Confirmed with Link: Raphaël Lavoie loaned to Vasby IK of the Allsvenskan *UPDATE*

[Tobias Kahun]

@26 others

he got cut. Another garbage prospect added to our system. Expect him to be 25 or 26 and he cracks our 3rd line winger position.

It's a tongue in cheek post because of this posted when he got "cut" from the SHL.

 

[OiledUp]

@26 others


It's a tongue in cheek post because of this posted when he got "cut" from the SHL.

He also got cut in the face by a skate last week so he's actually been cut twice already this season, clearly a bust.

 

[snipes]

Projected top 3 pick in the 2021 draft Brandt Clarke will be joining Vasby.

 

[Zenos]

Projected top 3 pick in the 2021 draft Brandt Clarke will be joining Vasby.

Talk about an insanely Canadian sounding hockey-player name

 

[alphahelix]

Talk about an insanely Canadian sounding hockey-player name

Sounds like a crappy wal-mart country singer.

 

[Bangers]

Talk about an insanely Canadian sounding hockey-player name

Nobody will ever take Ryan Smyth’s crown in that regard.

Heck, Brandt Clark isn’t even as Canadian-hockey sounding as Brandon Davidson.

 

[Zenos]

Nobody will ever take Ryan Smyth’s crown in that regard.

Heck, Brandt Clark isn’t even as Canadian-hockey sounding as Brandon Davidson.

To take this even further off-track, I actually kinda disagree with Ryan Smyth. Despite the unusual spelling, the name sounds very generic anglo. He could easily be British, American, Aussie, etc.
To me those typically Canadian sounding names have have kinda "rednecky" (sorry!) first names like Brayden, Colton, etc. and a central/east european sounding last name. (Extra points for unusual pronunciation like Dach, Toews, etc.)

I mean, just look at the 2020 first round and you'll see what I mean: Braden Schneider, Tyson Foerster, Ozzy Wiesblatt!

 

[Oilers in NS]

Me and you both.

Gave a do anything for the team vibe. Looked strong in a lesser role. Bodes well for making the nhl in some capacity.

Bouchard... I still don't understand how everyone isn't crazy excited about this prospect. Unbiasedly called the best passers-by in the draft and going to be playing with McDavid... Has um... and ok shot too I've heard...

Plays 30 minutes a night. A leader. Has greatly improved by ahl accounts. Tracks in extremely elite company still...

Seen Lavoie play many times in Halifax. Great set of hands and he can dangle. Skating needs work but I can see this kid on PP2 and possibly 2nd or 3rd liner.

 

[Oilers in NS]

What do you guys feel is a reasonable upside for Lavoie? He has a long way to go still but he has scored at every level and been way, way above expectations this season. Can he become a 25+25 guy in a few years? I think he is an excellent prospect, a true steal at 38OV.

I think he can net 25 if played on 2nd or 3rd line and PP2 . He has a great set of hands and can dangle with the best of them. His skating needs work and his defensive game but hopefully that will come. Sure sounds like Benson does it not? I actually have more faith in Lavoie

 

[Bangers]

To take this even further off-track, I actually kinda disagree with Ryan Smyth. Despite the unusual spelling, the name sounds very generic anglo. He could easily be British, American, Aussie, etc.
To me those typically Canadian sounding names have have kinda "rednecky" (sorry!) first names like Brayden, Colton, etc. and a central/east european sounding last name. (Extra points for unusual pronunciation like Dach, Toews, etc.)

I mean, just look at the 2020 first round and you'll see what I mean: Braden Schneider, Tyson Foerster, Ozzy Wiesblatt!

To me, Ryan is the quintessential Alberta hockey name - didn’t the Oilers have basically an entire squad made up of Ryans at one point?

Maybe it’s just my memory.

And Smyth? It’s like you said, a different spelling of a Euro/Anglo name.

It’s hockey name gold!

 

[McJadeddog]

I think he can net 25 if played on 2nd or 3rd line and PP2 . He has a great set of hands and can dangle with the best of them. His skating needs work and his defensive game but hopefully that will come. Sure sounds like Benson does it not? I actually have more faith in Lavoie

I think Lavoie has significantly more offensive upside, while at the same time having a much lower lower bound of what could end up happening than Benson. Benson seems like a guy who will at worse become a fringe NHL'er guy who is a teams 13th forward some years and other years is able to carve out a bottom 6 role on some teams, and is very dependent on finding the right situation. Lavoie seems like a guy that if he doesn't make a middle-6 "quasi scoring/2nd PP" role on some team, he won't make the show at all. Lavoie seems like a guy who might light up the AHL as a 22-23 year old, where his skating and 200-foot-game weaknesses aren't as exposed, but will have some serious issues with the speed of the NHL game.

