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Five takeaways from day one of Oilers training camp

Photo credit: © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

By Michael Menzies

Sep 17, 2026, 17:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 17, 2026, 16:59 EDT

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I’ve been asked to create a list of takeaways from the Edmonton Oilers’ first day of training camp. Well, I’m not sure if I do.

It’s a camp the size of two full rosters, but nevertheless, it is the first seed of ideas for this new coaching staff with this group of players. Here’s what Mike Babcock said about whether fans should read into anything into these line combinations.

“I wouldn’t a bunch because I wrote them on the back of a napkin in the summer,” he said after the skates.

So, there you go.

“I haven’t stood there. This is the first time I’ve watched them. I can watch them on video. But until you’ve been through it a bunch, I have lots of surprises here today… you’re not judging them on this, either.”

So, we’ll take away and then maybe give some back. That’s the way it goes.

McDavid and Draisaitl playing together

We saw some mock lines at Captain Skates with them together. There’s been chatter ever since exit interviews about playing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together in the name of ‘giving more to others’. That all sounds good until you puzzle with the other three lines and wonder: is there actually enough scoring depth here? For the time being, Vasily Podkolzin is the preferred choice on their right wing.

Playing 97 and 29 together feels like the eternal recurrence for the Edmonton Oilers. The more some things change, the more they stay the same.

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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I’m reminded of this reaction article from Sept. 24, 2025, when Kris Knoblauch declared they’d play together to bolster the offence without Zach Hyman. Trent Frederic got the tap. The reaction was…negative. It didn’t last.

As all the two of them have said, it’s going to change throughout the season, perhaps in the games. We’ve seen this story before. “It’s a coaching decision.” We’re in Babcock’s elk hunting hands.

Colton Dach at centre

Colton Dach told us in July he was spending a lot of time working on faceoffs. Used primarily at wing, he’s played 86 games at the NHL level.

In Oilers group No. 1, Dach took rushes at centre with Alex Formenton and Mathieu Joseph on the wings.

“Junior was probably the last time I was a permanent centre, but I played a handful of games this year,” Dach told Jason Gregor on Sports 1440. “I’m very confident, very comfortable in both positions. Growing up, that was something my dad always kind of tried to instill: play every position, try to be as versatile as possible.”

In fact, within that group, Dach was higher on the theoretical centre depth chart than Josh Samanski.

What we do now about Dach is that he likes to hit, finishing 14th in the league last year despite missing 21 games. But he took very few faceoffs a season ago: 71 draws, and not one under Knoblauch, winning 36.6 per cent of them.

Curious, very curious.

Formenton is likely on the team

This is more of a gut feeling than necessarily what’s presented in the opening day, although Alex Formenton’s placement on a second line isn’t nothing in my eyes.

I don’t think the Oilers go through a period of public backlash for signing Formenton unless they believed he was going to play. At the very least, starting with the team and having to play his way off of it.

Bowman did the verbal dance at the podium, responding to some of the negative sentiment out there. Bouchard defended him. DJ Smith coached him in Ottawa. The team has a hole in the penalty kill with Matt Savoie hurt.

Formenton is going to be here.

Bouchard with… Ryan Shea?

Could Ryan Shea and Evan Bouchard be a pair? Can’t rule it out, I suppose. Mattias Ekholm has been the guy playing beside Bouchard most of the time since he was acquired in 2023, but he’s now 36.

Shea comes in as an interesting proposition. Great fancy stats, but just one true season in the NHL. Pittsburgh balked at extending him.

If you did a projection of left shot defenceman, you’d probably rank them Ekholm, Jake Walman, then Shea, but could there be more mobility? In the same way some advocate for Walman to play with Bouchard, could a Shea-Bouchard, Walman-Murphy, Ekholm-Emberson/Mukhamadullin depth chart fly?

Babcock did mention that he wanted Ekholm to be with a young player like Mukhamadullin. Provide guidance wise Mattias. Show Shak the way.

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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It’s not a matter of who plays, but how the team plays

Again, with how uncertain these original combinations are, don’t take anything to the bank. The key will be how the team adapts overall to Babcock’s non-negotiables, not necessarily who are the ones playing.

I’ve talked to these guys lots,” said Babcock. “They’ve sent the message, not me. They told me what they want. Now that’s my job to make sure they get what they want.”

There are four preseason games and only two that league veterans can participate in. Eighty-four regular season games. Get ready to tinker.

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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