With the holiday season around the corner, many households are firing up Will Ferrell’s Elf to get into the holiday spirit.

But when I think about where the Edmonton Oilers are trending, I’m thinking more about Ferrell’s other big movie, Old School and more specifically about the line where he says, “We’re going streaking!”

The Oilers are currently on a two-game winning streak, something that’s been rare and hard to come by this season, and they’ll look to extend it when the Buffalo Sabres come to town on Dec. 9. After last month’s 5–1 loss to them, revenge will certainly be on the menu, but before that, chow down on this edition of Oilers Thoughts.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been on fire since returning to the lineup on Nov. 29. Since then, he’s posted six points (2G, 4A) in four games, bringing him to 22 points on the season.

Additionally, the Swiss Army knife player has helped the special teams tremendously since returning from injury. He leads all forwards in PK minutes over the last four games (7:25), and in that span, the team has killed off 12 of its last 13 penalties. The power play has been rolling too, scoring on seven of its previous 10 attempts. That said, Nugent-Hopkins does the little things so well, especially on the PP, and an underrated part of his game is his quick touches on the man advantage. For example, last game, on Evan Bouchard’s power-play blast, Nugent-Hopkins didn’t get an assist, but his shiftiness at the blue line kept the play alive, moved the puck quickly, and a couple of crisp passes later, it was in the back of Winnipeg’s net.

Moreover, the line of Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid, and Zach Hyman ran the Winnipeg Jets’ show last game. They scored at 5v5, and the advanced metrics, according to Natural Stat Trick, were lopsided in their favour: 8–1 in shots, 9–2 in scoring chances, and 7–1 in high-danger chances, with an 81.73 xGF%. There were stretches over the last year or so where that line seemed to run out of magic, but games like the last one show the Nugent-Hopkins–McDavid–Hyman trio has plenty of firepower left.

Connor Clattenburg took a high stick to the face in the game against the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 4, and it was reported that he required stitches above his eye. Considering how bad it looked in real-time, it seems to have turned out as a best-case scenario, with Tony Brar posting that head coach Kris Knoblauch said he’d be out at least a week.

Unfortunate timing, since Oilers fans were hopping aboard the Clattenburg Express, with him as the Conductor who’d likely rough you up if you skipped paying the fare. In only five games, he made his presence felt — scoring his first NHL goal, getting into his first NHL fight, stirring up chaos, and throwing hits at anything that moved.

Taking a closer look at his hits, he threw 17 in those five games, and his 28.71 hits per 60 minutes ranked 4th in the NHL over that stretch, another metric showing just how effective he was in limited minutes.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if he sticks with the big club long term, but with two Battle of Alberta dates coming in late December, I hope Clattenburg can play in those — ready to deliver a few knuckle sandwiches as Christmas presents to the Calgary Flames, who made the naughty list.

There are only two defencemen on the Oilers that haven’t found the back of the net yet this season, those being Brett Kulak and Alec Regula. At the same point last season, Kulak already had three goals, but the Stony Plain, AB native has struggled for most of the season, though, much like the team, his play is trending upwards.

Regula, who missed time earlier in the season after taking a heavy hit from Evander Kane in October, has also started playing well too as of late — threading nice passes and skating the puck out of danger. Yet, the 25-year-old has only one career NHL goal and hasn’t found the back of the net this season either.

Whatever the case, both are due to score a goal. Based on Kris Knoblauch’s theory — that when players reach five or six expected goals, they’re due to pop, and Kulak is well beyond due. He’s something of an anomaly since I’ve been tracking that theory, sitting at a juicy 17.25 xGF, while Regula sits at 9.91 xGF. Now, the question is: who scores first? Logic dictates it should be Kulak, who has 27 more NHL goals than Regula, but I’m rolling with my gut on this one. Regula’s been moving the puck well and playing fetch with the top six in the O-zone, so I’ll say he’s the one to get on the board first.

I felt heading into the homestand that if the team played well and started winning, the goaltender trade chatter would lessen, but that hasn’t exactly been the case.

The Oilers are currently 2–1 on the homestand and have played well, all things considered. Yet, as Zach Laing noted, rumours swirled last Friday that the Oilers were nearing a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring Tristan Jarry to Oil Country. Those rumours turned out to be baseless and were squashed by TSN’s Ryan Rishaug the next morning. Later that day, however, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the Oilers may have interest in Jarry, though a deal might not be possible because Pittsburgh isn’t willing to retain salary. If it could work, though, the Oilers would like to run a Skinner–Jarry tandem, but the feasibility of that remains in question.

Nevertheless, despite the chatter, Skinner has played well in his last three games, going 3–0 and posting an average .954 SV% with a 1.00 GAA, and it seems the netminder is tuning out the noise and focusing on what he can control. A Skinner–Jarry tandem moving forward, though? I don’t mind it if they can pull it off and the price is right.

The Oilers might finally be turning a page this season. The team is playing well, and several players are performing at their best, as shown in their two recent wins, which saw them score a combined 15 goals. And if Trent Frederic can find some consistency, a hot bottom six could send the Oilers into full wagon mode.

Yet, let’s call it like it is — Frederic’s season has been poor after re-signing an eight-year extension worth $3.85 million a season, with only three points (2G, 1A) so far in 2025-26. Still, he knows he has to be better, saying last week, “I know they all [the Oilers] probably like me as a guy. They probably want more from me as a player.” He added, “So do I.”

However, give credit where it’s due — he played a good game against the Jets, and it seems he’s finding a bit of chemistry with Curtis Lazar on the fourth line, as their goal late in the third against Winnipeg showed. The line went hard on the forecheck, with both he and Lazar reading off each other well. Frederic picked off a Jets defender and found David Tomášek, who buried his third goal of the season.

Overall, it was a solid play in a game where his line generated a 4–2 edge in high-danger chances. That said, with the Oilers trending toward a bit of a roll, hopefully, the spotlight on Frederic’s poor season will lessen. And if the heat eases, hopefully he can focus on building his game on the fourth line and flip the script on his season before the playoff stretch.