The Edmonton Oilers’ 2026-27 schedule has one stretch that jumps off the page immediately: a six-game road trip while Rogers Place is tied up hosting the 2027 World Juniors.
That run begins after the Oilers’ final home game before the tournament, a Dec. 20 date with the Anaheim Ducks - their third meeting with Anaheim at home. After the Christmas break, Edmonton heads out for a trip that lasts into the first week of 2027, with the team’s first home game after the World Juniors coming Jan. 7 against the Florida Panthers.
The trip opens in the Metropolitan Division with a back-to-back in Columbus and Washington. Two days later, the Oilers are in Boston for what will be their final game of 2026. They then start 2027 with another back-to-back, this one against the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, before wrapping the trip in Nashville against the Predators.
On paper, it’s a rough slate. Nashville still has Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, and the Predators added Ross Colton to deepen the roster and push for a playoff spot in Year 1 of the team’s new era. Washington looks dangerous too, with Alex Ovechkin staying put for one more season and the Capitals bringing in Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou in a trade to help build what could be one of the league’s best forward groups.
Boston and Pittsburgh both look like playoff-calibre tests, Detroit could be a point-stealer early, and Columbus is no easy stop either as the Blue Jackets try to take another step toward the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Still, there’s at least some reason for Edmonton to feel better about this kind of scheduling disruption. Recent World Juniors host cities have often seen their NHL teams handle the forced road stretch reasonably well.
Last season, when Minneapolis and Saint Paul hosted the tournament, the Minnesota Wild went on a seven-game road swing and came out 4-1-2, with their only regulation loss coming in a 4-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings. Ottawa’s experience was less tidy the year before, as the Senators went 1-4-1 during the six games played while the World Juniors were in town, though those six contests were only the final two-thirds of a nine-game trip that started with three wins.
If you go back further, the pattern still leans encouraging. In 2018-19, the Vancouver Canucks were forced into a six-game road trip while Rogers Arena and Victoria’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre hosted the World Juniors, and they finished 3-3-0. All three of their losses were shutouts.
Stretch the sample back to 2016-17, when the 2017 and 2018 tournaments were held in NHL cities, and four of the six affected teams finished at .500 or better on their World Juniors road trips. The Buffalo Sabres and Senators were the only clubs to finish below .500 in that span, with Buffalo going 1-2-2 over five games during the tournament.
There’s also another encouraging note for Oilers fans: four of those six host cities saw their NHL teams reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the 2018-19 Canucks and the 2017-18 Sabres the only exceptions.
That doesn’t guarantee anything for Edmonton, of course. But for a team staring at a tricky six-game trip on the 2026-27 calendar, the recent history around World Juniors host cities at least gives them something to hang onto.
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