It’s been a roller coaster ride for Edmonton Oilers wing Raphaël Lavoie over six years with the organization. He’s been back and forth on our Cult of Hockey rankings since debuting in the summer of 2018 at No. 13. Since then, he’s climbed from No. 4 to No. 7, then No. 11 and up to No. 2 a year ago. Now back in 7th position. At least it’s still here. Which is more than we can say for Lavoie’s other side hopes in 2023, namely 1st Xavier Bourgault, 5th Ty Tullio, 7th Carter Savoie or 15th Jake Chiasson. Those four picks from the Ken Holland/Tyler Wright era left the organization this summer, three via trade, with one not receiving a contract offer. As his colleague David Staples said, this is a “collective failure” of the future hopes of the Oilers.
An older prospect who was drafted by Peter Chiarelli in 2018, Lavoie didn’t really take a step forward or back, mostly running in place. It slipped in the rankings, however, after a handful of new prospects were added, including some in the same trades that saw Tullio, Bougault and Chiasson in the opposite direction as interim general manager Jeff Jackson refreshed the system