 

[ImmuneEH]

I think Lavoie has significantly more offensive upside, while at the same time having a much lower lower bound of what could end up happening than Benson. Benson seems like a guy who will at worse become a fringe NHL'er guy who is a teams 13th forward some years and other years is able to carve out a bottom 6 role on some teams, and is very dependent on finding the right situation. Lavoie seems like a guy that if he doesn't make a middle-6 "quasi scoring/2nd PP" role on some team, he won't make the show at all. Lavoie seems like a guy who might light up the AHL as a 22-23 year old, where his skating and 200-foot-game weaknesses aren't as exposed, but will have some serious issues with the speed of the NHL game.

Benson seems like he's in the Ty Rattie and Tomas Jurco tier of players. Where's they're pretty good in the AHL, but are fringe NHLers who depend on the perfect situation.

 

[MessierII]

I think he can net 25 if played on 2nd or 3rd line and PP2 . He has a great set of hands and can dangle with the best of them. His skating needs work and his defensive game but hopefully that will come. Sure sounds like Benson does it not? I actually have more faith in Lavoie

I don’t think he’s much like Benson. Better finishing skills but his on ice vision isn’t close to Bensons. Also Benson has always been sound defensively.

 

[MessierII]

Benson seems like he's in the Ty Rattie and Tomas Jurco tier of players. Where's they're pretty good in the AHL, but are fringe NHLers who depend on the perfect situation.

Benson is only 1 year removed from being the top scoring AHL rookie. Bakersfield struggled to score last year and he did have the best PPG on the team. If he doesn’t improve in the next two years then he can be put in that tier. Right now Benson is still a really good prospect.

 

[Anarchism]

Benson is only 1 year removed from being the top scoring AHL rookie. Bakersfield struggled to score last year and he did have the best PPG on the team. If he doesn’t improve in the next two years then he can be put in that tier. Right now Benson is still a really good prospect.

Benson's path to the NHL is effectively blocked on the Oilers. He still has development to do but he is a really good prospect. Best for him and us if we can package him together with a major piece and fill one of our 3 biggest needs.

 

[MessierII]

Benson's path to the NHL is effectively blocked on the Oilers. He still has development to do but he is a really good prospect. Best for him and us if we can package him together with a major piece and fill one of our 3 biggest needs.

Why is it blocked? We have gaping holes at wing in the top 9.

 

[ujju2]

Why is it blocked? We have gaping holes at wing in the top 9.

RNH, Yamamoto, Kahun, Kassian, Ennis, Puljujarvi. The only way he has a spot imo is if he beats out Ennis (which is hard because the veteran Ennis likely gets more chances from coaches) or of Kassian seriously drops the ball. So yeah, I do think his spot is somewhat blocked. It could be worse, but he's gonna have to blow the doors off in camp to get a roster spot.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Benson's path to the NHL is effectively blocked on the Oilers. He still has development to do but he is a really good prospect. Best for him and us if we can package him together with a major piece and fill one of our 3 biggest needs.

LOL so we should trade away a player with good potential without giving him a chance in camp to compete with other players? How on earth does that make sense? We may as well trade away all of our C prospects since we have McDavid Leon and Turris at C...

 

[ujju2]

LOL so we should trade away a player with good potential without giving him a chance in camp to compete with other players? How on earth does that make sense? We may as well trade away all of our C prospects since we have McDavid Leon and Turris at C...

The problem is he's getting to the point where if he doesn't make the team he's not gonna be getting much out of playing in Bakersfield. He's at the point in his development where he needs to start playing in the NHL and gaining that experience. So if he can't do that here it's doing neither him nor the team much good. Ideally he'd make the team out of camp, but if not Holland will have to start looking at his options. Now maybe that means moving players currently on the roster to make room for him, maybe it means moving him. But leaving him in the AHL is a suboptimal plan.

