The Edmonton Oilers are still living off the strength of their core, but the Pacific Division is starting to look a lot less forgiving around them.
After a 2026 first-round Stanley Cup playoff loss to the Anaheim Ducks and a messy start to the offseason that included coaching drama, Edmonton heads toward the 2026-27 NHL season with more uncertainty than usual. The club is healthy and rested, which matters.
So does the fact that Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard remain the kind of top-end talent that can keep a team afloat. But the questions hanging over the roster are real: what happens with Darnell Nurse, how does the goaltending shake out and what kind of impact will new head coach Mike Babcock have?
There’s also the issue of time. Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are getting older, and for a team built around stars and experience, that clock matters.
At the same time, Edmonton’s rivals are not standing still.
The San Jose Sharks may have made the loudest leap at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, landing Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff and Ryan Lin in the first round. Stenberg, who represented Sweden at the 2026 IIHF Men’s Hockey World Championship, turned heads with a goal against Team Slovakia that had scouts questioning whether he should have gone first overall.
He looks NHL-ready now, and if he clicks with Macklin Celebrini, that’s a dangerous combination. Verhoeff, once projected as a top-three pick, fell to ninth, while Lin, a defenseman with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League, adds another piece to the blue line.
The Sharks are younger, deeper and better than they were before the draft.
Then there’s Anaheim, which may already be closer to the top of the division than anyone else.
The Ducks beat the Oilers in six games in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs and followed that by pushing the Vegas Golden Knights to six games in round two. That kind of run changes the temperature around a team.
Anaheim also used the offseason to get even younger, sending Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for two first-round picks - #15 Nikita Klepov and #28 Marcus Nordmark - and moving veteran defenseman John Carlson to the Carolina Hurricanes for Kyle Masters and a sixth-round pick.
Pat Verbeek didn’t touch the core of Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke and Jackson LaCombe, but he did keep feeding the youth movement.
Edmonton should still be ahead of the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, and right now it looks better positioned than the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings and the aging Golden Knights. Vegas could still change that if Kelly McCrimmon pulls another rabbit out of the hat.
That leaves the Oilers in a strange spot: still dangerous, still talented, but no longer comfortably alone in the division conversation. Stan Bowman’s offseason will matter.
If he can find a legitimate starting goalie and get a strong return for Nurse, Edmonton has a chance to steady itself. If not, the gap that once seemed wide could keep shrinking fast.
Free agency opens in just a few days, and for the Oilers, it feels like a critical stretch.
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His latest deal is built around a modest base salary with performance bonuses tied to games played and average ice time, a structure that suggests both flexibility and one more chance to stay in the lineup and contribute. Burns also enters the year chasing the one prize that has eluded him, and for Sharks fans, that familiar pursuit is exactly why this update is going to stir up a few feelings. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Just Made A Telling Decision About Their Blue Line
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The timing matters because the Sharks do not have much certainty behind him. Kesselring, Dmitry Orlov and Sam Dickinson are the only defensemen with notable NHL experience currently signed for next season, while Shakir Mukhamadullin remains unsigned and several others are headed toward free agency or still in contract discussions. For a team still sorting out what its back end should look like, this was a pretty clear signal about which players it wants to build around. [Read more 🡒]
Former Shark Alexander Barabanov Reportedly Has A New Overseas Landing Spot
Alexander Barabanovs next stop overseas appears to be taking shape after his return to the Kontinental Hockey League following his time with the Sharks. After leaving San Jose, the winger signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan and settled back into familiar KHL territory, giving that club a veteran scorer who could still tilt a lineup with his pace and finishing touch.
Now, after 131 games in Kazan and another productive run in Russia, Barabanov is reportedly on track for a new chapter with a club trying to climb a little higher in the standings. The deal is said to carry a hefty salary and is tied to a future season, a sign that his market remains strong even as Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg continues adding pieces in hopes of finally making a deeper playoff push. [Read more 🡒]