Josh Samanski is on the outside looking in.

The Edmonton Oilers are finalizing their roster to start the 2026-27 regular season, which begins on Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks, and have made their first choice.

The team announced Monday morning that Samanski is being loaned to the Bakersfield Condors, meaning Owen Michaels and Max Jones will stick around for the time being.

This makes the Oilers forward group at the moment Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Vasily Podkolzin, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kasperi Kapanen, Alex Formenton, Colton Dach, Mathieu Joseph, Isaac Howard, Owen Michaels, Trent Frederic, Max Jones, and Jason Dickinson.

If those 14 forwards are set, that means the Oilers could send one defenceman to comply with the 23-man roster, leaving the likely choice between Ty Emberson and Spencer Stastney. The deadline to finalize the roster is 3 p.m. local time.

According to PuckPedia, the Oilers are still cap-compliant with the injuries to Matt Savoie, Jason Dickinson, Alec Regula, and Mattias Janmark.

Samanski finished last season with Edmonton, playing a total of 24 regular-season games and five of the six playoff games. He made inroads with former coach Kris Knoblauch for his defensive-minded play, but has not made the same type of impression with coach Mike Babcock. Max Jones played 21 games with the Oilers last season, and 19 games in 2024-25 after being acquired from the Boston Bruins.

Instead, Colton Dach is getting an extended audition at centre, practicing on Monday morning as the team’s fourth-line centre. Meanwhile, Owen Michaels, who Babcock has also praised throughout the pre-season, lined up at the fourth-line centre.

Those lines are in part because Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are playing together on the top line.

Bob Stauffer also said on Monday morning that Tristan Jarry will be the starter. Jason Dickinson will not be ready to start.

Edmonton finished the pre-season with a perfect 4-0 record, the first time in franchise history they’ve gone undefeated throughout exhibition.

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