Game Day 1: Winnipeg at Edmonton
Just three and a half months have passed since the Edmonton Oilers last played a meaningful game of hockey. Hockey games don’t get any more meaningful than Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, against which any regular season game pales in comparison. That said, with the grind of the preseason and the selection of the roster now complete, tonight the Oilers officially begin the long process that their fans hope will deliver them back to the final series.
The core of the squad remains largely intact, though there have been significant changes around the edges of the roster. This was the line-up that took to the ice for that final game of the 2024 playoffs:
While playoff rosters can be fluid, Edmonton used a core group of 23 players last spring, with every one of those men dressing for at least 10 games. Nobody was in single digits in the GP column save backup goalie Calvin Pickard who appeared in 3 games and dressed for the other 22. While there were moving parts within the lines, pairings and scratches, the overall squad was a compact group in which everyone contributed.
16 of those 23 players remain, including the entire first unit, another complete forward line, all four centres, all three left defencemen and both goalies. Somewhat surprising to me that every one of them remains in the exact same spot on the depth chart, from 1C Connor McDavid to the still-injured Evander Kane. Here is tonight’s (projected) line-up:
So what’s changed?
- Leon Draisaitl has a pair of new wingers in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, signed on Jul 01 to replace the (soon-to-be) departing Dylan Holloway and Warren Foegele who started Game 7 on that second line.
- Vasily Podkolzin takes over Ryan McLeod’s spot at 4LW, the result of two separate trades. In truth, McLeod was 3C for much of the season but lost his job to trade deadline acquisition Adam Henrique.
- Right shot defenders Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher are set to take the spots of Philip Broberg and Cody Ceci on the second and third pairings. Emberson was acquired in a trade for Ceci, while Stecher actually came at the deadline last season but was hurt and did not participate in the playoffs. He was re-signed on Jul 01 and appears set to take on a regular role near the bottom of the depth chart. Broberg left Edmonton along with Holloway in a shocking raid dressed up as a double offer sheet by St. Louis Blues.
- Defender Travis Dermott was signed just yesterday after a successful PTO, and for now is pencilled in as the extra defender, a spot held by Vincent Desharnais as the playoffs wound down.
One thing’s for sure, the Oilers are older than they were. The returnees are each a year older than they were in 2023-24, while several of the newcomers are already in their 30s.
The major change is on the second line, where Draisaitl is suddenly the youngest player after being the oldest of the trio that finished the playoffs. I don’t suppose he is complaining: between them, his new mates have produced fifteen seasons of 20+ goals including eight of 30 or more. His former mates had just the one 20-goal campaign when Foegele tallied exactly that number a year ago.
The Oilers were already among the most experienced teams in the NHL, but this year that’s gone to another level:
Lavoie reclaimed
A final roster move by the Oilers today, although this one doesn’t impact the big club directly.
Raphael Lavoie is hardly the first person to suffer a brief and unhappy “Vegas vacation”, but after a harrowing three days on and off the waiver wire he is once again Oilers property. The Golden Knights’ attempt to slide him to their AHL affiliate after claiming him on Monday didn’t succeed, with the Oilers reclaiming the 24-year-old winger successfully today. Since no other teams expressed interest, he will be reassigned to Edmonton’s own AHL affiliate in Bakersfield as originally intended.
Lavoie had a strong showing in preseason and will be in a good position for a recall should a need arise at his position. He’s a depth piece, but a worthwhile one on whom the club has spent both draft and developmental assets. Consider it a bullet dodged.
The season to come
The main goal is of course simply to make the playoffs and to do so with as healthy and cohesive a group as possible. But it surely would be helpful for the Oilers to do enough to secure home ice advantage beyond the first round, an edge they last enjoyed against the Minnesota North Stars way back in the 1991 Campbell Conference Finals.
The surest way to accomplish that is to top the Pacific Division. It’s a strange fact that after winning six consecutive divisional titles between 1981-87, the Oilers have never won another, at least not until now. Over the 37 years (36 seasons) since then, they’ve finished second in their division no fewer than 11 times without once finishing first. That includes the last five seasons in a row.
It hasn’t stopped them from succeeding in the post season, though. The Oilers have made it as far as the conference finals a remarkable seven (arguably, eight) times since winning the Smythe Division and the Presidents’ Trophy in 1986-87.
- 1987 playoffs (same season, though technically later in the calendar): won Stanley Cup
- 1988: won Stanley Cup
- 1990: won Stanley Cup
- 1991: lost conference finals
- 1992 lost conference finals
- 2006: lost Stanley Cup Finals
- 2022: lost conference finals
- 2024: lost Stanley Cup Finals
Oil fans can look forward to a new banner being raised at Rogers Place tonight, even as it’s not the one we’ve all been waiting for. The 2024 Campbell Conference pennant will be the 24th NHL flag to adorn the rafters, with the 1978-79 WHA regular season title still unacknowledged for reasons that escape me.
Tonight’s opponent
After five consecutive season openers against Vancouver Canucks, the Oilers will face another historical rival tonight. Winnipeg Jets are coming off an outstanding 52-24-6 season, in the process copping the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals against. The Jets are a veteran crew whose core group remains intact from the 2021 squad that shocked the Oilers in the Northern (Canadian) Division playoffs. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck, d-men Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo and Neal Pionk along with forwards Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton and captain Adam Lowry all remain from that squad. It’s a solid, veteran crew. Oilers will be tested right from Game 1.
The onus is on the local club to avoid the pitfalls of 2023-24, when a ghastly 2-9-1 start skewered their chances at a division crown and drained a lot of energy in the subsequent (impressive) recovery. No time like the present to get things off on the right foot.
As part of a doubleheader on Sportsnet, the game will have a late start at 8pm MDT. It will also be broadcast on AM radio by 880 (!) CHED as the local rights-holder has chosen this occasion to switch bandwidths after 61 years as 630 CHED.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: 48% of NHL experts forecast Oilers will win 2025 Stanley Cup
McCURDY: Oilers finalize roster, sign Dermott, put Kane on LTIR
McCURDY: Lavoie back on waivers; here’s why Oilers should claim him
STAPLES: Noah Philp gets rave review from Oilers’ GM
Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy