The Edmonton Oilers’ 2025-26 season never really found its footing. The expectations were high, the results never matched them, and the team spent too much of the year looking like a different group from one night to the next. That inconsistency eventually caught up to them in the first round of the playoffs.
Even with the disappointing finish, the season still had its share of moments worth remembering. A few were wild, a few were historic, and a few gave Oilers fans something to grab onto in a year that didn’t offer much stability.
Connor Clattenburg wasted no time making his presence felt after his NHL debut on Nov. 22 against the Florida Panthers. Edmonton picked him in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, and he had already climbed quickly through the prospect ranks.
He isn’t the kind of player who fills up a highlight reel, but he fits the mold of a hard-nosed fourth-liner who brings physicality and an edge. That was exactly what the Oilers needed when he was called up.
He didn’t stay long. Clattenburg appeared in five games before an eye injury sent him to Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR), and once he was activated, he was assigned back to the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Still, he left a mark in limited minutes. He averaged 7:12 of ice time with Edmonton, scored his first NHL goal in his second game against the Dallas Stars, and did it by winning a battle at the net and pouncing on a loose puck in the crease.
The Oilers spent much of the season searching for that kind of goal. He also finished with 13 penalty minutes, 17 hits, and one fight, going toe-to-toe with Frederick Gaudreau of the Seattle Kraken on Nov.
- At 21, he understood his assignment and brought a jolt of energy.
Leon Draisaitl also hit a major milestone, becoming the first German-born player to reach 1,000 NHL points. He got there on Dec. 16 in Pittsburgh, where the Oilers beat the Penguins 6-4.
Draisaitl had four assists in the game, and his 1,000th point came on the night’s opening goal, a secondary assist on Zach Hyman’s 5-on-3 power-play marker in the middle of the first period. He became the 103rd player overall and the 21st born outside North America to reach the mark.
The setting made it even more unusual. The goal was scored on Stuart Skinner, who had been drafted and developed by Edmonton and played 197 regular-season games for the Oilers, plus another 50 in the playoffs, including two Stanley Cup Final appearances.
Skinner had been traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh just days earlier, and this was his first start with his new team. It was a milestone night for Draisaitl, and Skinner happened to be in the middle of it.
Then came a stretch that briefly made the Oilers look like a team ready to roll. It took 55 games, but Edmonton finally put together its first three-game winning streak of the season. That run came in late January, during the same span as the back-to-back hat tricks from Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.
Bouchard got it started on Jan. 24, scoring the Oilers’ first three goals in a 6-5 overtime win over the Washington Capitals. He added three assists for a six-point night.
It was Edmonton’s first hat trick by a defenceman since Marc-Andrè Bergeron did it on Jan. 14, 2006.
Bouchard became the fourth defenceman in franchise history to record one, joining Bergeron, Risto Siltanen, and Paul Coffey.
Two nights later, Ekholm answered with one of his own in a 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 26.
His first goal put Edmonton ahead 3-2 just 6:28 into the second period, and he scored again two minutes later before sealing the result with an empty-netter. That game also produced a rare piece of history: it was the only time in NHL history that a defenceman scored a hat trick in back-to-back games for the same team.
On top of that, the Ducks game marked the first time in 25 years that a team got four goals from defencemen in a single period, and just the sixth time it had ever happened in the NHL. Ekholm had two of those goals, Spencer Stastney had one, and Darnell Nurse added the other.
The three-game winning streak was completed on Jan. 29 against the San Jose Sharks, and that one came with some real drama. Edmonton fell behind 3-0 in the first 10 minutes and still trailed by that score heading into the third period.
Then the Oilers woke up, scored three times in the final frame, and forced overtime with two goals in the last 3:05 before winning 1:06 into the extra period. It was their only other extended winning streak of the season, apart from a five-game run from March 24 through April 2.
The final entry on the list came in the playoffs, and it was the last truly electric moment for Oilers fans that season. In Game 1 of Round 1 against the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, only to see it disappear in the second. The Oilers entered the third period down 3-2, but Jason Dickinson tied it at 11:30 and Kasperi Kapanen scored the winner with less than two minutes left, lifting Edmonton to a 4-3 victory.
That was as good as it got. The Oilers dropped the next three games and lost the series in six, but that opening-night comeback still stood out in a season that didn’t offer many clean, satisfying endings.
In Other News...
Oilers Win Now Wishlist Is Starting To Come Into Focus
The Oilers long-term shopping list is already starting to take shape, and it is built around the same kind of win-now logic that has defined so much of the conversation in Edmonton. With a 2027 free-agency window in mind, the idea is less about fantasy names and more about identifying players who could actually be available, fit the roster and push the team closer to another playoff run. That makes the exercise feel practical even if it is still firmly in the speculative stage.
Jason Robertson, Alex Debrincat, Vince Dunn and Jordan Binnington all surface as the sort of targets that could move the needle if the right circumstances line up. Robertson would require a lot of cap maneuvering, Debrincat carries the appeal of a long-standing fit, Dunn would answer a need on the back end and Binnington would only enter the picture if Edmonton keeps searching for stability in goal. None of it is imminent, but the list says plenty about where the Oilers are already trying to position themselves. [Read more 🡒]
Patrick Kane's Return Says Everything About Where Blackhawks Believe They're Headed
The Oilers are being linked to another aggressive swing as they weigh a possible move for Steven Stamkos, a rumor that fits the same win-now posture that has defined so much of their thinking around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton has already shown a willingness to chase proven help when the window feels open, and any conversation about adding a player of Stamkos stature only reinforces how little patience this front office appears to have for a slow build.
What makes the chatter worth watching is the price tag and the timing, because this is the kind of deal that would force Edmonton to part with real assets while also depending on Nashvilles willingness to reshape its own direction. The Predators have been linked to a broader reset, and if they decide to lean into that next chapter, the Oilers could find themselves in the middle of one of the summers most consequential trade discussions. [Read more 🡒]