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Oilers’ 2026-27 schedule: How it compares to rest of NHL

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

By Jason Gregor

Jul 16, 2026, 18:30 EDTUpdated: Jul 16, 2026, 18:29 EDT

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The Edmonton Oilers will play their first regular-season game in September when they begin the 2026-27 season at home against the Vancouver Canucks.

For the first time since 1993 and 1994, the NHL will play an 84-game schedule this season, and beyond, and the league wanted to start the season a bit earlier to avoid making the schedule more compact. In 1993, the season began on Oct. 6 and finished on April 15, and in 1994, it started on Oct. 5 and ended on April 14. The season was 193 days in 1993 and 192 days in 1994. It will be 194 days this season, starting on Sept. 29 and ending on April 10.

Let’s look at the Oilers’ schedule.

They play four sets of home-away games:

Vancouver on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.

Utah on Oct. 15 and 17.

Seattle on Nov. 27 and 28.

Winnipeg on April 7 and 10.

The Oilers open and close the season with two games against the same team.

The Oilers’ final 21 games are against Western Conference opponents, with three against Calgary, two against Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville and Winnipeg and one against Anaheim, Colorado, Minnesota, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Vancouver and Vegas. Their final meeting against Utah is on Dec. 19.
The Oilers’ last game in the Eastern time zone will be January 3rd in Pittsburgh. Similar to last season, the Oilers finish their Eastern swings early. They play three games on Oct. 31 – Nov. 3, then five games on Nov. 14 – 21, another three on Dec. 10 – 12 and five on Dec. 27 – Jan. 3.
None of the Oilers’ games against Calgary are on a weekend. They play at home on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and Monday, April 5, and in Calgary on Wednesday, March 3, and Tuesday, March 23. Sucks for fans who like to make a road trip out of those games.
Games by days of the week, with home in brackets.
Monday – 9 (5)
Tuesday – 12 (5)
Wednesday – 11 (6)
Thursday – 15 (9)
Friday – 5 (4)
Saturday – 23 (11)
Sunday – 9 (2)
Edmonton hosts the U20 World Juniors, and they play their last home game on Dec. 20, then play six games on the road from Dec. 27 to Jan, 5. The Oilers have a long Christmas break with no games from Dec. 21 – 26.
They also have a long All-Star Game break where they host Vegas on February 3rd and don’t play again until Feb. 12 v. St. Louis.
Some marquee games include:
Macklin Celebrini and Darnell Nurse in San Jose on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Carolina is in town on Oct. 22, followed by Toronto on Oct. 24.
They face the $18 million man Leo Carlsson and the Ducks on Nov. 5.
Florida is in Edmonton on Jan. 7.
Montreal is in Edmonton on Jan. 30.
Halloween matinee game against the New York Islanders at 1:30 p.m. MT.
Time zone issues. With Alberta opting not to fall back to daylight standard time, there will be some 9 p.m. home games this year. Saturday, Nov. 7 vs. the Canucks, and March 6 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks. There could be more late games when the Oilers play out west, but the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill not to change their clocks, and it passed and is now going to the Senate. If it passes, that could impact start times of some road games. And if the USA changes, then I’d expect the remaining Canadian provinces that are still changing their clocks would follow, and then the Oilers will hopefully have no games starting at 9 p.m. MT.

Here’s a look at how the Oilers compare to the rest of the league. First in back-to-back (BTB) games.

Eighteen teams have more sets of back-to-backs, and only eight have fewer.

Here is how many times a team plays an opponent in the second half of a BTB.

This time, 19 teams have more games with an opponent in the second half of a back-to-back, and eight have fewer games.

Here’s a look at road trips and homestands of 5+ games split between the West and East.

Not a surprise, but on average the Western teams have more long road trips and homestands due to travel.

Overall, the Oilers have a pretty balanced schedule, and they are done travelling East after Jan. 3, and that should benefit them later in the season.

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