logo
OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA
Pre-Scout: Oilers begin Mike Babcock era hosting Canucks in season opener
alt
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Michael Menzies
Sep 29, 2026, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 29, 2026, 01:08 EDT
Comments
The marathon begins tonight.
An even longer marathon called the 2026-27 NHL season, a journey of 84 regular season games, must start with a single game tonight for the Edmonton Oilers. They couldn’t have drawn a better opponent to get going in the right direction by hosting the Vancouver Canucks, who’ve spent the off-season focused on the future over today.
The Oilers are hoping this is the magic combination, capturing headlines and generating discussion around the league, good and bad depending on the audience. The quest for the Stanley Cup, that final “one per cent” as Connor McDavid called it, forges on after a strong pre-season.
Not that you can think that way, says Zach Hyman.
“We’ve got caught in the past looking too far ahead, and you can’t do that,” said Hyman on Monday, freshly adorned with an “A” on his jersey as an assistant captain. 
If there was any question about his voice in the organization, consider he was alongside McDavid and Draisaitl during the Babcock Summit en route to being hired, and not Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Evan Bouchard.
“You have to establish yourself first as a great regular-season team before thinking about the playoffs,” Hyman said. “As a team, we want to win the division. We haven’t done that since I’ve been here, so that’s a goal, right? Even then, that’s too forward-looking.
“Have a good first game, have a good second game, and keep building what we want to look like and who we want to be. That takes a season to do. You can’t just say we’re ready to win a Cup right now. You’ve got to go through the process.”
The Oilers must look today squarely in the face if they want to achieve their goals. There has been lots of noise and there will continue to be. For now, the slate is clean, and puck drop approaches.
  • In: Mike Babcock, Ryan Shea, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Frederik Andersen, Mathieu Joseph, Alex Formenton, and Devon Levi.
  • Out: Darnell Nurse, Jack Roslovic, Connor Ingram, Adam Henrique, and Curtis Lazar.

Front and centre

Josh Samanski was the final casualty of the Oilers training camp trim-down, sent down to the Bakersfield Condors on Monday, while Max Jones and surprise riser Owen Michaels made the cut.
That wasn’t expected if we were having this conversation in July, but Samanski had perhaps just a so-so camp and pre-season, and Michaels has impressed in the coach’s eyes. He is a right-handed shot, which the Oilers are reportedly seeking in a trade.
It also shows that Jason Dickinson, who will not be ready to begin the season, might not be far off from suiting up. Michaels might make more sense to send down, given an NHL game or two as a nod to his strong performance.
Tuesday night will be his first professional hockey game that counts.
“He’s in all the good clips,” said Babcock on Monday. “It wasn’t like we had this plan that he was going here, he wasn’t supposed to be here, but that’s the great thing about plans — you get to change them.” 
Since the players spoke at the podium following the playoff loss to Anaheim, the whispers of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl being on a regular line together have grown from theory to practice, at least in game one of the season. Plus, the Colton Dach at centre experiment will get legitimate reps, after two looks in exhibition.
Defensively, Shakir Mukhamadullin has the edge over Ty Emberson to be the team’s sixth defenceman, on a pair with fellow newcomer Ryan Shea at Monday’s practice. At 24, Mukhamadullin has played just 83 NHL games, but the Oilers like his size and reach at six-foot-five. That should be a regular rotation.
No big surprise in goal. With Frederik Andersen still a ways out from being ready to go, the Tristan Jarry redemption tour begins on opening night, craving the superior numbers he posted in Pittsburgh versus the mediocre play after his injury.
In all, Babcock has said throughout the pre-season that he’s still learning who his players are, and that the players decide (through their performance), not him. But if there are takeaways from the pre-season, it’s that there’s a new sheriff in town with his non-negotiables and his ideas.
How quickly they grasp his structure, and how committed he is to his initial plans, are the overarching questions for the Oilers.

