A pair of moves around NHL broadcasting and a familiar push for better team defense are front and center in this week’s Oilers notebook, but there are a few other Edmonton storylines worth tracking too.
The biggest roster-side development is still the same one that has been hanging over the Oilers for a while: Connor McDavid keeps climbing the franchise goal chart. Barring injury, he should move past Jari Kurri for second all-time in even strength goals sometime this coming season.
McDavid enters 2026-27 with 300, while Kurri finished at 336. Wayne Gretzky’s mark remains out in front at 103 more than McDavid’s current pace.
There was also happier off-ice news around the organization. Goaltender Tristan Jarry and his wife Hannah are expecting a baby. That sort of announcement usually stays outside the hockey discussion, but it’s worth pausing on the simple fact that players are “people too”, and their lives away from the rink carry the same milestones everyone else experiences.
On the prospect side, Tommy Lafreniere is spending a summer unlike most. He is with Team Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase this week in Windsor, Ontario, getting his first taste of “International” hockey.
Edmonton took the Hornby Island, B.C. native in 2025 at #83 overall. Last season in Kamloops, the right shot put up 41-36-77 in 67 GP.
Another young Oilers name, Nathaniel Day, is in a tougher spot. A recent Cult of Hockey Prospects profile pointed out that he has become something of a forgotten man in an organization suddenly loaded with goaltenders.
Day followed a strong junior career with a very solid start in the ECHL, but the next step in his development really calls for AHL minutes. That’s the problem: there are three goalies at both the AHL and NHL level, so for now he looks blocked.
Mat Savoie is drawing a different kind of attention. Some in the Edmonton fan base want his extension done right away, especially with the winger entering the last year of his ELC.
He posted 18-19-37 in 82 GP for the Oilers last season, though he had just one assist in six playoff games. The offense matters, but it doesn’t tell the full story, and the view here is that he is ahead of schedule defensively.
The smarter play may be to wait and see how he fits under the new coaching staff. With the cap rising, giving up a little money for more certainty on Savoie’s future could make sense.
Still, letting it drift too far past Christmas would be risky.
Mike Babcock’s arrival has already produced plenty of discussion, and Leon Draisaitl finally offered his view. Draisaitl was part of the leadership group that met with Babcock, and his comments add useful context to the hiring.
As he said to TSN: “I think he’s the right guy to get us to where we want to get to. Obviously, it’s a different look, a change in personality, but very excited to learn from him, work with him”.
That kind of response matters, especially coming from a player whose voice carries real weight in the room.
The biggest on-ice test for Babcock may be whether he can tighten things up defensively, especially on the penalty kill. Edmonton’s PK sat at 77.8% last season, below league average.
Babcock’s numbers with Toronto were mixed: 81.6% in 2015-16, 82.5% in 2016-17, 81.4% in 2017-18, 79.9% in 2018-19, and 77.7% in 2019-20 before he was fired on November 20. Different rosters, different seasons, different circumstances - but the bottom line is that his Maple Leafs penalty kill was not a runaway success.
If Edmonton wants that area fixed, it will need better results.
There’s also an example from elsewhere in the league that says plenty about where hockey broadcasting is headed. The Columbus Blue Jackets will simulcast their televised games on radio after radio play-by-play man Bob McElligot did not have his contract renewed.
From a broadcaster’s perspective, that kind of move usually comes down to cost cutting, not better service. And for fans, the loss is real, because television play-by-play and radio play-by-play are not the same craft at all.
That theme carries right into the NHL’s latest media deal. Prime Video has signed a twelve-year sub-licensing agreement with Rogers Communications to carry Wednesday Night Hockey in both English and French.
Prime will also carry two first-round playoff series and one second-round series. There is obviously an economic upside for the broadcasters, but for fans the effect is plain: getting every game now means two subscriptions instead of one.
That matters even more with the shutdown of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC, which at least was free and easy to access. Rogers Sportsnet has also raised its annual fee again.
Streaming is clearly the direction live sports are going, at least for now. The issue is who gets left behind while the industry keeps charging more. The league dresses it up with language like “premium product”, but the translation is simple enough: pay more if you want in.
In Other News...
Oilers Camp Could Force Tough Early Lineup Decisions
Training camp is about to give the Oilers their first real look at how a roster full of veterans and young players might sort itself out under new coach Mike Babcock. Between the goaltending mix and the possibility of a few role changes up front, Edmonton is heading into the season with more questions than usual, and a few of them could be answered quickly once the practices start getting intense.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is one of the names to watch because his spot in the lineup may not be exactly where it has been before, and the same goes for Ike Howard as he tries to make his case on the left side. For a team that has already lived through plenty of management and coaching upheaval, the real issue now is how much lineup flexibility Babcock wants to use early, and whether a couple of younger pieces can force their way into jobs the club may not have fully mapped out yet. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Bunting Could Give The Oilers Something Connor Brown Couldnt
Connor Browns exit leaves Edmonton with a familiar kind of hole to fill: the sort of reliable, hard-to-notice work that helps a contender survive the grind of a long season. The Oilers liked what Brown brought in the defensive end, and his value came as much from his steadiness as from anything he did on the scoresheet.
Michael Bunting is not built the same way, but he could still give Edmonton a different kind of useful bottom-six jolt. His game leans more toward physicality, net-front disruption and secondary scoring, the kind of edge that can change shifts and add some chaos around the crease. If the Oilers are looking for a forward who can make life uncomfortable for opponents while chipping in offense in a middle-six or support role, Bunting at least gives them a lane to explore. [Read more 🡒]
Trent Frederic May Need One Oilers Role To Finally Break Through
Trent Frederic spent much of last season trying to work his way through two hurdles at once: the aftermath of a high ankle sprain and the search for a role that fit cleanly with the Edmonton Oilers. It made for an uneven first run in Edmonton, one where the physical tools were obvious but the usage never quite settled into something that let him build real momentum.
Now, Frederic is looking at the coming season as a chance to carve out more responsibility, and the penalty kill appears to be the lane he wants most. He has already shown he can handle that job from his time in Boston, and there is at least some optimism around the new coaching setup and the familiarity he has already started to build with teammates such as Colton Dach. The question is whether that usage opens the door to the offensive impact he believes is still there. [Read more 🡒]