It’s a long season and we’ve had only a vanishingly small sample size of games to judge the 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers, but with that proviso, it’s fair to note a number of positive signals for the team and many veteran players.
Connor McDavid. He’s yet to score but he’s had six Grade A shots on net in the first two games, 3.0 per game. In his last great goal-scoring year, 2022-23, when McDavid potted 64 goals in 82 games, he averaged 3.1 Grade A shots per game.
In the past two seasons, when McDavid scored 32 and then 26 goals, he averaged 2.3 and 2.0 Grade A shots per game.
McD came into this season saying he wanted to get back to shooting. So far he’s getting it done. The goals will come and would already have come, if not for stellar netminding by Dustin Wolf in Calgary and Thatcher Demko in Vancouver.
It will also help if the refs start to call obvious penalties, such as Tyler Myers of Vancouver’s obvious stick infraction, which earned Myers a $2,500 fine.
Mattias Ekholm. Ekholm is 35 now, at that age when many solid NHL d-man fall of a cliff in terms of performance. I feared Ekholm had taken that tumble after he got hurt last year and saw his passing and defensive games start to misfire. But he’s back and as good as ever in the first two games, showing impressive agility. He’s executing at his previous high level, which is excellent news for the Oilers, given he’s on contract here for the next four years.
All hail the King of the Vikings.
Game 2 Grade A 2025-26
Trent Frederic. The Oilers traded for him at the deadline but he missed all but one game in the final six weeks of the season. When he came back for the playoffs, he was ineffective, the least of Edmonton’s forwards when it came to two-way play. Nonetheless, Edmonton and Frederic agreed to an eight-year deal this summer, and coach Kris Knoblauch plopped Frederic onto the top line to start the year with Draisaitl and McDavid.
I was lukewarm on Frederic in the Calgary game, but he likely had his best game as an Oiler against the Canucks, winning all kinds of board battles to keep plays alive.
Alec Regula. As we all know after the Vancouver game, big Regula has got to keep his head up to avoid the headhunting forecheckers of the NHL. But aside from getting twice plastered by Evander Kane, Regula has done well paired with Darnell Nurse.
Regula is a veteran pro by now, though not an NHL vet. He soon will be if he keeps up this level of play. He’s a strong puck-mover, who reads the game well, knowing when to back off and when to try to force a play on the attack. His defensive play has also passed early tests. He’s moved ahead of Ty Emberson on the depth chart, at least in my opinion he has.
David Tomasek. He’s on a line with Ike Howard and Adam Henrique that has yet to create a Grade A shot at even strength. There’s not enough speed in that trio, I suspect. But Tomasek has been mighty dangerous on the power play, winning pucks, protecting pucks, making deft passes to his superstar linemates and getting off some nasty shots of his own.
So far McDavid has helped create 11 Grade A shots on the power play, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 9, and both Draisaitl and Tomasek, 7.
Like Regula, Tomasek is not an NHL vet, but he’s a veteran pro player, and he’s looked right at home so far in the NHL game.
At the Cult of Hockey
LEAVINS: Edmonton Oilers dominate Vancouver in 3-1 victory – Player Grades
STAPLES: Is Stuart Skinner on the clock?