The Edmonton Oilers’ roster contains seven of the top 50 active goal scorers in the NHL. Corey Perry is seventh with 444 career goals, Leon Draisaitl ranks 11th with 396, Jeff Skinner is 14th with 371, Connor McDavid sits 18th at 361, Evander Kane is 23rd with 326, Adam Henrique is 48th with 272 while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is 50th with 271.

It shouldn’t have been a big surprise that Skinner, Henrique and Nugent-Hopkins stepped up in the absence of McDavid and Draisaitl on Saturday, and combined to score all five Oilers goals in their 5-4 victory over Seattle. Even without their two big guns, and Kane all season, the Oilers still possess enough offensive weapons to remain competitive until their two superstars return.

— You won’t see either McDavid or Draisaitl this week. The Oilers host Dallas on Wednesday, are in Seattle on Thursday, and are back home against Calgary on Saturday. The only good news about their injuries is it comes at a time when the Oilers only play three games in nine days. The more pressing question is: Will either of them be ready to play in Vegas on April 1st when the Oilers begin a four-game road trip?

— Trent Frederic’s return has been pushed back. Originally the Oilers were hopeful he would return before April, but that won’t happen. On the weekend Stan Bowman said he’d be out two more weeks, which means if he returns April 5th in LA he’d have seven regular season games left to play. If he is later, then it will be down to six games or fewer. Not ideal, but they knew he wouldn’t be ready to play when they acquired him, and they obviously can’t rush him back off an ankle injury. Ideally, he’ll play at least five regular season games.

— RNH tallied his fourth-career hat trick on Saturday, and his first in six seasons. His last occurred on March 26th, 2019. RNH has nine points in his last four games including three games with three points. His offensive emergence couldn’t have come at a better time. He is feeling it, and he’s looked much more engaged playing centre. When Draisaitl and McDavid return, I’d keep RNH at centre.

— Jeff Skinner is also playing his best hockey of the season. He is moving his feet more. The puck isn’t dying on his stick like it was early in the season. He’s making more plays and earning more ice time. In his last two games he’s logged 18 and 17 minutes, the most of any game this season. His line, with Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown, was the best line on Saturday.

— Edmonton’s powerplay went 2-for-5 on Saturday. The second unit scored on a great shot by Henrique, and then RNH scored in the third period. They struggled at times to gain the zone, but once they were set up both units looked good. Lots of players are getting more puck touches with McDavid and Draisaitl out of the lineup, which should help their offensive confidence.

— I realize beating Seattle isn’t a major win, as the Kraken are not a good team. Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars will be a much tougher test. Dallas hosts Minnesota tonight, and the Stars are 3-2-2 in their last seven but needed OT to beat Anaheim and Philadelphia.

— The Oilers are in a battle for home-ice advantage in the Pacific Division with Vegas and LA. Catching Vegas will be difficult. They are five points ahead of the Oilers with 12 games remaining. If Vegas goes 7-5 the Oilers need to go 9-2-1 to catch them. It will be difficult to finish first in the Pacific.

Meanwhile LA and the Oilers are tied with 87 points. LA has one game in hand. They play each other twice in their final seven games, and those two games might decide who finishes second. Edmonton has beaten LA in three consecutive seasons in the playoffs, but they had home-ice advantage each time. Edmonton finished the season with five more points than LA each of those three years as well. In 2022 and 2024 Edmonton had 104 points and LA had 99, while in 2023, Edmonton finished with 109 points to LA’s 104. This year it likely will be closer and depending on how long McDavid and Draisaitl are out, the Oilers might have to start on the road.

— LA has the best home points percentage in the NHL. The Kings are 25-3-4 and have outscored teams 110-63. They are allowing a league-best 1.97 goals against/game. Nine of their final 13 games are at home, so it will be tough for Edmonton to beat them.

— The WHL announced they will be expanding to Penticton next season and adding Chilliwack in 2026-27. I’m hearing the CHL is considering adding a third European import to each roster (currently teams can have two). My understanding is the WHL will vote yes on that. They will need more quality players by adding two new teams over the next two seasons.

Expansion draft rules in the WHL will be as follows: Teams don’t have to protect 2009-born players. They will have the option to protect three 20-year-olds and 14 total skaters or protect 16 skaters. There will also be some protection of players on the “college” list, but I don’t have the exact specifics on that.

— We keep hearing more and more about the NHL expanding to 34 teams. I’m not in favour of it. The NBA and MLB are more global sports and they only have 30 teams. The NFL is king in North America and they have 32 teams. The NHL expanding would be simply about money, not bettering the quality of play. It won’t make the league better, but I fully expect it to happen because of money.

— The Edmonton Oil Kings have a 57% chance to win the WHL lottery. If they win, they will select Maddox Schultz, who had a ridiculous 93 points in 44 games playing u18. He just turned 15 earlier this month. The deal by Oil Kings GM Kirt Hill to get Moose Jaw’s first-round pick in December of 2023 turned out better than they could have expected. The Oil Kings acquired forward Andrej Tomasec, a 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2025 second-round pick (via Vancouver) and a 2026 third-round pick from the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for forward Rilen Kovacevic, 2005-born import defenceman Vojtech Port and a 2024 sixth-round pick.

Moose Jaw won the WHL last year but finished last in the standings this year, and the Oil Kings enter the lottery with the best odds to win.

— One last thing about the WHL: The league has changed the rule so players like Schultz, who are playing u18 when they are 14 (playing age group higher than they normally would), are eligible to play up to 34 games in the WHL as 15-year-olds. Schultz will likely do that next season for whichever team drafts him.