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Depth scoring has become a strength recently for the Oilers
Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 28, 2026, 15:37 EST
It’s well known that the Edmonton Oilers have lacked depth scoring this season.
Connor McDavid has been the best player in the league, as per usual, as he has 33 goals with a league-leading 92 points. If he maintains this pace, McDavid will have 50 goals and 139 points over 82 games, which would be the second-best statistical season of his career. Leon Draisaitl is on pace to have his second-best statistical season over an 82-game pace.
The Oilers have gotten more top-six scoring from players like Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. But without either McDavid or Draisaitl on the ice during five-on-five action, the Oilers have just 34.52 percent of the goal share and 43.42 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick. Without the two future Hall of Famers, the Oilers have had fewer shot attempts, fewer shots on goals, and fewer high-danger opportunities.
There have been a few times where the Oilers’ depth scoring had been successful, namely in 2022-23, when the Oilers had 55.22 percent of the goal share and 52.62 percent of the expected goal share during five-on-five action without McDavid or Draisaitl. Another example is the 2025 postseason, but those two examples are the exception, not the norm. It’s why players like Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway have flourished since leaving the team.
That said, their secondary scoring has really come on over the past two weeks. After being blanked by the New York Islanders on January 15th, the Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 6-0, with Jack Roslovic and Kasperi Kapanen each scoring twice in five-on-five action, while Vasily Podkolzin scored one against his former team. Neither McDavid or Draisaitl had an even-strength point in this game.
The following night, the Oilers blanked the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-0. Midway through the second period, the fourth line of Trent Frederic, Curtis Lazar, and Andrew Mangiapane generated a goal, while Hyman’s 18th goal of the season didn’t feature an assist from either McDavid or Draisaitl, as the latter had missed these two games, as well as a third one.
Draisaitl missed his third game against the New Jersey Devils. Matthew Savoie scored the lone five-on-five goal, his eighth of the season with assists from Jake Walman and Isaac Howard. Draisaitl returned last Thursday, as the Pittsburgh Penguins stomped the Oilers by a score of 6-2. Their lone five-on-five goal was from Savoie, which had assists from Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.
Over the course of these four games, the Oilers received a ton of scoring from secondary options, such as Kapanen, Savoie, Podkolzin, Roslovic, and even saw a goal from the fourth line. In their two most recent games, it’s been defence scoring that has elevated the Oilers over the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks.
In one of the best games of the season, the Oilers defeated the Capitals 6-5 in overtime, thanks to a game-tying goal with 32 seconds left in the game. Scoring the first three goals for the Oilers was Bouchard, the first Oilers defenceman to record a hat trick since Marc-André Bergeron over 20 years before.
McDavid got back on track in this game, scoring twice and picking up three assists, but failing to score a five-on-five goal. That said, Bouchard was the star of the show in this game, picking up three assists after those three goals for a six point game.
It’s hard to process how long 20 years ago was, because it wasn’t the 1990s, but instead in 2006. Well, it didn’t take an Oiler defenceman until 2046 to score a hat trick, as Ekholm followed suit two nights later, with two of those goals coming during five-on-five play. In fact, the Oilers saw four goals from defencemen in a span of three minutes and 49 seconds, the fastest that four goals from a defenceman has ever happened.
The hat trick goal was thanks to an empty-netter, the first time in National Hockey League history that a team has gotten hat tricks from defencemen in back-to-back games. All four of the Oilers’ five-on-five goals came from defencemen in this game.
Remember that 34.52 percent goal share that the Oilers have scored during five-on-five action with McDavid or Draisaitl? Well, nine of the 29 goals the Oilers have scored without those two on the ice during five-on-five have come over their last six games, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Oilers have outscored opposition nine to five during five-on-five action with Draisaitl or McDavid since January 17th.
Depth scoring is incredibly important for the Oilers. McDavid went supernova during the 2024 postseason, becoming just the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy on the losing team, but it was depth that propelled the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2025. They had eight different five-goal scorers, just two shy of matching the 10 five-goal scorers they had in 1990.
With the fourth-line of Frederic/Lazar/Janmark finding success in recent times, the third line getting an upgrade before March 6th deadline, and Oilers finding success with McDavid and Draisaitl recently, the Oilers depth is starting to look like a strength.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.