The Edmonton Oilers remain among the older teams in the NHL. In fact, in 2024-25, they were the oldest team in the league. Their aging roster can be attributed to a variety of different factors, such as the frequent trading of draft picks during cup contention years, debatable drafting decisions with the picks they did have, and a general focus on acquiring veteran players by the former management group under Ken Holland. But one of the more significant reasons is the simple fact that Edmonton’s coaching staff has been far too reluctant to take risks with their younger players.

While the Oilers’ overall prospect pool is rather unimpressive, they have two promising young forwards with real potential on their current roster – 21-year-olds Matthew Savoie and Isaac Howard. However, Edmonton’s forward deployment strategies to start the 2025-26 NHL season suggest some potentially concerning signs about Kris Knoblauch’s thought process with the two young players moving forward.

After the first five games of the season, here are the TOI/GP leaders for Edmonton’s forwards, 5-on-5 and at all-strengths:

Thus far, the Oilers have struggled greatly to score at 5-on-5. Not one line combination has consistently stuck together and performed well. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are both already averaging over 23 minutes per game; note that they have never averaged more than 22 in a single season to date. And what’s just as concerning to me are the TOI totals for Savoie and Howard.

Savoie has averaged about 10 minutes per game at 5-on-5 and about 12 minutes per game at all-strengths, both ranking 10th on the team. Howard has averaged roughly 8-9 minutes at even and all-strengths, dead last on the team in both respects. In Edmonton’s most recent game against the New Jersey Devils, Howard was a healthy scratch.

Of course, we are incredibly early into the season. It would be unwise to make any bold, confident conclusions, particularly considering that the team has multiple new players and has quite the tendency to start seasons poorly. But the reason that I believe this must be pointed out is that I fear that the Oilers may not be learning from their past mistakes, and that this is a continuation of a fundamentally flawed thought process.

One of the Oilers’ most notorious examples of asset mismanagement in the McDavid and Draisaitl era is Dylan Holloway. Drafted 14th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft by Edmonton, the Oilers lost Holloway to an offer sheet to the St. Louis Blues in the summer of 2024, who went on to produce 63 points in 77 games with the Blues in 2024-25.

There was considerable mishandling on Edmonton’s part here. In 2022-23, Holloway began the year on Leon Draisaitl’s left-wing after a strong pre-season. But after a single turnover on his first shift, leading to a goal against, the coaching staff immediately demoted him. Ever since, they essentially never gave him an opportunity with skill after that. In 51 games that season, he averaged just about nine and a half minutes.

In the following season, Holloway dealt with numerous injuries, but in the games he did play, he still averaged just about eleven minutes per game. He had constantly been moved up and down from the NHL and AHL, never obtaining a consistent spot in the lineup.

The thing is, when Holloway had an opportunity in the top-six, there were genuine flashes of potential. He had an excellent 66 percent expected goal differential in the regular season next to Draisaitl in 2023-24 at 5-on-5, and it remained at a very strong 58 percent in the 2024 playoffs, where he ranked third on the team in 5-on-5 goals per hour. And yet, Holloway did not even play 200 minutes with Draisaitl in the regular season and playoffs combined that year. In total, he spent more time next to Derek Ryan than with McDavid and/or Draisaitl combined during his tenure in Edmonton’s organization.

Now, Kris Knoblauch deserves credit for many things, most notably and quite obviously the fact that he led his team to two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. Nevertheless, one of my biggest issues with Knoblauch – and this has been an issue with prior Oilers coaches as well – is that he is far too risk-averse.

A consistent theme in Knoblauch’s coaching is the prioritization of predictability over potential. He regularly favours safe, low-upside players while those with real potential to make a difference are given little margin for error. Young players who make mistakes when attempting to create plays are penalized more harshly than low-event veterans who contribute minimally in the grand scheme of things. It is this type of mindset and stubbornness to take any risks that has significantly contributed to the team’s ongoing struggles in retaining and developing young talent.

We saw this clearly with Edmonton’s deployment of Holloway, and their recent decision to scratch Howard for a fringe depth player in Curtis Lazar – even for one game – raises concerns that the Oilers are still not learning from their mishaps. It has likely also played some role in Edmonton’s diminishing 5-on-5 offence; they ranked 14th in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals per hour in 2024-25 despite having two of the most dynamic players in the league, and their 5-on-5 offence has struggled to begin 2025-26.

As of now, it seems that Edmonton’s plan is to play Savoie more minutes in the bottom-six while Howard could be sent down to the AHL when Zach Hyman returns from LTIR. And although there is an argument to be made that Savoie should start with a lower role in his first NHL season, while I’m also not opposed at all to giving Howard a stint in Bakersfield, what’s the harm in at least giving Savoie and Howard some sustained time with NHL skill first and seeing what they can be capable of?

For a team in Edmonton’s current position, a cup-contending team with multiple older players, the regular season should be a time to test and try new things before the playoffs. There’s not much more to gain here from constantly playing the same players over and over again; we know what Adam Henrique and Kasperi Kapanen are at this point in their careers. Do the Oilers really have anything to lose if they give Savoie or Howard a couple of consistent games next to McDavid and Draisaitl to see what they can do, especially in the window of games before Hyman returns? It’s certainly much better for their development and confidence over playing 8-10 minutes in the bottom-six.

We can make a similar argument with centre Noah Philp here. Technically, at 27, he isn’t exactly a prospect, but he’s certainly a much younger player with more upside than someone like 35-year-old Henrique. And yet, even after scoring his first NHL goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the second game of the season, he has been healthy scratched for the past three games. Why not sit Henrique for a few games and let Philp have some opportunity to prove his worth? Again, what exactly do the Oilers have to lose here?

Luckily, we are very early into the regular-season. There is quite a lot of time left. I hope Edmonton’s coaching staff utilizes this time effectively and gives their younger players much more opportunity before the playoffs, allowing them to potentially develop their games and letting them gain more insight into what they are truly capable of.

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