 

[Aerchon]

Benson is only 1 year removed from being the top scoring AHL rookie. Bakersfield struggled to score last year and he did have the best PPG on the team. If he doesn’t improve in the next two years then he can be put in that tier. Right now Benson is still a really good prospect.

Benson's path to the NHL is effectively blocked on the Oilers. He still has development to do but he is a really good prospect. Best for him and us if we can package him together with a major piece and fill one of our 3 biggest needs.

Why is it blocked? We have gaping holes at wing in the top 9.

Benson still is a very good prospect. I liked what I saw at the nhl level.

But he has some significant concerns that are making me hesitate to say the sky is true limit. Scoring ability and skating is lacking a bit. He uses effort and IQ to bridge the gap and we have not seen enough to say if that will be sufficient at the nhl level.

Probably a bit of him being so quiet this "offseason" and not having a great year last year but I'm lowering my expectations for him after that great rookie ahl year. He currently seems more online with a bottom 6 forward than anything else.

And he has been blocked by the team. Our forward depth is insane at the moment. I put guys like Haas and Nygard above Benson. Our pro and a amature scouting are heavily focused on speed/skating. Not to mention guys who can score 20+ like Neal and Chaisson. I don't believe he is particularly good on special teams to steal a role there either.

As a forward at 22 years old he is entering his prime, buried by depth on the team, and still struggling to find a role.

He is in tough this year and hopefully can rise above. Benson, Lavoie, and McLeod are our only 3 blue chip forward prospects and none of them are truly tracking to likely have nhl top6 careers yet unlike our far more promising defensive prospects.

Edit: Forgot about Holloway. He is obviously a blue chipper as well.

 

[ujju2]

He is in tough this year and hopefully can rise above. Benson, Lavoie, and McLeod are our only 3 blue chip forward prospects and none of them are truly tracking to likely have nhl top6 careers yet unlike our far more promising defensive prospects.

I'm pretty sure Holloway qualifies as a blue chip forward prospect...

 

[Anarchism]

LOL so we should trade away a player with good potential without giving him a chance in camp to compete with other players? How on earth does that make sense? We may as well trade away all of our C prospects since we have McDavid Leon and Turris at C...

LOL ...I like the kid too and think his upside is a general --playmaker from the third line (dont think much goal scoring will translate). Think he has potential with the right type of centre.
However at least two of Kahun, Ennis, Nygard, Chiasson and Neal will have to be out of the line up for one reason or another for him to get a shot ....further he probably has about 30 games? of stuff to work on yet...but hey you never know but i think the odds this year (if there is one at all) are quite slim.
Further on the bottom six we dont have the right centre for Benson's skills.

 

[ujju2]

LOL ...I like the kid too and think his upside is a general --playmaker from the third line (dont think much goal scoring will translate). Think he has potential with the right type of centre.
However at least two of Kahun, Ennis, Nygard, Chiasson and Neal will have to be out of the line up for one reason or another for him to get a shot ....further he probably has about 30 games? of stuff to work on yet...but hey you never know but i think the odds this year (if there is one at all) are quite slim.

Not sure why you have Nygard above Archibald in that list. I see the lineup like this:

RNH-McDavid-Kassian
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Turris-Puljujarvi
Archibald-Khaira-Neal
Nygard-Haas-Chiasson
Benson

He'll have to beat out 4 of those other guys to make the team. Tough task for sure. I think he can beat out Nygard and Haas, but he'll have to pass 2 more guys on that list as well.

 

[Dan Kelly]

isn't Lavoie leading his club in scoring over there in Sweden? wow, Vasby IK is a crappy team !!

 

[Anarchism]

Not sure why you have Nygard above Archibald in that list. I see the lineup like this:

RNH-McDavid-Kassian
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Turris-Puljujarvi
Archibald-Khaira-Neal
Nygard-Haas-Chiasson
Benson

He'll have to beat out 4 of those other guys to make the team. Tough task for sure. I think he can beat out Nygard and Haas, but he'll have to pass 2 more guys on that list as well.

In 21-22 maybe Nygard/Haas/Chiasson, maybe one of Kahun/Ennis are gone, and maybe Neal bought out....then perhaps Benson has a real opportunity. However certainly this assets value as a piece in a trade will be diminished and very likely frustration will creep into Benson's game. At this point its watch him closely in preseason if possible and assess the risks vs. the potential and the future fit.