There have been few more surprising storylines this season than the Edmonton Oilers&#8217; slow start.

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They skidded to a 0-3 start with losses to the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames, before finally cauterizing the wound, finding a way to mount a <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-4-0-oilers-show-fight-stop-the-bleeding-in-win-over-flyers">come-from-behind, 4-3 overtime victory</a> against the Philadelphia Flyers.
It, as a whole, has paled in comparison to the start of one of their biggest rival Flames, who, <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/calgary-flames-post-game-4-chicago">after a win over the Blackhawks Tuesday</a>, climbed to 4-0 on the season, tying the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars as the league&#8217;s top team. The days are early, but one thing has become evermore clear: the Oilers need to rethink how they handle their pre-season.
For those who blocked those eight games out of their mind, I can&#8217;t blame you. It was a stretch of boring, uninspiring hockey, that saw too little focus on what really matters: getting ready for the start of the regular season.
Through <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/gdb-6-0-new-draisaitl-line-makes-debut-for-oilers-7pm-mt-sn">Game 6 of the pre-season</a>, the Oilers lineup barely represented what we&#8217;ve seen in the opening four games of the regular season. While that game against Vancouver saw Leon Draisaitl centre Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, and Adam Henrique centre Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown, it also saw Connor McDavid between Vasily Podkolzin and Corey Perry, while the fourth line of Drake Caggiula, James Hamblin and Lane Pederson were all sent to the AHL shortly thereafter.
Mind you, this was the first time the Oilers put the Draisaitl line together after an offseason of speculation about them playing together, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-6-0-fireworks-will-have-to-wait-as-oilers-new-look-second-line-struggles">and they struggled</a>.
Don&#8217;t even get me started on the defensive pairings of Brett Kulak and Josh Brown, Travis Dermott and Troy Stecher and Ben Gleason and Ty Emberson, none of which resembled what we saw on night one of the regular season.
It wasn&#8217;t just that, for the most part, the first six games of the pre-season were by and large a waste of time, rolling prospects and players destined for the Bakersfield Condors, but the team just looked lifeless. That carried over into the regular season, as seen in the first three games, with the Oilers getting outscored 15-3.
This was further seen in comments made by Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
After the Jets game, he spoke about how the Oilers lacked urgency and <a href="https://x.com/zjlaing/status/1844252556555583736">needed to turn the page from last year</a>. Surely, some emotions are carrying over for this team, from the Game 7 loss to the Panthers, and it&#8217;s not a shock to think of them still having to process that. But, as Knoblauch said, they need to turn the page at some point.
On Sunday night, McDavid spoke about how everyone on the team <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-3-0-everyone-can-be-better-says-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-of-0-3-start">needed to be better</a>, and that &#8220;it starts (with) your habits in practice.&#8221;
Last night, Knoblauch had other eye-raising comments about the team, saying, &#8220;I think we&#8217;re a little more focused, ramping up our intensity.&#8221;
These aren&#8217;t comments you want to hear after the 11th and 12th times your team laces up the skates. These things need to be prioritized in the pre-season, and it&#8217;s why the Oilers need to revamp their pre-season process next year.
First and foremost, eight games are far too many, and that number needs to be cut down to three or four. The Oilers have a rookie camp for a reason: to see the club&#8217;s top prospects. That&#8217;s where they should play, and beyond maybe one or two players, the rest should be assigned to their respective junior clubs much sooner than not. Sure, maybe you bring them into the mix for some of the main camps, but with all due respect, they do no need to dress in pre-season games.
The rosters all pre-season long should resemble close to an opening-day lineup. That&#8217;s the time to see if Jeff Skinner fits best with Draisaitl, McDavid or Henrique, not in the first four games of the regular season. It&#8217;s time to figure out what your defensive pairings look like and who&#8217;s meshing well with who. It&#8217;s the time of year to focus more and ramp up the intensity.
For those who may push back on this concept, I offer you this question of what&#8217;s more important right now for the Edmonton Oilers: getting a chance to see prospects and minor league players or ensuring that a team with Stanley Cup aspirations is ready for Game 1 of the regular season to avoid another disastrous start?
I know which one I would&#8217;ve liked to see.
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Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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There have been few more surprising storylines this season than the Edmonton Oilers' slow start.


