Edmonton Oilers put NHL veteran d-man on waivers, while delaying NHL debut of sharp rookie centre

This in from the Edmonton Oilers, major moves before announcing their final roster tomorrow: “The Oilers have loaned forward Noah Philp to the Condors while also placing goaltender Olivier Rodrigue, defenceman Josh Brown & forwards Raphael Lavoie and Drake Caggiula on waivers.”

My take

1. On merit, Noah Philp earned a job with the Edmonton Oilers as fourth line centre out of training camp, out-playing a few veterans. At the same time, Derek Ryan is a solid enough fourth line centre and after having been off for a full season it won’t hurt Philp to get heavy minutes in the AHL. If there’s an injury, it’s hard to imagine Philp won’t be the first call-up. His camp was a massive success.

2. Tough guy Josh Brown has been in the NHL for the majority of his pro career, including the last five seasons straight Brown signed the longest term contract of any newcomer to the Oilers this summer. But the veteran Brown was significantly out-played by other d-men this pre-season, including Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher and Travis Dermott. We’ve yet to see if Dermott will be offered a contract.

Brown is a fierce customer but needs to move the puck better if he’s going to hang in with this version of the Oilers, where puck movement is at a premium.

All that said, this version of the Oilers has plenty of aggressive veterans but it’s short on obvious physical players. Fighting is no longer much of a thing in the NHL, which is good news for this squad. Of course, Evander Kane will eventually return to the line-up and provide plenty of ferocity then.

3. Abrasive and quick Drake Caggiula also made an excellent impression in pre-season. Hard to imagine he won’t get some NHL games this year as injury inevitably hits the Oilers.

4. Raphael Lavoie had his best camp ever with the Oilers and performed well in some games. Will another NHL team pick him up on waivers? It’s possible but unlikely, as he passed through waivers last fall untouched. But perhaps some other teams have noticed more maturity in his game.

5. Olivier Rodrigue is unlikely to be claimed on waivers, but you never know. In Bakersfield, he’ll be the No. 1 goalie this season.

6. Dermott played well in-pre-season, but he brings a lot of what other puck-moving d-men in the system, namely Stecher, Ben Gleason and Cam Dineen, already have. Perhaps Edmonton, in a move for team toughness, will grab another physical d-man off waivers just now.

7. How few players will Edmonton go with on the NHL roster. A major goal this year is to build up cap space to splash on an incoming player at the trade deadline. That happens faster if the Oilers go with a 20, 21 or 22 man roster, not the full 23-man squad.

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