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Sunday Scramble: The Edmonton Oilers’ questionable centre experiment, and is hockey today ‘very dumb?’

Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By Michael Menzies

Sep 27, 2026, 17:30 EDTUpdated: Sep 27, 2026, 17:29 EDT

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What the Edmonton Oilers are doing at centre has been my focus through training camp, with the plan set for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to play together (at least at home) and working out Colton Dach and even Trent Frederic at practice as pivots.

I’m not sold on this plan. How quickly does Babcock ditch this? The five-game mark? 10?

I take his point that 20 minutes of that pair spent together leaves 40 minutes for the other lines. But giving more time to other lines doesn’t mean they’ll win their shifts and generate offence.

In theory, it sounds great. In practice? We’ve seen the results over the years.

The great McDavid-Draisaitl yo-yo will continue one way or another, but how much, how often, and what that means for the rest of the crew is where the worries start.

That stress test gets firmer when Jason Dickinson, months removed from the believed foot/ankle issue that dogged him through the end of the regular season and playoffs, is going through a setback already to begin the season.

That doesn’t mean panic, but it does underline how prevalent this issue, or general injury concern, should factor into how we view this player.

He missed 18 games last season and 23 games the season before that. Maybe it shouldn’t be so much of a concern considering he played every game three seasons ago, for example, but Dickinson is 31 now and gives off the impression of the grizzled war horse.

He’s undoubtedly an asset, but I’m worried this situation could linger, if not physically, then mentally. Although it’s not a one-to-one comparison, Trent Frederic said he didn’t feel right on his ankle all of last season.

Who wins out between Colton Dach, Josh Samanski, and Owen Michaels?

There does seem to be a desire to try wingers at centre instead of playing the centres at centre. Josh Samanski looks to be on the outside looking in.

I won’t victory lap my summer takes on Owen Michaels, who I thought would have a chance to crack the roster due to his right-handedness and good positional habits, but he’s looked good, and Babs is certainly a fan.

Michael Menzies

@Menzies_4

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Mike Babcock on Owen Michaels, who remains up with the Oilers at the moment: "Michaels is beyond smart. Skates elite. He's in all the good clips every night. I mean, it's not what we thought coming in. I can tell you that. But what are you going to do? They decide, not me." Show more

6:51 PM · Sep 25, 2026

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I’m not sure “he skates elite” necessarily, but Michaels survived the first few rounds of cuts, and I’ve been impressed. We’ll see whether he gets acquainted with Edmonton’s favourite haunts or not.

Colton Dach? I’m not sure about this experiment. Time will tell, but the characteristics that make him effective as a winger don’t show me that he’d be a good option at centre, even if he played junior in that position. As Babs says, “It’s the national league.”

I’d rather Dach be crashing and banging, first on the forecheck, mucking it up in front of the net. But Babcock has taken a liking to Dach and wants to make a centre out of him. We’ll see how long that lasts, or whether Dach can prove there’s more than meets the eye.

Setting the table

A perfect pre-season, you say?

Apparently, this has never happened before in franchise history, as Jack Michaels let us know last night.

Against the lunatic fringe of the league (Vancouver, Calgary), the Edmonton Oilers stole one with their AHL team on Thursday, then dominated another with the big dogs on Saturday.

Even if the “games don’t matter,” for a new coach in a quick training camp, there is noticeable change. They are closing gaps quickly. There is structure. And, of course, there is gravitas

“There’s no such thing as overaggressive,” said Mike Babcock on Friday on the penalty kill. That will be a crucial pressure point, especially with Savoie out of the mix and Dickinson still not right.

I try to steer clear of hot takes and predictions for prediction’s sake, but I’ll hazard a guess that the Oilers will finish second in the Pacific Division for no particular reason other than this team never wins the division.

With that said, there will be every opportunity, especially for a good start with the lack of world-beaters in their schedule.

The Oilers are a good hockey team and are in the Contenders Circle, but I suspect if they keep 97 and 29 together, they’ll need to find a second-line centre. If played apart, then they can bide their time, see what Isaac Howard can provide, then look around for a top-six winger.

And if they’re actually drooling over Kirby Dach, hopefully they close their mouths quick enough to look at his injury history and inconsistency.

Pre-season record: 4-0-0
Last year’s record: 41-30-11
Current record: 0-0

This week:

Tuesday vs Vancouver
Thursday at Vancouver
Saturday at Seattle

Nikita Kucherov says the game is faster…but dumb

Nikita Kucherov said the quiet part out loud. It’s been whispered by many coaches, managers, and even regular viewers of hockey, especially at the junior level, for a few years now.

“The game now is a lot faster, but dumb,” Kucherov told reporters in Tampa Bay. “I think that’s all I can say. Yes, it is faster, but it’s very dumb. Low IQ.”

Dumb in what way?

“In a hockey way.”

I made a Twitter poll on Saturday seeking responses. Do most people agree or disagree with Kucherov’s assessment?

Michael Menzies

@Menzies_4

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Coaches, and anyone who wants to respond, do you agree with Nikita Kucherov's statement that hockey is faster, but dumb and low IQ today?

8:32 PM · Sep 26, 2026

Read 1 reply

Although an extremely small sample size (I don’t have Tyler Yaremchuk reach online), 63 per cent of responses said they agreed, 17 per cent disagreed, and roughly 19 per cent said “kind of, sort of.”

Undeniably, the average player who plays at the junior level skates much better than the average player did 20 years ago, maybe even 10 years ago. It’s now almost impossible to overcome any form of flawed skating and advance to Tier-I junior, NCAA, never mind the pros.

Summer hockey, structured play, and individualized skill sessions aren’t just regulars in the toolbox for a young player to try and advance – it’s really become the bare minimum. Therefore, the average skill level has been raised.

But if shown on a graph, I’d argue that as the skill has risen, the hockey sense, IQ, and feel for the game a player is in are correlated downward. The mental side of the game has not been nurtured in the same way.

I asked a current OHL head coach what he made of Kucherov’s comments.

“I’m not sure why he should say that, but I’ll agree with him that players are fast with good skills, but their brains are not fast enough to match,” he said.

Before the great NCAA change allowing CHL players to advance to Michigan or Denver, you’d see WHL teams purposefully seek out what we’d call today a “limited” player, but who’d play in a throwback way. They’d hit, fight, and if their foot speed was still good enough, they could advance beyond Junior A-level talent to play at that level.

Those players are still in demand, but they are more and more scarce. The wily, game-in-the-game centre who agitates, takes tough faceoffs, blocks shots, etc is harder to find. More and more rosters today are filled with lines one to four with varying levels of skill.

Finding the player who does all of that, who has an innate sense for the game, plus the adequate skill level to hang around amongst superior skill, is becoming nearly impossible. They are coveted and fly through the ranks.

Now, this isn’t a nostalgia trip to have the game go back to the good ol’ days where every team had a skullcrusher or two, hits to the head were celebrated, and games became penalty fests.

But are hockey instincts, the elusive hockey IQ, nurtured in the same way as a stride and stickhandling are? Not to my eyes.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

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