How often have you found yourself researching one topic/point, and the next thing you know you are down a rabbit hole for hours and hours looking at many different things?
That is what happened to me when I began looking into the 2024-25 NHL schedule.

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Originally, I was interested in finding out how many times the Oilers play back-to-back. Easy enough. But then I saw a post from <a class="text-secondary underline underline-offset-2" href="https://x.com/TJStats" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@TJstats</a>, that outlined the distance travelled for each team. I found that interesting, especially when it wasn&#8217;t all Western Conference teams with the most travel. Then I wondered about how often the Oilers play a team that is playing its second game in as many nights.
I was curious how the Oilers ranked compared to the rest of the NHL. And that led me to a league-wide look at all 32 teams and their schedules — a much bigger project than my initial plan. I posted the results in an article at DailyFaceoff.com yesterday, and if are curious about the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2024-25-nhl-schedule-analysis-how-each-team-stacks-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other 31 teams you can read it. </a>
I ended up win nine different categories, as outlined below. For the first three I ranked put their league-ranking in parenthesis. The team with the most distance travelled was 32nd. Edmonton is 29th. And teams who face an opponent, who is playing the second night of a back-to-back, the most I gave them a first ranking, because it is a benefit.
The Oilers travel a lot — not a surprise when you look at where Edmonton is on a map. They have 13 sets of back-to-backs which ties them for 20th. Again, the higher in any ranking the worse it is, and the Oilers also have 13 games against an opponent on their second game in as many days. They rank 12th in the NHL, their best ranking.
Here is a deeper look at the Oilers&#8217; schedule:
Distance travelled this season: 50,000 miles (29th). 
BTB games: 13 (T-20th). 
Facing a team playing second night of BTB: 13 (T-12th). 
Longest home stand: Six games from Jan 21st to Feb 1st. 
Home stands by GP: One (4x), two (6x), three (2x), four (2x), five (1x) and six (1x). 
Longest road trip: Five games from Feb 22nd to Mar 1st. 
Road trips by GP: One (5x), two (3x), three (3x), four (4x) and five (1x). 
Games by day of week: Sun (8), Mon (9), Tues (14), Wed (7), Thurs (17), Fri (6) and Sat (21). 
Quirk or difficult part in schedule: *edit.* Only *one** of  of their BTB road games occur both on Saturday and Sunday, which is odd as Western teams typically have a few of those on eastern road trips.  Their final 15 games are against Western Conference opponents, including 10 vs. Pacific opponents. The NHL is talking about extending the season so they will have an equal number of games within the division. That works, but the easier change would be having 28 games in the division and only 22 vs. the other division in your conference. It is odd (polite way of saying not smart) EDM only plays VAN and CGY three times this season while also playing every Central team three times.
The Oilers have 21 Saturday games, followed by 17 on Thursday and 14 on Tuesdays.  You could have a lot of non-hockey Friday evening date-nights as the Oilers only play six games on Fridays.
Compared to some other teams, the Oilers have a fairly decent schedule. I noticed many teams have a stretch of 14-16 consecutive games where they play in a different city.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-160216 " src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-707.png" alt="" width="646" height="750" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-707.png 707w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-707-258x300.png 258w" sizes="(max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px" />
The Oilers&#8217; longest road trip is right after the Four Nations Faceoff in February, and their longest home stand is six games in late January. I&#8217;d argue their most challenging stretch is when they have a four-game road trip from Seattle to Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago. Then they come home for one game v. LA, before heading back out for three more games in Minnesota, Colorado and Vancouver. They start in the Pacific Time Zone, then to ET, then CT, home for one in MT, then to CT, MT and PT. That stretch from January 4th to 18th will be their toughest test.
A good start would be beneficial for their quest to secure home ice advantage for more than one round. The Oilers haven&#8217;t had home ice advantage in the second or third round since 1990, the last time they won the Stanley Cup. The last time they opened the Stanley Cup Final on home ice was in 1988. They haven&#8217;t finished first in their division since 1987, the longest drought in the NHL.
It is safe to say they are due for a strong regular season that gives them home ice advantage for more than one round. A good start will help. Six of their first 10 games are against teams who missed the playoffs last year in Chicago, Calgary, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Columbus, and four of those games are on home ice.
Unlike last season, when the Oilers played six games in the final nine days of the season and had three sets of BTB games in their final eight, this year the Oilers don&#8217;t have a chaotic end to the regular season. They have one set of BTB in April and they finish the season on Wednesday the 16th in San Jose.
Edmonton only has four one-game home stands and five one-game road trips. I see that as an advantage as they aren&#8217;t flying back and forth as often as other teams. Some teams have a combined 20 one-game road trips or home stands.
With an experienced team, a not-too-difficult schedule and the motivation of losing <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/06/24/instant-reaction-oilers-fall-short-in-game-7-as-panthers-hoist-stanley-cup/">Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final</a> a few months ago, the Oilers should be poised to compete for first in the Western Conference and the NHL.
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Edmonton Oilers celebrate goal at Rogers Place

How often have you found yourself researching one topic/point, and the next thing you know you are down a rabbit hole for hours and hours looking at many different things?

