Alphonso Davies thinks the Edmonton Oilers are due for a turn, and he said as much while helping launch the NHL’s next push into Germany.
During the press conference announcing that the Oilers will be one of four teams to play two games in Germany in 2027-28, Davies said he expects Edmonton to answer back after a disappointing season.
“I’m excited to see what the [2026-27] season brings. In sports, you always have ups and downs… but I’m sure this season, they have something to prove because last year was not what we expected as a fan. But, at the end of the day, we know these guys are going to come out and do their job this season.” - Alphonso Davies.
The Oilers will play in Köln against opponents that have not yet been named. Köln, or Cologne, is also the city where Leon Draisaitl was born, which makes the connection to Germany’s hockey rise an easy one to draw.
Draisaitl has become the clearest symbol of how far German hockey has come. He was drafted third overall by Edmonton in 2014 and has grown into the best German-born player in NHL history, while also standing among the league’s elite players of this generation.
That rise has mirrored the path of Davies in a lot of ways.
Davies was born to Liberian parents in a refugee camp in Ghana in 2000 and moved to Edmonton in 2005. Before he joined Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps at 14, he played youth soccer with the Edmonton Strikers and Edmonton Internationals.
By 16, he had become a Canadian citizen and was the youngest player ever to appear for Canada’s men’s national team. His speed and attacking burst made him impossible to ignore, and Bayern Munich came calling in the summer of 2018. By January 2019, he was in Germany, where he quickly became a key piece for the club and helped them win the 2020 Champions League.
Davies also played a major role in Canada’s push to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the country’s first appearance there since 1986. Injuries have slowed him at times in recent years, but his emergence as one of soccer’s top left backs has helped put Canada on a bigger stage, with the country set to co-host the 2026 World Cup and having already reached the Round of 16.
Now he’s lending his name to another effort to build a sport overseas, this time hockey in Germany. In December, the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks will play in Düsseldorf, marking the second and third regular-season games ever held in the country.
Germany’s climb in hockey has been steady and real, and Draisaitl sits right at the center of it. Since missing the 2014 Olympics, Germany has collected a silver medal at the 2018 Olympics and finished sixth at the 2026 Olympics. The national team also took silver at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, a tournament that included NHL players.
The progress has shown up at the junior level, too. Germany spent the back half of the 2010s in Group A, earned promotion at the 2019 tournament, and has stayed in the World Junior Championship for the last seven tournaments. During that run, the Germans finished sixth in consecutive years, matching the best result in program history, which came at the 1980 WJC.
And the pipeline hasn’t stopped with Draisaitl. Germany has also produced Moritz Seider, Tim Stützle, and JJ Peterka. Canada’s men’s soccer program has seen its own wave of talent, with Jonathan David, Ismaël Koné, Promise David, and plenty of others emerging from what Davies called Canada’s golden generation.
Hockey may be Canada’s main game and soccer Germany’s, but both countries are making their presence felt beyond their traditional borders. This latest NHL venture is built to keep that momentum moving in Germany.
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