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They skidded to a 0-3 start with losses to the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames, before finally cauterizing the wound, finding a way to mount a <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-4-0-oilers-show-fight-stop-the-bleeding-in-win-over-flyers">come-from-behind, 4-3 overtime victory</a> against the Philadelphia Flyers.

It, as a whole, has paled in comparison to the start of one of their biggest rival Flames, who, <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/calgary-flames-post-game-4-chicago">after a win over the Blackhawks Tuesday</a>, climbed to 4-0 on the season, tying the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars as the league's top team. The days are early, but one thing has become evermore clear: the Oilers need to rethink how they handle their pre-season.

For those who blocked those eight games out of their mind, I can't blame you. It was a stretch of boring, uninspiring hockey, that saw too little focus on what really matters: getting ready for the start of the regular season.

Through <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/gdb-6-0-new-draisaitl-line-makes-debut-for-oilers-7pm-mt-sn">Game 6 of the pre-season</a>, the Oilers lineup barely represented what we've seen in the opening four games of the regular season. While that game against Vancouver saw Leon Draisaitl centre Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, and Adam Henrique centre Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown, it also saw Connor McDavid between Vasily Podkolzin and Corey Perry, while the fourth line of Drake Caggiula, James Hamblin and Lane Pederson were all sent to the AHL shortly thereafter.

Mind you, this was the first time the Oilers put the Draisaitl line together after an offseason of speculation about them playing together, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-6-0-fireworks-will-have-to-wait-as-oilers-new-look-second-line-struggles">and they struggled</a>.

Don't even get me started on the defensive pairings of Brett Kulak and Josh Brown, Travis Dermott and Troy Stecher and Ben Gleason and Ty Emberson, none of which resembled what we saw on night one of the regular season.

It wasn't just that, for the most part, the first six games of the pre-season were by and large a waste of time, rolling prospects and players destined for the Bakersfield Condors, but the team just looked lifeless. That carried over into the regular season, as seen in the first three games, with the Oilers getting outscored 15-3.

This was further seen in comments made by Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.

After the Jets game, he spoke about how the Oilers lacked urgency and <a href="https://x.com/zjlaing/status/1844252556555583736">needed to turn the page from last year</a>. Surely, some emotions are carrying over for this team, from the Game 7 loss to the Panthers, and it's not a shock to think of them still having to process that. But, as Knoblauch said, they need to turn the page at some point.

On Sunday night, McDavid spoke about how everyone on the team <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/the-day-after-3-0-everyone-can-be-better-says-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-of-0-3-start">needed to be better</a>, and that "it starts (with) your habits in practice."

Last night, Knoblauch had other eye-raising comments about the team, saying, "I think we're a little more focused, ramping up our intensity."

These aren't comments you want to hear after the 11th and 12th times your team laces up the skates. These things need to be prioritized in the pre-season, and it's why the Oilers need to revamp their pre-season process next year.

First and foremost, eight games are far too many, and that number needs to be cut down to three or four. The Oilers have a rookie camp for a reason: to see the club's top prospects. That's where they should play, and beyond maybe one or two players, the rest should be assigned to their respective junior clubs much sooner than not. Sure, maybe you bring them into the mix for some of the main camps, but with all due respect, they do no need to dress in pre-season games.

The rosters all pre-season long should resemble close to an opening-day lineup. That's the time to see if Jeff Skinner fits best with Draisaitl, McDavid or Henrique, not in the first four games of the regular season. It's time to figure out what your defensive pairings look like and who's meshing well with who. It's the time of year to focus more and ramp up the intensity.

For those who may push back on this concept, I offer you this question of what's more important right now for the Edmonton Oilers: getting a chance to see prospects and minor league players or ensuring that a team with Stanley Cup aspirations is ready for Game 1 of the regular season to avoid another disastrous start?

I know which one I would've liked to see.

<hr />

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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