That is what happened to me when I began looking into the 2024-25 NHL schedule.


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Originally, I was interested in finding out how many times the Oilers play back-to-back. Easy enough. But then I saw a post from <a class="text-secondary underline underline-offset-2" href="https://x.com/TJStats" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@TJstats</a>, that outlined the distance travelled for each team. I found that interesting, especially when it wasn't all Western Conference teams with the most travel. Then I wondered about how often the Oilers play a team that is playing its second game in as many nights.

I was curious how the Oilers ranked compared to the rest of the NHL. And that led me to a league-wide look at all 32 teams and their schedules — a much bigger project than my initial plan. I posted the results in an article at DailyFaceoff.com yesterday, and if are curious about the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2024-25-nhl-schedule-analysis-how-each-team-stacks-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other 31 teams you can read it. </a>

I ended up win nine different categories, as outlined below. For the first three I ranked put their league-ranking in parenthesis. The team with the most distance travelled was 32nd. Edmonton is 29th. And teams who face an opponent, who is playing the second night of a back-to-back, the most I gave them a first ranking, because it is a benefit.

The Oilers travel a lot — not a surprise when you look at where Edmonton is on a map. They have 13 sets of back-to-backs which ties them for 20th. Again, the higher in any ranking the worse it is, and the Oilers also have 13 games against an opponent on their second game in as many days. They rank 12th in the NHL, their best ranking.

Here is a deeper look at the Oilers' schedule:

Distance travelled this season: 50,000 miles (29th).
BTB games: 13 (T-20th).
Facing a team playing second night of BTB: 13 (T-12th).
Longest home stand: Six games from Jan 21st to Feb 1st.
Home stands by GP: One (4x), two (6x), three (2x), four (2x), five (1x) and six (1x).
Longest road trip: Five games from Feb 22nd to Mar 1st.
Road trips by GP: One (5x), two (3x), three (3x), four (4x) and five (1x).
Games by day of week: Sun (8), Mon (9), Tues (14), Wed (7), Thurs (17), Fri (6) and Sat (21).
Quirk or difficult part in schedule: *edit.* Only *one** of  of their BTB road games occur both on Saturday and Sunday, which is odd as Western teams typically have a few of those on eastern road trips.  Their final 15 games are against Western Conference opponents, including 10 vs. Pacific opponents. The NHL is talking about extending the season so they will have an equal number of games within the division. That works, but the easier change would be having 28 games in the division and only 22 vs. the other division in your conference. It is odd (polite way of saying not smart) EDM only plays VAN and CGY three times this season while also playing every Central team three times.

The Oilers have 21 Saturday games, followed by 17 on Thursday and 14 on Tuesdays.  You could have a lot of non-hockey Friday evening date-nights as the Oilers only play six games on Fridays.

Compared to some other teams, the Oilers have a fairly decent schedule. I noticed many teams have a stretch of 14-16 consecutive games where they play in a different city.

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-160216 " src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-707.png" alt="" width="646" height="750" />

The Oilers' longest road trip is right after the Four Nations Faceoff in February, and their longest home stand is six games in late January. I'd argue their most challenging stretch is when they have a four-game road trip from Seattle to Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago. Then they come home for one game v. LA, before heading back out for three more games in Minnesota, Colorado and Vancouver. They start in the Pacific Time Zone, then to ET, then CT, home for one in MT, then to CT, MT and PT. That stretch from January 4th to 18th will be their toughest test.

A good start would be beneficial for their quest to secure home ice advantage for more than one round. The Oilers haven't had home ice advantage in the second or third round since 1990, the last time they won the Stanley Cup. The last time they opened the Stanley Cup Final on home ice was in 1988. They haven't finished first in their division since 1987, the longest drought in the NHL.

It is safe to say they are due for a strong regular season that gives them home ice advantage for more than one round. A good start will help. Six of their first 10 games are against teams who missed the playoffs last year in Chicago, Calgary, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Columbus, and four of those games are on home ice.

Unlike last season, when the Oilers played six games in the final nine days of the season and had three sets of BTB games in their final eight, this year the Oilers don't have a chaotic end to the regular season. They have one set of BTB in April and they finish the season on Wednesday the 16th in San Jose.

Edmonton only has four one-game home stands and five one-game road trips. I see that as an advantage as they aren't flying back and forth as often as other teams. Some teams have a combined 20 one-game road trips or home stands.

With an experienced team, a not-too-difficult schedule and the motivation of losing <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/06/24/instant-reaction-oilers-fall-short-in-game-7-as-panthers-hoist-stanley-cup/">Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final</a> a few months ago, the Oilers should be poised to compete for first in the Western Conference and the NHL.
<h2>PRESENTED BY bet365</h2>
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