Edmonton’s early-season good vibes hit a bump last night, and Mike Babcock has a couple of problems to sort through as he keeps getting to know his team. The Oilers are still off to a fine start, and their best players are looking like their best players. But the cracks showed, and the next stretch will say plenty about how Babcock handles them.
The biggest issue is up front, where the Oilers have a goalie problem and a third-line problem, plus a bigger question about where the offensive driver for the second line is supposed to come from if it is not Leon. That answer matters, because how Babcock handles that spot will shape the November record.
The McDavid line is coming back to earth after a historic start, though there is no reason to direct criticism at that group. The second line is where the attention will go, and the idea of moving Draisaitl there has been on the table all along. Edmonton has the best center depth chart on the planet, but only if it is used.
Zach Hyman may be the key to making that line work. He needs to be the driver on the unit, and the goal chances are there.
The line has logged 24 minutes together and has gone 0-2 on goals, but it has produced six high-danger scoring chances, which is a good number. The finish just has to come.
That task falls to Hyman.
The third line is harder to ignore. The Michaels group is sitting at 5-8 goals at five-on-five with a 34 percent expected share in 94 minutes, and Babcock is going to have to pull back from it soon.
Now. There is also a note of concern around Filip Hallander, who had two high-danger chances from the fourth line, and the suggestion here is that Formenton should come out for Howard.
Before the attention shifts to the blue line and the goaltending, the forward group’s five-on-five expected goals against per 60 paints an uncomfortable picture. Babcock is not the kind of coach who builds a lineup around expected goals, but the results from Howard and Frederic yesterday line up with the numbers.
That points to a next move: Michaels out, Draisaitl to No. 2 center, and Howard back in. The blunt version is that Howard needs to play or be sent down.
The defense has its own mess to sort through, especially with Mattias Ekholm’s status hanging over things. The pairings to avoid are easier to spot than the ones that work, which is not a great place to be. The preferred look would be Shea-Bouchard, Walman-Emberson and Carfagna-Murphy.
Goaltending was part of the story too. Tristan Jarry stopped 23 of 28 shots at five-on-five and 25 of 31 overall, with expected goals at 3.10 and six goals against. That is not close to good enough, even if the game should not be laid at one man’s feet.
For all the talk about Toronto’s defense, that group got in the way of pucks and bodies and moved the puck out cleanly. The Maple Leafs also forced Edmonton into a lot of stretch passes and errant hookups, which led to icings and quick returns into the Oilers’ zone. That kind of inefficiency runs against everything Babcock’s coaching career has been about, and his team was in control of very little from anthem to final whistle.
The next test comes Monday, and the coaching staff has work to do before then.
In Other News...
Oilers Suddenly Have Questions Their Record Was Hiding
The record still looked shiny, but the performance in Toronto did not. Edmonton was hammered 7-2 by the Maple Leafs, taking its second regulation loss of the season and exposing some early cracks in a start that had largely masked those issues. Leon Draisaitl scored twice to keep the Oilers from being completely swallowed up, but the night also featured goals from former Oilers Jack Roslovic and Troy Stecher, a reminder of how quickly a game can tilt when the margins are thin.
The bigger concern was how little resistance Edmonton offered in its own end, especially with defensive breakdowns piling up and certain line combinations struggling to find their footing. Tristan Jarry had a rough night in net as Toronto kept finding space and finishing chances, leaving the Oilers with more questions than answers as they try to sort out whether this was just one bad result or the first clear sign that their early success needs a closer look. [Read more 🡒]
Former Oiler Jack Roslovic Is Suddenly Becoming A Problem In Toronto
Jack Roslovic did not linger long in Edmonton, but his next stop has quickly turned him into a nuisance for the Oilers' fan base from afar. Since landing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the former Oiler has piled up 10 points in 12 games, a sharp enough burst to make his early run in Toronto look like more than a hot streak. Roslovic has also pointed back to his time with Edmonton as part of the reason his approach has sharpened, crediting what he learned there with helping him settle into a better daily standard.
For Edmonton, the bigger picture only gets more complicated because Connor McDavid keeps operating at another level entirely, sitting on 31 points in 10 games and threatening one of those seasons that gets talked about for years. And while Roslovic's form in Toronto is the immediate sting, the broader conversation around player movement is also getting louder, with some NHL players privately believing teams should have more control when trade requests enter the picture. It is the kind of debate that only gets louder when a former Oiler starts producing for a rival and reminding everyone how thin the line can be between a departure and a regret. [Read more 🡒]
Babcock Just Called Out What Really Doomed The Oilers Against Toronto
The Oilers 7-2 loss to the Maple Leafs was the kind of night that leaves little room for soft explanations. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard all chipped in offensively, but Edmonton was still buried by Torontos pace, structure and edge, with the defensive side of the puck never finding a foothold. Tristan Jarry got the start in goal and gave up six, adding to a game in which the Oilers simply could not keep up.
What stood out afterward was not just the margin, but the familiar frustration around the effort level. Mike Babcock took aim at the teams compete, saying the standard against a team like Toronto should have been obvious from the opening puck drop. For an Edmonton group trying to establish consistency, the concern is less about one ugly result than whether this was an isolated lapse or another reminder of how quickly things unravel when the urgency disappears. [Read more 🡒]