The Edmonton Oilers keep banking points, even when the week gets messy.
At 12-3-3, they’re still rolling despite dropping two games last week. They grabbed a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils, then nearly pulled off a wild comeback after falling behind 5-2 against the Anaheim Ducks before losing 5-4. They wrapped things up with a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Now the focus shifts to a three-game week from Nov. 8 to Nov. 14, and there’s plenty to watch beyond the standings.
One of the biggest questions is what exactly the Oilers are doing with Trent Frederic. Head coach Mike Babcock scratched him twice last week, then put him back in on Saturday.
Frederic logged three shots, four hits, and just 6:52 of ice time. That kind of usage says plenty about where he stands with the staff.
The strange part is that Frederic hasn’t really played poorly enough to justify being pushed aside. Max Jones got the nod over him, which doesn’t make much sense.
Alex Formenton continues to hold down a regular third-line role despite underperforming. Formenton does kill penalties, but Edmonton’s penalty kill has still been lacklustre, so the benefit there is hard to see.
Owen Michaels is dealing with a different problem: the league is starting to feel like a lot.
He was one of the early feel-good stories of the season after making the team out of training camp and making noise right away. Michaels scored twice in his first three games, looked like a hidden gem, and even carved out a role on the penalty kill. A defensive-minded centre, he began the year on the third line while Jason Dickinson was out, but has since slid to the fourth line as the roster has gotten healthier.
The numbers have turned sharply against him. At 5-on-5, the Oilers have been outshot 102-51, outchanced 94-40, and outscored 11-5 with Michaels on the ice.
The opposition also owns a 32-15 edge in high-danger chances, and Michaels is sitting at just 48.9 percent in the faceoff circle. That’s a rough stretch by any measure.
The bigger picture is pretty clear: he probably shouldn’t be in the lineup every night. Michaels jumped straight into the NHL after college, which is rare, and he spent the last three seasons at Western Michigan University without playing more than 42 games in any one season.
The NHL grind is a different animal, and the travel and workload are starting to show. A stint with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League could be the next step.
There was better news on the injury front, too. Devon Levi and Zach Hyman both returned against Vancouver.
Levi was needed with Tristan Jarry dealing with an illness, and he stopped 20 of 22 shots in the win for a .909 save percentage. It was his seventh victory of the season, and he’s continued to provide quality goaltending.
Hyman made his presence felt right away in his return. He finished with one assist and two shots in 20:56 of ice time, and his energy stood out.
The Oilers also had a scare with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He left Saturday’s game 45 seconds into the second period after being hit in the head by an attempted clear from Oilers defenceman Ryan Shea.
Asked after the game how long Nugent-Hopkins might be out, Babcock said, “I don’t think he will, actually. Initially, you’re worried about a broken jaw, and they assessed that.
Just knowing our medical guys, there will probably be more assessments tomorrow. But I just shook his hand; he was in the hallway and seemed to be doing Ok,” Babcock stated postgame against Vancouver.
The week ahead is a busy one. Edmonton has 14 games coming in a 25-game stretch, and this week closes out a four-game homestand before a six-game trip out east.
The Oilers face the Rangers for the second time in eight days after beating New York 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 1.
Then they meet the Flyers for the first time this season.
The week ends in Toronto on Saturday Night Hockey, where the Maple Leafs will get another shot at Edmonton after their 7-2 win in the last meeting.
In Other News...
Canucks Fans Are Already Facing The Rebuild Question They Dread
A rough start has already pushed the Canucks back into a conversation nobody in Vancouver wanted to revisit this early, with the club sitting near the bottom of the standings after a losing streak. When a season goes sideways this quickly, the focus naturally shifts from chasing points to wondering how long the pain lasts and what the next competitive core is supposed to look like.
One name that keeps surfacing in that larger rebuild discussion is Landon DuPont, whose early college hockey work has only added to the buzz around his long-term upside. Some analysts are already putting lofty draft projections on the defenseman and drawing speculative comparisons to Cale Makar, which is the kind of chatter that can energize a fan base even as it underscores just how far away the real answers still are. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Keep Sliding After Another Frustrating Loss To Edmonton
The Canucks latest trip through Edmonton brought another familiar result, as they fell 4-2 at Rogers Place and watched Leon Draisaitl steer the Oilers with two goals and an assist. Mattias Ekholm and Jason Dickinson also scored for Edmonton, while Max Sasson and Brock Boeser supplied Vancouvers offense in a game that again left the Canucks chasing from behind against one of the Western Conferences top teams.
For Vancouver, the bigger concern is the slide itself. The loss was the clubs fifth straight, and the standings continue to reflect how far the season has drifted off course at 3-15-1. Edmonton, meanwhile, keeps piling up points and looking every bit like a team built to stay near the top, which only sharpens the contrast for a Canucks group still searching for any kind of reset. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Make Another Lineup Shakeup For Heated Oilers Matchup
The Canucks are making another round of lineup tweaks for a matchup that already carries plenty of edge against Edmonton. Tom Willander will sit out for a third straight game even after joining the team for practice, leaving Vancouver to shuffle its defensive pairings again as it tries to settle things down on the back end.
Up front, Arshdeep Bains is getting a look on the top line with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, a notable change for a group still searching for the right mix. In goal, Leevi Merilinen is slated to start for the second game in a row, giving Vancouver a familiar option as it heads into another test against the Oilers. [Read more 🡒]