26, but has proven to be an effective player.