Before the Edmonton Oilers’ matchup against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, holding, interference, and obstruction were temporarily suspended from the rulebook.

I kid (sort of), but the 1-0 loss to the Kings was not a well-played, structured and skill-based type of shutout. It was a sludgefest, with few whistles and just a handful of scoring chances. One power play for each team, while several more could and should’ve been handed out.

If it’s any indication of how the playoffs will be officiated, it could be a sight for sore eyes.

After the Oilers scored ten goals to begin the road trip, they finished the road trip with the same number, but two consecutive strong defensive showings after a loose affair in Utah on Tuesday.

The loss hurt their Pacific Division chances, with Vegas seizing first after a victory against the Colorado Avalanche, and Anaheim heavy favourites against Vancouver on Sunday evening.

Yet, a playoff berth is officially clinched.

But how about a little health? Edmonton’s ability to make puck plays was challenged on Saturday, the third straight without Zach Hyman. The road trip saw Jason Dickinson struck with a puck and Max Jones go down hobbled.

The Oilers’ injuries aren’t to the Dallas Stars’ level, but they aren’t nothing. This time next week, Oilers fans hope to see Leon Draisaitl, but there’s no guarantee he’ll look like himself if he does play. Hyman’s issues are hoped to be precautionary.

Isaac Howard earned a call-up, boasting 48 points in 45 games this season with the Bakersfield Condors.

The depth is being challenged, but it’s important to remind yourself that with where this team’s goals were to begin the season, they’ve gotten through the long and arduous road of the regular season late.

That doesn’t excuse how flawed the season has been, but all is forgotten with playoff success. When the puck drops for Game 1, everyone sits at 0-0. There is a style of game the Oilers have developed lately that is conducive to winning playoff rounds.

Walking the tightrope begins shortly…

Record this week 1-1-1
Road record in 2026: 9-5-3
Home record in 2026: 11-10-1

This week:

Home to Colorado Avalanche on Monday
Home to Vancouver Canucks on Thursday
Game 1 vs ???

Oilers buck Thanksgiving indicator

American Thanksgiving is seen as a significant benchmark of the season. Roughly a quarter of the way through the campaign, most teams that are in a playoff spot at that time finish in the post-season, usually with just a couple of differences.

Was it as predicative this year, or is it just hockey cliché?

In the Western Conference, the changes aren’t dramatic from what the standings were on Nov. 27, 2025.

You’ll notice those Edmonton Oilers two points out of the last wildcard spot at the time, fresh off of a gruelling seven-game road trip, and a brutal shellacking at the hands of the Dallas Stars.

With that said, Seattle seemed like a paper tiger, and many teams were set to collapse. Vancouver had won 10 of their 23 games by this point, only two games below NHL .500. Chicago couldn’t keep up the pace. The total dropoff of some Western Conference teams in the mushy middle meant little would eventually change.

The Oilers will likely finish as the lone Western Conference team to be out of it on Turkey Day, unless Nashville can flip the script on Los Angeles. The Preds were dead last in the league at the time with 18 points and a 7-12-4 record.

The Central Division has been locked in this Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota order for several months, and it has never changed. For one of them, it’ll be an elite .640 points percentage death march to a first-round exit.

So in total, four out of 16 teams that weren’t in a spot by U.S. Thanksgiving are in today, and perhaps five if the Preds catch the Kings.

The convention continues to be strong, but it wouldn’t be hockey without the randomness and momentum of cellar-dwelling Buffalo and Nashville being two of those teams.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Conference was extremely tight at the time, as only eight points separated first overall and 16th in the conference.

You’d have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the Buffalo Sabres, who are in pole position to win the Atlantic with two games to go. The Sabres were 9-10-4 at the time, and were a couple weeks still from firing their general manager Kevyn Adams, which seemed to flip their season.

Not to mitigate their accomplishment, but they were just five points out of the wildcard at the time, and eight from the conference leader. What’s impressive isn’t the playoff clinching, and ending that historic playoff drought, it’s how far they’ve climbed.

Overall, in the East, three of the eight playoff teams changed. With the Flyers expected to claim the third spot in the Metro, Philadelphia and Montreal were also both in a logjam tie for the last wildcard spot at the time.

It’s jarring to see New Jersey at the top of the division with how their season fractured, the plan of getting Quinn Hughes being no plan at all, and now in franchise flux without a GM. The Devils, along with the Islanders and Capitals, were not able to keep their positions.

Goal diff tiff

As pointed out by Shayna Goldman of The Athletic, it’s not every day that teams with a negative goal differential make the playoffs.

