The Edmonton Oilers spent the 2025-26 season mixing it up plenty, dropping the gloves 22 times to tie for sixth-most in the NHL. They were also the last team to fight this season, which fits a year that had no shortage of scrappy moments.
The top five fights have already been covered, but there were still a handful of bouts that deserved a mention. The biggest surprise from the season’s fight ledger?
Vasily Podkolzin led the Oilers with five fights, yet none of them cracked the top five on HockeyFights. That stands out even more because Podkolzin had the highest-rated Oilers fight of the 2024-25 season.
Podkolzin’s season was built around sticking up for teammates. His fight against Peyton Krebs came after Krebs hit Connor McDavid into the boards, and Podkolzin went looking for him at the end of the second period.
He came out as the clear winner in that one. He also stepped in after Ridly Greig delivered a huge hit on Mattias Ekholm, and again Podkolzin was the clear winner.
Another Podkolzin moment came in March, when Ozzy Wiesblatt hit Leon Draisaitl around the benches and Draisaitl missed the rest of the regular season. Podkolzin tried to fight Wiesblatt, but Nicolas Hague jumped in and the two ended up in a fairly even scrap. Of the 67 HockeyFights voters, 30 picked Podkolzin, 30 picked Hague, and seven called it a draw.
Podkolzin’s final regular-season fight also turned out to be his highest-rated one. Late in March against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he answered after a tag team hit on Brandon Hagel. Anthony Cirelli stepped in for his teammate and got beaten up by Podkolzin, who was the decisive winner in a fight rated 5.21 by HockeyFights.
There were also a few games that featured two fights, starting with that same Lightning matchup. Connor Murphy dropped the gloves with Pontus Holmberg after Murphy and Nurse hit Holmberg at the same time. HockeyFights rated that one 4.98, and Murphy edged out the victory in an even fight.
Murphy was back at it in the final game of the season against the Vancouver Canucks. After he levelled Marcus Pettersson, Drew O’Connor answered the bell.
The fight was short, but Murphy landed a few lefts before both players lost balance. Murphy was the clear winner, and HockeyFights gave it a 4.48 rating.
Earlier in that same game, Colton Dach hit Zeev Buium and added an extra shot. Elias Pettersson, the defenceman, stepped up for Buium, and Dach obliged. That one was another quick wrestling match that ended when Dach lost his balance, and it earned a 3.42 rating.
Then there was Connor Clattenburg’s first NHL fight, which came in a tense game against the Seattle Kraken. After Clattenburg hit a Kraken player into the boards, Frédérick Gaudreau jumped in and was on the ice five seconds later. Clattenburg won easily, and HockeyFights rated the bout 4.6.
Clattenburg already looks like one of the organization’s toughest players, but the bigger question for the Oilers’ 2024 fifth-rounder is whether he can grow into more than that. The fighting and the edge are there. What matters now is whether he can add offense - something like 10 goals a season - if he wants to stick in the NHL.
As for the Oilers’ top fights of 2025-26, the list runs through Darnell Nurse vs. Brandon Carlo, Nugent-Hopkins vs.
Neal Pionk, Alec Regula vs. Tye Kartye, Trent Frederic vs.
Mathieu Olivier, and Ty Emberson vs. Joel Hanley.
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