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Podkolzin with Draisaitl and McDavid as Oilers hit ice for first training camp session

Photo credit: YouTube/Edmonton Oilers

By Zach Laing

Sep 17, 2026, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 17, 2026, 14:10 EDT

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The Edmonton Oilers hit the ice Thursday morning for the first on-ice sessions of training camp, and two familiar faces were together on the top line: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

The Dynamic Duo were flanked by winger Vasily Podkolzin — not Zach Hyman — as they had been often in years past. It offers a first look at what the line combinations could look like under the new coaching staff.

What looks to be the Oilers’ top line was one of two lines with NHL players from the first group, as Colton Dach was centring Mathieu Joseph and Alex Formenton. The defencemen from group one also featured a potential NHL pairing, as Evan Bouchard was skating alongside newcomer Ryan Shea.

Josh Samanski was centring a line with Max Jones and Quinn Hutson/David Lewandowski, while what would be the Oilers’ “fourth pairing” defensively saw Spencer Stastney and Ty Emberson skating together.

Jason Gregor

@JasonGregor

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Group One: Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl Joseph-Dach-Formenton Jones-Samanski-Hutson/Lewandowski Tralmaks-Nicholls-Berlzkalns/Bookman Shea-Bouchard Statsney-Emberson Stillman-Brown Robinson-Carfagna Jarry Tompkins Shea with Bouchard to start camp.

4:15 PM · Sep 17, 2026

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The second group saw more interesting groupings, with that session’s top line featuring Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Isaac Howard and Zach Hyman, while Jason Dickinson centred Trent Frederic and Kasperi Kapanen.

On the blue line, Jake Walman skated with Connor Murphy, while Mattias Ekholm and Shakir Mukhamadullin skated on a pairing.

Jason Gregor

@JasonGregor

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Second group hits the ice. Howard-RNH-Hyman Frederic-Dickinson-Kapanen Griffith-Pitlick-Michaels/Harvey Raty-Marjala-Stonehouse/Tassy Walman-Murphy Ekholm-Mukhamadullin Leppanen- Cibulka Sjolund-Akey Levi Ungar Ekholm mentoring another young defender? #Oilers

5:53 PM · Sep 17, 2026

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Combining the groups into one, they looked like this:

Podkolzin – McDavid – Draisaitl
Howard – RNH – Hyman
Frederic – Dickinson – Kapanen
Joseph – Dach – Formenton

Shea – Bouchard
Walman – Murphy
Ekholm – Mukhamadullin

The depth lines from the second group were clearly ones that could play together in the American Hockey League. AHL vets Rhett Pitlick and Seth Griffith were with Owen Michaels/Caden Harvey, while Viljami Marjala was with Aku Raty and Brady Stonehouse/Simon Tassy.

Similarly, on the blue line, Atro Leppanen and Tomas Cibulka could be a pairing in Bakersfield.

Surely these lines will change in time, but we could see some of them together for Saturday’s first pre-season game, when the Oilers face the Winnipeg Jets.

Zach Laing is Daily Faceoff Edmonton’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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