In the salary cap era, only 28 teams have made the playoffs with a negative goal differential, she wrote in her column last week.

Last year, only two out of 16 teams had a negative goal differential: Montreal at -20 and Minnesota at -11. Both were wildcard teams. The year before that, it was again two teams.

In 2025-26, it’ll be two again. The Anaheim Ducks are close to clinching with a -14 differential at the moment, and the LA Kings at -21. The Preds are -20 if they snatch the spot.

With how sloped the divisions have been this season, it seems that two positive goal differential teams in the East will miss the playoffs, but none in the West. Just seven of the 16 teams in the West have a positive goal differential.

Usually, these negative teams get bounced early, but there are notable exceptions: the 2010 Canadiens, 2017 Senators and 2020 Islanders all made it to the conference final, riding hot goaltenders and dogged defensive structure. The 2021 Canadiens also had a magical run through the Canadian division to make the Stanley Cup Final.

But otherwise, baggage like this is a strong indicator of how teams will do. Just five teams out of 28 went on to win a playoff round.

Yzerplan out of bullets

What’s more surprising? The collapse of the Detroit Red Wings, or the rally by the Ottawa Senators?

On Jan. 12, the Detroit Red Wings had a record of 28-15-4, sat in the Atlantic Division lead, and were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Eastern Conference. The Ottawa Senators were 20-19-5 and tied with Columbus for last in the Eastern Conference, 25th in the overall league standings.

Three months later, fans of the winged wheel serenaded their team with a chorus of boos, their slim playoff hopes officially crushed after a 5-3 loss to New Jersey. The Red Wings are missing the playoffs for the tenth straight season.

“This is Detroit. This is Hockeytown,” said coach Todd McLellan. “I’ve been lucky enough to be on the other side of it, when they couldn’t stop cheering for this team. And they’re dying for that, they crave that.

Gino Hard

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The Wings were booed off the ice after being eliminated from playoff contention at the hands of the 22nd overall New Jersey Devils...🤐

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“Those are the fans in our building, and they pay to watch us play…they’re fully entitled to their opinion, and we’ve deserved their opinion. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. That’s what we earned.”

Memories of Steve Yzerman and the Russian Five commanding a hockey dynasty through the 1990s and 2000s seem all the more distant today. Yzerman became the general manager in 2019, presiding over a rebuild as long as a Russian novel.

In today’s professional sports world, patience is not a virtue. Rare is it to get seven years as a GM to make the postseason, or to hire two head coaches, even after giving the bench boss you inherited multiple seasons of runway.

Ownership in the Ilitch family has shown monkish levels of patience with the Yzerplan. Nevermind Nirvana: they must decide whether or not to fire one of the greatest players in Detroit Red Wings history.

Sure, there’s been some bad luck. The Wings consistently fell in the Draft Lottery despite poor seasons.

Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are franchise pillars, but they are already 24 and 25-years-old, and the next wave of prospects doesn’t profile as gamebreakers. They never got the Macklin Celebrini-type player, the needle-mover that makes a rebuild worthwhile.

The pro scouting has to be the biggest issue. Detroit has not been able to furnish its lineup with the right veterans to build a playoff-calibre team. Who needs a second-line centre anyway.

It may chap their behinds that they have the same number of wins and points as the 2023-24 season where they tied for the last wildcard spot, but missed due to tiebreakers. The East was tougher this season.

Yzerman is the sixth-longest tenured general manager currently in the NHL. He can’t survive this.

Dangerous wildcard

Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators’ season of calamity, off-ice drama, and innuendo has another attribute – playoff-bound.

The Sens couldn’t get saves, on pace to have the third worst save percentage since 1990-91. But then they reeled off a 23-8-5 stretch and pose the Carolina Hurricanes or Buffalo Sabres a real threat in the first round, depending on how the chips fall for seeding.

“Two months ago, it was maybe a little ugly, but our team is confident. I think we always knew we were going to be in this spot,” said Ridly Greig after a 3-0 shutout win over the Islanders on Saturday, which secured their spot.

Their five-on-five expected goal differential is second-best in the NHL in the past 20 games, and third-best for the entire season.

Since Linus Ullmark’s return from mental health leave, he posts a 14-4-3 record, a 2.41 goals against average, and a .904 save percentage. It’s not elite numbers from a Vezina winner, it’s 13th in save percentage amongst goalies who’ve played double-digit games, but it’s a huge improvement from where he was.

This all going on while missing massive pieces on the blueline at one time or another, including Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Tyler Kleven, Nick Jensen, and Dennis Gilbert

With Chabot’s bionic arm, their deep forward ranks, and timely saves, Ottawa has salvaged its season.

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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