Canucks: ‘We’re not going to talk about wins and losses’

If the Vancouver Canucks team that the Oilers faced on Thursday is any indication, their NHL guys losing 2-1 against a team of primarily Edmonton farmhands, then it’s going to be a long season.
Vancouver finished last comfortably by 14 points, but slid to third overall in the draft lottery, selecting Caleb Malholtra. They were undeterred by the birth certificate, being new coach Manny Malholtra’s son, and fans will be paying attention from afar to Caleb’s season at Boston University.
Otherwise, it’s a new infrastructure with co-presidents of hockey operations Henrik and Daniel Sedin selecting Ryan Johnson as the team’s general manager. Wins and losses are secondary.
“It sounds very basic, but fans are not dumb,” said Henrik on Halford and Brough, a new DFO Vancouver show that premiered on Monday. “We’re not going to talk about wins and losses until we have a foundation in place where fans, media and ourselves can see that this is a team that enjoys playing together.”
The Canucks still boast familiar names.
Despite trade rumours, Elias Pettersson remains a Canuck after a 15-goal, 51-point campaign, his second straight underwhelming campaign, which coincided with the start of his massive $11.6-million ticket. Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk remain commodities.
Zeev Buium was one of the big winners of the off-season. As the prize in the Quinn Hughes trade, Buium cashed in with a $75-million contract extension that kicks in next season. It’s nearly a million dollars in future money for every game Buium has played so far in his NHL career.
But after years of yo-yoing in the standings and refusing to rebuild, there is a new mandate these days in Vancouver. They won just 25 games last season, but that doesn’t mean they can’t win a single game tonight.

Notes:

  • Vancouver will begin this season where it ended in April. The Oilers routed the Canucks at Rogers Place back on April 16 in a 6-1 victory. Four of the six goals came from Matt Savoie and Josh Samanski, who will not be in tonight.
  • It’s a home-and-home to begin the year, as these teams will have the rematch on Thursday night. The Canucks play four games in six days to begin the year, while the Oilers have better rest in between.
  • Pay close attention to Colton Dach and Owen Michaels to see how they handle their duties. The centre position has become the topic du jour as the Oilers begin their season.
  • With Savoie’s injury comes a major opportunity for Isaac Howard, who earned major praise from GM Stan Bowman on The Jason Gregor Show: “The biggest thing I’ve been impressed with Howard, has been his transformation as a goal scorer to hounding the puck. He has a high motor game and his detail to play the right way has been good. Mike (Babcock) told me after our first practice that Howard was different than he expected. He’s worked very hard and he’s been aggressive.”
  • All four of the Canucks’ offseason acquisitions, Paul Cotter, Brendan Gallagher, Jamie Oleksiak and Luke Schenn, have made the opening-night roster, while training camp darlings Arshdeep Bains and Guillaume Brisebois have made the final roster.
  • The Thatcher Demko injury situation is still slow-moving, but an update was provided by Sedin yesterday, saying Christmas is a tentative timeline for him to return from his hip surgery that took place in January. This is the first year of a three-year extension worth $8.5 million per season, which is tied for the third-highest cap hit among goaltenders in the league. With that, they claimed 24-year-old Leevi Meriläinen project off waivers from Ottawa to support Kevin Lankinen.
  • Filip Chytil, who fell awkwardly into the endboards during that pre-season game vs. EDM, is on injured reserve. Jake DeBrusk didn’t practice Monday, but is still expected to play.
  • EDM went 3-0-1 vs. VAN last season and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 head-to-head.
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.

THE FIRST NATION VACATION OF THE 2026/27 SEASON IS HERE!

Toronto is calling — and this isn’t your average hockey trip.
The first 2026/27 Nation Vacation presented by JetSet Parking is here, and we’re taking over Toronto for one hell of a weekend.
From November 13–16, 2026, you’ll experience Edmonton vs. Toronto from a VIP suite surrounded by your people, fellow Nation fans and special guests who’ll make this more than just a night at the rink.
Add in Nation events, a pre-game celebration, a downtown Toronto stay and a weekend built around hockey, and you’ve got an experience you simply can’t get from buying a ticket and booking a hotel.
And you can reserve your spot with just $500 down.
Bring the jersey. Bring your crew. We’ll bring the Nation.
A hockey trip is good. A Nation Vacation is better.
RESERVE YOUR TRIP at nationexperiences.ca.
Daily FaceoffPuckPedia
Gameday PreviewsEditorials
MORE NEWS. IN YOUR INBOX.
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Breaking News

edmonton-oilers
Edmonton OilersTeam Cap Summary
PuckPedia

Cap Summary

2026-27
2027-28
Projected Cap Hit
$103,696,666
$89,222,500
Projected Cap Space
$303,334
$24,277,500
Current Cap Space
$303,334
$24,277,500
Active Players
23/23
17/23

Draft Picks

Round
'27
'28
1
0
1
2
1
0
3
0
1