For the Edmonton Oilers, the Pacific Division has become less of a battleground and more of a soft landing.
Connor McDavid already labeled last year’s race a “pillow fight,” and the numbers have only made that line look sharper. The division has slipped back into familiar territory in 2026-27, sitting dead last with a .510 point percentage and a collective minus-34 goal differential.
Edmonton is 8-2-2, Vegas is 9-4-1, and everyone else is mostly trying to keep up. At this point, it’s looking like a two-team race.
That’s a stark turn from a division that has long struggled to stack up against the rest of the league. Last season, the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken all landed in the bottom six of the standings, and not one Pacific playoff team cracked 95 points. Edmonton and Vegas have had their playoff moments, but the division around them has been the league’s weakest for a while, and this season hasn’t changed that.
The LA Kings are the clearest example of how far things have slipped. Their identity in the 2020s has been built around defence, but they’ve repeatedly lacked the top-end punch to get past teams like the Oilers and Avalanche, who eliminated them in the first round in each of the past five years.
That defensive backbone used to be enough to keep their season afloat. Not anymore.
At five-on-five, they rank 20th in expected goals against per hour, which is a rough number for a team that’s supposed to live on structure. Add in the fact that captain Anze Kopitar, who is 39, retired this offseason, and it’s no surprise the Kings have drifted to third-last in the conference at 3-6-2.
Anaheim, by contrast, was supposed to be moving the other way.
The Ducks reached the postseason last year behind a fast, dangerous young core led by Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and Jackson LaCombe. They even knocked off the Oilers in the opening round before falling to Vegas in six games.
But early July brought a costly detour. Carlsson signed a five-year $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, forcing Anaheim to match, and the ripple effect pushed up the price tags on Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov.
To stay cap-compliant, the Ducks had to move on from several veterans, and the depth around their promising core took a hit. The situation got worse when Troy Terry went down with an injury that required surgery this summer, leaving him out until mid-November at the earliest.
So far, the results have reflected that squeeze. Anaheim is 5-6-1, and the offence that carried it a season ago hasn’t fully returned. The more troubling sign is underneath the surface: the Ducks’ expected goal share has fallen from 50.9 per cent last season to 44.1 per cent this season.
That kind of drop has shown up across the division. Only one Pacific team is currently in the top 19 in five-on-five expected goal share.
Edmonton and Seattle are hanging on partly because they’ve been scoring at unsustainable rates, with the Oilers also getting a lift from their power play. But the warning signs are there, and regression is coming.
Edmonton’s underlying numbers should get better once injured players come back. Seattle, though, doesn’t look like it has the same kind of correction coming.
That’s what makes the Oilers’ setup so favorable right now. Beyond Vegas, the division doesn’t really offer much in the way of resistance.
The Kings have aged out, the Ducks have backed up, the Sharks’ blue line looks rough, and Seattle’s start probably isn’t built to last. Calgary and Vancouver appear headed for another long stretch near the bottom while they rebuild.
None of that means the Pacific will stay this weak forever. The Sharks and Ducks should become more dangerous once their defensive problems settle down and their young players get more seasoning.
But the window is open now, and Edmonton knows it. Mattias Ekholm and Zach Hyman are getting closer to the back end of their productive years, which only sharpens the urgency.
The Oilers have a real chance to make another deep run this season. The path in front of them looks as clear as it may ever get.
In Other News...
Oilers Just Sent A Brutal Early Message About Jake Walman
Jake Walmans season with the Oilers is already hitting an uncomfortable checkpoint. Edmonton is set to make him a healthy scratch for its upcoming game against the Calgary Flames, with head coach Mike Babcock saying the move comes down to performance and team needs after Walman has struggled to find much traction this season. For a player brought in to help stabilize the blue line, being on the outside looking in this early is not the kind of message anyone in that room wanted to send.
The timing only adds to the sting because Walman is still in the opening year of a long-term deal, the sort of contract that usually comes with a steadier runway than this. Instead, his ice time and effectiveness have been in question, and Edmonton now appears ready to lean elsewhere as it tries to get its defense in order. How long this lasts will tell the real story, but for now the Oilers have made their point. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Fans Just Got More Clarity On That Zach Hyman Injury
Zach Hymans injury situation looks a little clearer after the Oilers forward was placed on injured reserve following the stiff neck he sustained against the Detroit Red Wings. What had the feel of an uneasy postgame concern now comes with a bit more optimism, as head coach Mike Babcock suggested the issue may not be as serious as it first appeared.
Even so, Edmonton will have to manage without one of its regular forwards for the immediate future. Jason Dickinson is expected to come off injured reserve and step into Hymans roster spot, giving the Oilers a needed short-term replacement while they wait to see how quickly Hyman can work his way back. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Face A Battle Of Alberta Lineup Question
The latest injury traffic around the NHL is starting to ripple beyond Anaheim, where the Ducks are juggling a few moving parts of their own. Pavel Mintyukov remains day-to-day, Ian Moore has resumed skating and Troy Terry is tracking toward a return from hip surgery sooner than originally thought, a development that has the Ducks adjusting their lineup plans as they wait on one of their most important forwards. Around the league, teams such as Nashville and Edmonton are also working through their own return-to-play updates, with coaches and team media offering the kind of incremental news that can reshape a depth chart in a hurry.
For Edmonton, that matters with the Battle of Alberta approaching and the roster picture still in flux. The Oilers have one more wrinkle to monitor as they sort out who is ready and who still needs time, and it comes at a moment when every lineup decision feels amplified by the stakes of the rivalry. The broader injury news is encouraging in spots, but it also leaves Edmonton with at least one important question still hanging as it prepares for Calgary. [Read more 🡒]