Given Lavoie’s limited NHL playing time, this might be one of the shortest off-season player reviews. Still, he played some games and is a player worth talking about.

He got into his first seven NHL games this year, leaving a rather unremarkable impression. He didn’t play much, but fired a few shots on net, and had a good scoring chance rate for his few minutes.

Lavoie did his damage in the American Hockey League last year, scoring 28 goals and 50 points in 66 games. He showed an ability to take a step forward as a player, with his goal-scoring on full display not just this year, but over the last two. Fifty goals in his last 127 AHL games is nothing to scoff at.

As I wrote about the other week, the 2024-25 season is a make-or-break year for him within the Oilers organization as the team has added some other young talent looking to make names for themselves in Matthew Savoie, Roby Jarventie and Vasily Podkolzin, all of whom either have scoring talent, or his size and ability to play big-boy hockey.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.