The Edmonton Oilers head into the 2026-27 NHL season with a whole lot riding on just about everything. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the group are being asked to turn a narrow window into a championship run, but the flip side is ugly: if this thing goes sideways, it could unravel fast.
That’s the real tension around Edmonton right now. After getting bounced in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs and then going back into the market for a new head coach over the summer, the franchise is already carrying the kind of pressure that makes every early stumble feel bigger than it should. And when you start laying out the worst-case paths, the list gets uncomfortable in a hurry.
The biggest swing of all is the Mike Babcock hire. Daryl Katz and Stan Bowman are taking a major gamble by putting him behind the bench, even with the résumé that includes a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008 and back-to-back Winter Olympics gold medals with Team Canada in 2010 and 2014.
But that success is old news now. His run with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015 to 2019 never got past the first round, and his attempted comeback with the Columbus Blue Jackets in July 2023 collapsed before the season even began because of the controversial treatment of some of his players.
Worst Case Scenario: Babcock should have stayed in retirement, and the experiment with the Oilers is deemed a huge failure. He’s replaced by assistant coach DJ Smith before the playoffs.
McDavid is the other giant piece of the puzzle, and his two-year extension signed in October 2025 that begins this season has already put the organization on the clock. The message was clear: the time to win is now. But if Edmonton starts the year looking anything like the team that was eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks last spring, the pressure could turn into something much worse.
Worst Case Scenario: McDavid steals a page out of Chris Pronger’s playbook and requests a trade around Christmas.
There’s also real uncertainty around the younger forwards who are supposed to help make this thing work. Isaac (Ike) Howard arrived in the Sam O’Reilly trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, and the Oilers still don’t know exactly how that deal will age.
Howard did improve with Bakersfield, Edmonton’s American Hockey League affiliate, and the 2024-25 Hobey Baker Award winner looks ready for the NHL. Whether he keeps building is the question.
Babcock will have to give him a real runway, either alongside Draisaitl on the second line or in a third-line role.
Matt Savoie is in a similar spot. He found his game late last season, especially when he was riding shotgun on McDavid’s line.
If that trend continues, Edmonton gets better. If it doesn’t, the warning lights start flashing.
Worst Case Scenario: Both Howard and Savoie falter under Babcock, with one or both put on the trade block for some veteran help late in the season.
Then there’s the blue line, where the Oilers are trying to replace Darnell Nurse’s toughness and leadership while hoping the rest of the group holds together. The plan is built around Evan Bouchard, Connor Murphy, Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman, with Ryan Shea, Ty Emberson, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Spencer Stastney expected to help fill the gaps, whether one player does it or the job gets split up.
Behind them sits another major gamble: Frederick Andersen, Devon Levi and Tristan Jarry form the three-headed setup in goal. If that group doesn’t stabilize things, the same old problems in Edmonton’s own end could keep showing up.
Worst Case Scenario: Ekholm shows his age, Bouchard doesn’t return healthy from injury (sustained at the World Hockey Championship), no young defenceman steps up this season, and the three-headed goaltending experiment fails. If so, it’s going to be a long season in Edmonton.
That’s the theme here. Bowman has loaded the roster with bets, and the season will be a test of whether any of them pay off.
The coaching decision, the young forwards, the defense, the goaltending - it all has to click. If it doesn’t, and the Oilers are already in trouble by Christmas, the noise around McDavid and his future is only going to get louder.
The Oilers are hoping the odds are in their favour. But if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet the farm on anything to start the season.
In Other News...
Oilers Just Took Another High Stakes Swing At Their Biggest Problem
The Oilers have spent plenty of time looking for answers in goal, and this latest move shows they are still treating the position like the biggest item on their to-do list. Edmonton has already reshaped its goaltending group with Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi and Frederik Andersen, a clear sign the organization is trying to give itself more than one path forward after cycling through different options.
Levi is the name that stands out most in that mix, because the upside is obvious and the fit feels like it could matter over time. With Jarry and Andersen in the room, the Oilers are also giving themselves some insulation as they try to bring Levi along, but the real question is whether this swing finally gives them the stability they have been chasing. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Still Have One Unsettled Decision That Could Shape Everything
The Oilers are still sorting through a few roster questions that could ripple beyond opening night, and the most pressing one is in goal. Edmonton is set to begin the season with three NHL-caliber options and no clear starter, a setup that suggests the club may lean on a fairly even workload early while it figures out who can separate from the pack. For a team trying to stay in the thick of the Western Conference race, that kind of uncertainty is hard to ignore.
There is also a quieter contract decision taking shape elsewhere on the roster, with Matt Savoies next deal potentially influenced by the recent Cole Perfetti extension. Edmonton may prefer to think long term rather than settle for a bridge arrangement, especially if the market continues to reward young talent in that tier. It is the sort of front-office call that does not grab headlines right away, but it can end up shaping the teams flexibility for years. [Read more 🡒]
Evander Kane Feels Like The Flames Debate Fans Dread Most
Evander Kane is back on the open market after a full season with the Vancouver Canucks, and his name is already circulating in the kind of conversations that tend to follow a veteran winger with a long track record and a recent injury history. At this stage of his career, the appeal is pretty clear: a proven scorer, plenty of edge, and enough experience that teams can picture him fitting into more than one kind of lineup.
For Edmonton, the intrigue is easy to understand because the Oilers have been linked to the same sort of low-cost, low-commitment path that could make sense for a player like Kane. A professional tryout would let everyone take a longer look before anything more permanent, and a one-year deal would keep the risk manageable if the fit is there, especially with the club still sorting through its forward depth and the uncertainty around some of its other options. [Read more 🡒]