Kasperi Kapanen’s spot in the Oilers’ lineup is looking a lot less secure than it did a year ago.
For much of his time in Edmonton, Kapanen has been the natural fit on Leon Draisaitl’s right side. That made sense because of his speed, and it gave the Oilers a simple answer when they needed one. But heading into this season, that answer may no longer be automatic.
Matt Savoie worked that same area last season and did it very well, with the source material saying he may have even been better there than Kapanen has been in his Oilers stint. Isaac Howard has also shown he belongs in the top six, which gives Edmonton two young forwards who have already spent time with the club’s best players and have earned a shot to keep doing it.
That leaves Kapanen squeezed.
If Connor McDavid and Draisaitl are separated onto different lines, Edmonton could pair Howard with one centre and Savoie with the other, while Zach Hyman and Vasily Podkolzin fill the opposite wings. That setup would give the Oilers a mix of two veterans, two young forwards and one elite centre on each of the top two lines, while keeping Howard and Savoie in the roles they already handled last season.
In that version, Kapanen drops into the bottom six.
And that wouldn’t necessarily mean he played himself out of a top-six job. Kapanen was dealing with injuries throughout last season and never really got the chance to build a long stretch in one place. Still, the Oilers now have younger options who may simply be better fits there.
The case for Kapanen gets stronger if the Oilers want a more veteran-heavy second line. McDavid and Draisaitl together would give Edmonton a clear first line, and the source material says Mike Babcock would like to see that look, presumably with Hyman. But that also creates a different problem: the Oilers would then have to build a second line around Ryan Nugent-Hopkins instead of around McDavid or Draisaitl.
Edmonton could put Howard and Savoie on Nugent-Hopkins’ wings and keep both of them in the top six while loading up the first line. But that would ask a lot from Nugent-Hopkins, who is 33 and would be centering two players still relatively new to the league. Howard and Savoie may be ready for bigger roles, but they are still learning parts of the NHL, and having both on the same line would place a heavy burden on Nugent-Hopkins at both ends.
If Babcock wants another veteran next to Nugent-Hopkins, then Kapanen suddenly has a much clearer path to staying in the top six. In that setup, one of Howard or Savoie could play on the other wing, giving Edmonton a second line with two experienced players and one younger forward instead of asking Nugent-Hopkins to carry both young wingers at once.
That is probably Kapanen’s best shot.
His place is less certain now than it was last season, and the injuries haven’t helped. The Oilers no longer need him beside Draisaitl just because there isn’t anyone else to put there, and Savoie has done enough to make a strong case that he should get that job whenever Draisaitl is centering his own line.
So it all comes back to Babcock’s choice. If McDavid and Draisaitl skate together, how comfortable is Edmonton with Howard and Savoie on a line centered by Nugent-Hopkins? And if the Oilers want more veteran support there, does Kapanen get the nod?
In Other News...
Podkolzin Is Becoming Too Important For Oilers Fans To Ignore
Vasily Podkolzin did not arrive in Edmonton with the kind of fanfare that usually follows a player who ends up mattering this much. Acquired in August 2024 for a 2025 fourth-round pick, he was more of a depth add than a headline move, but he quickly carved out a real role and became the sort of dependable presence coaches trust and teammates notice. Playing all 82 games in his first season only reinforced how steady he has been for the Oilers.
Now, in 2025-26, Podkolzin has taken another clear step forward, and that is where the conversation around him starts to change. His work ethic and development have drawn praise inside the room, and the sense around him is that this is still trending upward rather than peaking. For a team always looking for useful, affordable pieces that can grow into more, Podkolzin is becoming hard to overlook. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Fans Finally Have Context For Trent Frederics Rough Season
Trent Frederics first full season in Edmonton did not go the way anyone around the Oilers expected, and now there is some needed context for why the production never really followed. The forward finished with just four goals and seven points while clearly fighting through a rough stretch, and he has since said he was not fully healthy for much of the year. What looked like a disappointing fit on the surface now reads more like a player trying to survive a season without his normal legs under him.
Frederic says he is finally feeling recovered, which matters for an Oilers team that has already made changes to the roster and is looking for cleaner answers heading into the next season. A healthier Frederic gives Edmonton a chance to see what he can actually bring under new coach Mike Babcock, and whether he can become a more useful piece rather than just another name from a frustrating year. The bigger question now is whether this is the reset that lets him move past the injury-plagued version of 2025-26 and show the player the Oilers thought they were getting. [Read more 🡒]