The Oilers have gotten off to a start straight out of Ken Holland's nightmares. The team is barely treading water in a Pacific Division that looks a lot weaker than expected and several players including McDavid have already missed time with injuries. They were just able to keep their season alive when they defeated the Flames at the Heritage Classic but went right back to losing when they hosted Dallas last night. Now, moves are being made.
Philip Broberg, drafted 8th overall in 2019, has not panned out as expected. After Broberg made a mistake that lead to a Dallas goal early in the second period last night, he was stapled to the bench for the rest of the game. Even prior to the play he was struggling to get shifts as he ended the night with just 5:46 of ice time. It was the third time the defenseman had played less than 10 minutes in a game this season. It would come as no surprise then when the team announced he was sent down to the AHL today.
In a corresponding move, the Oilers called up Raphael Lavoie, one of their better forward prospects. Lavoie nearly made the team out of training camp but they ultimately decided to send him to the AHL in an effort to sneak him through waivers. Luckily for them things worked out perfectly and now they can call him up without having to risk losing him for free.
Lavoie Leads the Condors in scoring this season with 4 goals and 7 points through 5 games. He will look to add some depth scoring to an Oilers team that has been struggling on all fronts this year. If he can prove to be useful, expect to see him stick around for a long time.
