The Oilers don’t play in a normal NHL market, and that’s part of the problem.
Edmonton lives and breathes hockey. The team has three of the best players in the world, and the expectations come with that.
They’re supposed to contend for the Stanley Cup, even with no Canadian team having won it since 1993. That kind of spotlight can squeeze a group fast, especially when the season is still young and a couple of sloppy games are already setting off alarms.
There’s no way to know what’s happening inside the dressing room, and there shouldn’t be. That space belongs to the players and coaches.
But from the outside, the pressure already looks like it’s showing up on the ice. Some Oilers are off to rough starts, and the goaltending picture is already under the microscope, with a debate forming over whether Tristan Jarry or Devon Levi should be the starter.
The reality is that not every NHL city carries the same weight. Fan bases and media coverage fall into different levels, and Edmonton sits firmly in the hardest tier.
In the biggest hockey markets, every misstep gets magnified. Toronto has around thirty regular reporters around the team, and Edmonton and Montreal aren’t far behind.
Other markets barely move the needle by comparison. A few years ago, the only reporter covering the New York Islanders worked for a college newspaper.
San Jose has very little coverage. Some teams are playing in packed buildings every night, while others have to give tickets away.
The pressure is simply not the same everywhere.
Former Oilers goalie Jack Campbell talked candidly this week about how that pressure can wear on a player. On the Cam and Strick podcast, he opened up about mental health, his struggles with substances, and what it was like trying to handle life in Edmonton and Toronto.
“Beer was always my favourite thing in the world. Which always led to way more liquor, different stuff.
Yeah I was super depressed, like for years and years, pretty much my whole life to be honest. There was a hole I never filled and the only way I’d fill it was with booze.”
He also described the emotional swing that comes with being a goalie in the NHL. “The highs, you’re surrounded with people that are loving ya, cause you’re the hero.
But then you can’t sustain that every single game. So when the lows hit, it’s really hard.
For me it was really hard to connect with people. I just wanted to be alone.”
Campbell was asked whether shaking off a bad goal was a challenge. “Absolutely, I feel like that was a common conversation.
Like when Steve Briere, he was such an amazing goalie coach in Toronto, really connected with me on and off the ice. I had the worst anxiety.
I didn’t really know it was anxiety. I just thought I was more nervous than other guys.
And teams would know that, they do their scouting.”
He also said the elite players seemed built differently when it came to handling the weight of expectations. “For them, they just want to be great.” Campbell said McDavid, Draisaitl, and Austin Matthews were so locked in that they pushed themselves to perform.
When the conversation turned to Edmonton and Toronto, Campbell was blunt about where the brighter glare sat. “the lights were brighter in Toronto for sure.” He added that the media was equally difficult in both places.
There’s another example of pressure being handled the right way, and it comes from South Africa’s Springboks. The back-to-back world champions are expected to win, and not just win, but dominate.
A few years ago, they were outside the top five in the world. Then Rassie Erasmus arrived and changed the entire tone.
Before the 2019 World Cup final against England, he told his players, “Pressure is a privilege”. The message was simple: reframe the burden, embrace the responsibility, and understand the impact of representing the Springboks.
South Africa won that final easily and has stayed on top since.
That same idea is why sports psychologists matter so much. George Mumford began working with the Oilers in August 2023.
A mindfulness coach, sports psychologist, and author known as the “Performance Whisperer,” Mumford has worked with the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and other pro teams. He wrote The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance and has worked with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Jeff Jackson brought him in to work with Edmonton, and he joined the team for the Stanley Cup finals.
The Oilers have already used outside mental performance help, but the case for doing more is hard to ignore. Edmonton needs to give its players every possible tool to handle the weight that comes with the market, the spotlight, and the expectations.
Mental strength isn’t a side issue. It’s part of the job.
In Other News...
Oilers Roster Crunch Could Force A Move Sooner Than Expected
Edmontons early-season roster picture has already started to look a little crowded on the blue line and a little thin up front. With several forwards banged up, the Oilers are reportedly weighing their options for a roster move that would bring in more help at forward, even if the injuries themselves are not expected to linger.
Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman said during a game broadcast that the club is exploring a lateral trade to rebalance the group, and the pressure point is clear: Edmonton has a pile of defensemen who could be exposed to waivers if the team keeps carrying them all. The situation does not sound like a long-term crisis, but it could still force the Oilers into making a move sooner than they would prefer. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Face Another McDavid Question They Cannot Ignore Early
The NHLs early 2026-27 season has already produced a run of unusually high-scoring games, and some of that has been pinned on a shortened preseason that left teams with less time to get their structure in place. For Edmonton, though, the bigger conversation keeps circling back to Connor McDavid, because every national drift toward leaguewide turbulence seems to invite fresh questions about the Oilers long-term footing around their franchise center.
Sid Seixeiro has once again fueled the speculation that McDavid could eventually leave Edmonton, even though there has been nothing from McDavid to suggest dissatisfaction or a desire to move on. He has stayed invested through the Oilers recent rough patches, which is exactly why the renewed chatter lands as more noise than evidence, even as the leagues cap outlook and team-building strategies start to shift around the edges. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Finally Found A Different Way To Win Against Seattle
For a team that has often needed a little flash to separate itself from Seattle, Wednesdays 3-1 win at Rogers Place looked a bit different. Owen Michaels got the Oilers on the board, Leon Draisaitl kept the pressure on, and Edmonton leaned into a physical, penalty-filled game that felt more like a grind than a showcase. Devon Levi handled his end cleanly enough, turning aside 19 shots as the Oilers improved to 2-0-1 and kept their strong home run against the Kraken rolling.
The part Edmonton will likely like most is that it did not have to chase the game the way it sometimes has against Seattle. The Oilers stayed patient through a tight third period, with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid eventually supplying the separation and finishing touch when the margin was still there to be claimed. It was the kind of result teams talk about wanting in the fall, a different route to the same two points, even if there was still plenty of bite in the game along the way. [Read more 🡒]