Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As per tradition, I’ve got a brand new mailbag set to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their takes. This week, we’re discussing Oilers injuries, Edmonton’s prospect rankings, what’s left to be done before the season, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

Freddie Andersen has averaged 26.75 games played over the past four seasons. He was never going to be healthy all season. This isn’t a long term injury, and if we are being realistic him being injured is part of the deal when you sign him. Savoie isn’t so much a concern as it is disappointing for him. He had a great end to last season and was ready to come to camp and look even better. Now he will have to play catch up. Oilers have three goalies and 15 forwards. Neither injury is long term so not a major concern for me.

I’m concerned about both of them, but to differing levels. Savoie was expected to take on a big role early, and he’s going to be behind the eight ball. That being said, I’m less concerned about his ability to bounce back, given his youth. It might be tougher on Andersen, who has played just 73 regular-season games over the last three years, to bounce back at 36-years-old.

I expand on this in greater depth here, but my general takeaway is this: The off-season gives us time to forget just how marred the entire 2025-26 season was with injury, and as the Oilers skew older as a total roster, there’s greater injury risk. Every team goes through injuries, obviously, but my hunch is the Oilers’ 2026-27 regular season will be defined by how they play without their optimal lineup. Lots of moving parts. Savoie played all 82, one of just six Oilers to play every game, and it’s a shame he has this curveball after the strides through the second half of the year.

Andersen not being ready puts the scrutiny on Tristan Jarry immediately along with the entire Three-Goalie Theory. Sure, not a huge surprise, but it doesn’t take for this situation to go sideways. It’s not panic mode, but the team’s vulnerabilities in net and top-six scoring power will be tested early.

I mean, it’s not ideal to say the least. The thing I think about is that both of these guys are going to miss the messy October games where everyone is shaking off the rust and getting back up to speed. They’re going to be a month behind everyone else, and the worry is how long it takes them to catch up. Hopefully not long.

Not really. The Oilers have been a Cup contender for the past five seasons and their highest pick in those five years was 32nd. They took Reid Schaefer in 2022 and Sam O’Reilly in 2024. They traded them for Mattias Ekholm and Isaac Howard. They have a total of five other picks in the top 100 each year, so of course their prospect pool is shallow. They need to develop a few late picks, and find more players like Josh Samanski in Europe. If Samanski becomes a regular NHLer that is a massive find.

The reason they are at the bottom of such rankings is that they don’t have the high-end draft picks that other teams are getting. Instead, they’re attacking free agent markets in college and Europe to find guys who can help fill depth roles sooner. I’m not concerned.

Yes and yes. The first questions answers the second as to why. But, they are injecting more youth into the roster. Now it’s whether they can move the needle.

I think that’s just part of the life cycle of a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. They trade picks. They trade prospects. They trade, trade, trade. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I wouldn’t prefer if Edmonton had a bunch of blue chippers in waiting, but I also understand how a team with pressure to win gets themselves in this spot.

Can the Oilers penalty kill be consistent. Outside of the final 69 games in 2024, it has been below average.

Can Mike Babcock find a way to give players up and down the lineup ownership of their roles?

Can Three-Goalie Theory meet the threshold of Stanley Cup contention?

For me it’s an easy one: Can Tristan Jarry bounce back? His career history suggests he can, but it’s not like he had the best first impression after the trade.

I don’t think it will be much at all. I like it. Eight preseason games were too much. Preseason will be over in eight days and then the regular season begins three days later. I like it.

I don’t really think there’s going to be a massive shift or anything like that. The extra two regular season games means you see all your division opponents an equal amount of times, which just makes sense. The pre-season doesn’t really matter for a team like the Oilers anyways.

It will just make for a bit of a sloppier start and slightly longer ramp up to “normal” level of nightly competition.

Most importantly, I’m way happier, and I think that matters. The pre-season is always a slog, and having eight games was annoying to the max. The biggest thing I wonder is how the extra minutes will wear on guys as the season rolls along.

Loser in our league has to run the draft board the next year and put stickers on the board. It is a terrible job. Simple, but effective.

Believe it or not, none of the leagues I’ve ever played in have had punishments, but my colleague Aaron Bordato had to drive around with a pink license plate cover that said: “I suck at fantasy football.” I like that one a lot.

Fantasy punishments are starting to jump the shark and become a bit too performative. The other day at the office Woz suggested someone should have to walk the entire length of the Henday. That’s 80 friggin’ kilometres dude. You’re welcome to that idea.

Otherwise, I think the idea of having to host the Super Bowl party and cater to everyone’s food and drink preferences is a classic move. Or just go for the jugular and force a tattoo of the league’s choosing. If you’re really stuck watch some Kenny vs Spenny episodes for suggestions.

I’ve always tried to get bets going at HQ where the loser had to rock a dangly earring for a while, but no one ever wants to do it. I love a dangly earring… I mean, not on me but someone else. I also like the ones where the dude gets trapped in a Denny’s for 24 hours unless they eat X number of pancakes or whatever. Maybe some interpretive dance? Maybe a ticket to an Elks game or something where they have to sit in an empty section with a sign saying they’re horrible at fantasy football?