The Edmonton Oilers have a very favourable schedule to start the season, and they plan on taking advantage of it.

They’ve been slow out of the gate the past three seasons, starting 4-5-1, 4-5-1 and 2-7-1, but in the fall of 2021, they were 9-1 out of the gate and 7-3 the following season. The past three years have been rough, but they have had great starts, and they should have another one this year.

Edmonton opens the 2026-27 season with two games against the Vancouver Canucks. They were the worst team in the NHL last season and did nothing to suggest they won’t be a bottom-five team again. That doesn’t mean the Oilers can just show up and skate away with two points. They will need to play fast and smart, as they did in the pre-season, but this group has a history of starting well under a new coach.

When Jay Woodcroft took over, the Oilers went 26-9-3 in their final 38 games. They had the second-most points in the NHL after he was hired, one back of Calgary, then they beat the Flames 4-1 in the second round of the playoffs.

Kris Knoblauch replaced Woodcroft on Nov. 13, 2023, after a 3-9-1 start. The Oilers went 29-9 in his first 38 games and had the best record in the NHL after he was hired, going 46-18-5.

This team responds well to a new head coach. And I expect them to do the same under Mike Babcock. Babcock has made some tweaks to how they play, just like Woodcroft did initially, as well as Knoblauch. Responding to a new system isn’t an issue; it is maintaining the attention to detail throughout. I sense that is what the players felt was lacking, and why they need a coach with more of a hard-ass reputation. It isn’t about starting well with him, but maintaining that consistency and commitment to the finer details.

Babcock wants the Oilers to attack all over the ice. Be aggressive, but he is also a stickler for the small details, about where you go to support the puck, where you chip and chase it, as well as how to rotate and react in the defensive zone. We can’t overhype the 4-0 pre-season record, but how they played was consistent. They didn’t give up a lot, and when they did, their goalies played well. Their main focus is reducing goals against, and they will, but don’t forget they also did that under their previous head coaches. Don’t be surprised when you see the Oilers reduce their glaring giveaways and lower their goals against. We’ve seen it before; you likely might have just forgotten how stingy they were in Knoblauch’s first season. They ranked fifth in goals against/game and had the seventh-best penalty kill in 69 games.

This group has shown they can defend; it’s just whether they will continue to do it next year. I won’t be surprised at all if the Oilers finish in the top-10 in goals against. We know they can score. That has never been an issue, and I don’t see why it would start now. Their superstar forwards, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, are still in their prime, and so is Evan Bouchard on the backend. They should have enough secondary scoring, but they will need a bit more production from their depth guys. Every player has a clean slate with Babcock, and he will play those who play well.

SNAPSHOTS…

- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will not play tonight. He is out with a lower-body issue, and according to Mike Babcock, the injury occurred in practice yesterday. RNH is seven games shy of breaking Kevin Lowe’s franchise record of 1,037 games played. He was scheduled to break that record at home on Oct. 15, but that will be delayed. It is unclear how many games he will miss. Babcock said he is day-to-day, but that could mean one day or 10.

- Owen Michaels will make his NHL debut tonight. He grew up near Detroit and was a huge Red Wings. Pavel Datsyuk was his favourite player as a kid. His parents flew in from Detroit last night while his sister, Maggie, flew in from Dallas and his other sister, Bridget, flew in from Los Angeles. Michaels was beaming, talking about his family and having them here for his NHL debut. I asked him how he prepares for something that he’s dreamed about his entire life.

“That is a great question. There was definitely a lot of emotions yesterday when I found out I would be playing,” Michaels said. “I have lived this day a million times in my head, so I will try to lean on that and remember what I was dreaming about. I’m sure there will be some nerves, that is human nature, but I will try to keep it simple at the start and hopefully after a few shifts I will settle in.”

- The Oilers are 24-17-4-1 in season openers, and they are 21-10-3-1 when they open up at home. The Oilers have 142 regular-season victories over Vancouver, and they are 80-45-7-6 on home ice.

-- Edmonton was 3-0-1 against Vancouver last season, defeating them 3-1, 6-0 and 6-1 and lost 4-3 in overtime. The Canucks had a league-worst 58 points last season, and didn’t improve much in the off-season. This will be another rebuilding season for them.

Lineups…

Oilers…

These lines are just a prediction by me. The Oilers had an optional skate this morning, and with RNH’s injury being announced this morning, they haven’t run any lines without him. Babcock did say, “It was possible,” that the injury would lead to him splitting up McDavid and Draisaitl. I’d guess it will.

Howard-McDavid-Hyman

Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen

Joseph-Dach-Formenton

Jones-Michaels-Frederic

Ekholm-Bouchard

Walman-Murphy

Shea-Mukhamadullin

Jarry

With RNH out, putting McDavid with Hyman and Draisaitl with his two wingers from last season makes the most sense to me. Isaac Howard seems the most likely to get promoted into the top six. Babcock switched lines in-game against Calgary, so whichever lines he starts the game with, won’t be set in stone.

Canucks…

Debrusk-Pettersson-Lekkerimaki

Ohgren-Rossi-Boeser

O’Connor-Sasson-Karlsson

Cotter-Raty-Gallagher

Buium-Hronek

Oleksiak-Willander

E.N. Pettersson-Schenn

Lankinen

Jake DeBrusk missed practice yesterday, but he will play tonight. Pettersson, the forward, led them with 51 points last season, while Debrusk led them with 23 goals. The Canucks were tied with Chicago for the second-fewest goals in the NHL last year, averaging 2.56/game. Scoring will be a challenge again. They need Pettersson to produce more, but I don’t see him coming close to the 102 points he had four years ago. If he could get to 80 again, that would be huge, but he hasn’t looked dangerous offensively for three seasons.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers win their first-ever regular-season game in September and win their season opener for the first time since Oct. 12, 2022. They defeat the Canucks 5-2.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Connor McDavid has a multi-point game.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Kapanen scores. He will score 20 for the second time in his career this season.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365