Oilers notes: Dermott looks to capitalize on successful Oilers tryout

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Edmonton Oilers defenceman Travis Dermott technically remains on a tryout but he will likely have a one-year contract for $775,000 in his back pocket Wednesday night even if he will probably watch the season home opener against Winnipeg Jets from the press box.

“All my feeds (social media) are filled with hockey stuff. It’s hard to miss it (the travails of players on camp invites). There were a lot of good players on PTO’s this summer,” he said

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Did Dermott swallow hard to take his Oilers tryout?

“No. It would probably have hurt more if I thought I had been playing to my potential the last few years … then you would take it to heart. But, I know I have so much more to give,” he said. “I had this (tryout) offer from midsummer on and waited a bit to see if anything popped up (in the way of a guaranteed contract).”

It didn’t, but Dermott did his due diligence, talking to former Arizona teammates Troy Stecher and Josh Brown, who were both signed as free agents, to get the lay of the land here. “You hear so many good things about the Oilers, whether the facilities or the people running it. This is a place I thought I could really blossom.”

Stecher is the Oilers No. 6 defenceman and Brown, signed to a three-year contract July 1, is off to Bakersfield. Dermott is the No. 7 on the depth chart, beating out Brown, as it turned out.

“That hurts. Hockey’s a business but we’ve still got souls. We still love one another. I’m sure Brownie will be unbelievable down there (AHL) and it’ll be very hard to keep him there,” said Dermott, whose ability to play left defence and his off right-side, won out in camp practices and games.

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“I take pride in my mobility and being symmetrical on the ice, being able to go both ways (left or right), attack from different angles with my stick. I haven’t found it hard to adapt.”

Gone, gone, hmm, maybe not

As expected, Vegas put Raphael Lavoie back on waivers to try and get him to their AHL farm team in nearby Henderson after claiming him off the Oilers list Monday. Now we’ll see if GM Stan Bowman reclaims Lavoie, who clearly is a first-line player on the farm, and sends the winger to Bakersfield.

Odds of reclaiming Lavoie? How about 75-25. Good for the Oilers, not so good for Lavoie, who probably needs a new team, a new set of eyes on him.

Maybe Bowman has talked to Kelly McCrimmon in Vegas and told him they’ll grab Lavoie back and if the Golden Knights want him so badly for their farm squad, maybe there’s a trade to be made for, say, a draft pick.

Vegas decided to keep Calgary’s right-shot centre claim Cole Schwindt on their NHL roster instead as an extra forward over Lavoie, with Mark Stone, Alexander Holtz, Brendan Brisson and Keegan Kolesar on RW on the NHL roster.

“(The Lavoie situation) hasn’t played itself out right now but you don’t like to lose a player like him. He has a bright future, but unfortunately he couldn’t fit in with our team. He’s definitely an NHL player,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.

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Play it again Sam?

Sam Gagner gave it a good shot on his camp tryout in Carolina but didn’t make it, like many players on PTOs throughout the league, including former Oilers Alex Chiasson and Adam Erne.

“I’m proud of how I played. Just the nature of the business,” said Gagner, who had four points in his four pre-season Carolina games but is fully aware that teams look after their signed players and kids on entry-level deals first, more than tryout guys.

It appears he lost out to prospects like Jackson Blake, whose dad Jason played 871 NHL games.

“It’s a cap world, all over. So many great players around the world aren’t playing in the NHL because they (teams) don’t have the money for it,” said Gagner’s friend Connor McDavid, who was certainly following Gagner’s journey in Carolina.

Next move is Gagner’s, after 1,043 games.

“I hope he lands somewhere. He had a good summer,” said McDavid.

Does he want to retire? Get his expected management career kicked off like, say, Jason Spezza when he quit, first becoming special assistant to Kyle Dubas when he was Leafs’ GM, and now as assistant GM in Pittsburgh? Sign a minor-league contract with somebody? Work out with a team to stay in shape?

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Gagner is not that old, having only turned 35 in August.

Pick a player

The Oilers players had a poll question on who would score the team’s first goal of the season as they came off the ice Tuesday. Ty Emberson: “Darnell Nurse.” Darnell Nurse: “Ty Emberson.” Looking out for their D partners, clearly.

And Knoblauch? Who’s he selecting?

“Sorry, I’m unbiased,” said the coach, who controls who’s in the starting lineup.

Leon Draisaitl has scored the first Oilers goal the past two seasons, both against the Canucks.

This ‘n that: Matt Savoie, who had four points in two pre-season games for Condors, and Cameron Wright, on both the Oilers opening-day roster for cap reasons, physically had to fly from Bakersfield to be here, even though it’s just a paper move. They weren’t on the ice for practice. Both will be returning to the farm. Who is Wright? He played college hockey at Bowling Green, and then Denver as a teammate of local products Carter Savoie and Mike Benning, where they won the NCAA championship in 2022. He was never drafted, signed as a minor-league winger, first by Colorado, then in Bakersfield. At the Oilers camp he played one exhibition game before being signed to a two-way deal for $925,000 in the NHL and $80,000 to play in Bako. “I thought he had a great camp,” said Knoblauch. He was signed now to get as close to the $88-million cap ceiling as possible to put Evander Kane on LTIR … Kane, who is out for months after abdominal surgery, still has his stall in the Oilers dressing room, of course … Jets’ goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who has been attending to a family matter, had a quick workout with goalie coach Wade Flaherty Tuesday and was on the plane here for the Oilers game, so he’ll start … Ex Oilers winger Dylan Holloway gets the season-opening start on the Blues top line with Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours in Seattle, as St. Louis tries to balance all four lines. Philip Broberg bounced from top-pair defence with Colton Parayko to second with Justin Faulk in pre-season, and he’ll be with Faulk against the Kraken … Age is mind over matter, they say, but the Oilers, in win-now mode, are the oldest team in the NHL at an average age of 30.19. Buffalo’s the youngest at 25.89. Oilers winger Corey Perry is one of five players at 39 years old on season-opening rosters: Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Suter, Brent Burns and Alex Ovechkin, who is 42 goals from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record 894, are the others. Suter is in St. Louis now but also being paid by Minnesota and Dallas … If you’re wondering about turnover on NHL teams from year to year, the Oilers and Panthers have both lost five players from their Game 7 lineups in the Stanley Cup Final, so 25 per cent. Gone from the Oilers — Cody Ceci (Sharks), Warren Foegele (Kings), Ryan McLeod (Sabres), Broberg and Holloway (Blues). Not around Monday night to get the 15.6 carat — 554 diamonds, 16 rubies, 46 sapphires — Cup rings in Florida: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Leafs), Brandon Montour (Kraken), Kevin Stenlund (Utah), Ryan Lomberg (Flames) and Kyle Okposo (retired). And, yes, there’s a little rat carved into the inside of every ring … Foegele will be on the Kings second line with Quinton Byfield in the middle and Kevin Fiala to start things off … The Oilers have winger Roby Jarventie on season-opening injured reserve with a knee issue, with $107,000 counting on their cap, before Jarventie, who never got into an exhibition game, winds up in Bakersfield … In terms of buyouts, the Oilers still have James Neal, at $1.92 million, and Jack Campbell, at $1.10 million, on the books for this season, too, plus the bonus of $3.25 million for Connor Brown off of last year’s contract.

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