The Edmonton Oilers have survived that ugly eastern road swing we all spotted when the season schedule first came out.

.500 may not seem like much to you. But especially considering how the year had started out, this most recent road stretch could have buried them had it gone terribly wrong. And some had predicted it might.

Now, however, while there are still miles to go…you can squint and see the light of day in the Oilers’ prospects.

That and more in this edition of…

9 Things

9. A stick tap, for Bakersfield Condors Captain Seth Griffith who just played career AHL game 700. Griffith is a reminder of all the solid hockey players who just miss out on an NHL career but who are nonetheless good pros and foot soldiers.

8. Leon Draisaitl’s career assist number 570 career came on Trend Frederic’s goal Thursday. He passes Jari Kurri 4th most in franchise history. Mark Messier had 642. Connor McDavid has 744. Wayne Gretzky may be hard to catch at 1,086. More Leon records (plus he added another helper Saturday) in a minute…

7. I have tried to ignore some of the folks who have been calling on Kris Knoblauch to be fired. Tried and failed. C’mon, it is just dense to suggest that you should fire the guy who has led you to consecutive Stanley cup Finals berths and just signed a three-year extension a few weeks back. Get a grip on reality.

6. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have become the sixth pair of teammates to factor in on 500 career goals together. It happened Wednesday versus Washington. Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri hold the record with 764. Other current and future Hall of Fame names on the list include Howe, Bossy, Ovechkin, etc. Pretty good company!

5. Maybe I’m over-stating it. But I thought Calvin Pickard may have been playing for his NHL career on Thursday. His year, while influence by poor coverage in front of him, has been concerning. While it is just one game, he was terrific and may have answered a few critics. This guy had come up so big for the Oilers over the past two seasons at critical points, so it is easy to cheer for him. But at the end of the day, it is all about stopping pucks.

4. The Edmonton Oilers are a skill team. You do not need nor want them to the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers. But being hard to play against and playing for one another are important elements of any successful team. Darnell Nurse took that fight with Curtis Douglas a couple nights ago. Trent Frederic has been in a couple scraps now. When someone touches Connor McDavid lately Vasily Podkolzin has been up in their face. These are intangibles for now that also manifest down the road, and often at critical times.

3. I do not mean to absolve the Oilers of their uneven play thus far in 2025-26. But it is also fair to factor in schedule effects. Edmonton has already played 24 games, the most of any team, and a whopping 16 of those have come on the road with two long trips…including the most recent seven game marathon that just wrapped up last (Saturday) night. And with no practical practice time, all a club can doin those situations is play and react repeatedly. But now with the road trip done, some rest, recovery and reps in practice are in order. Fatigue is one significant factor. But in any line of work if you do not practice your craft and hone your skills, performance can drop off.

2. The Oilers recalled Connor Clattenburg on Friday. The rookie arrives as Edmonton is light on forwards due to injury. Placing Noah Philp on LTIR created the requisite room to bring a guy up and not have to just automatically go 11-7 every night. For those making the case that perhaps others in The Bake were closer to NHL ready and just as deserving than Clattenburg, that may well be fair. But the Oilers were aware that they are lacking a very specific ingredient which Clattenburg happens to bring. And he delivered good energy (especially at the end of a seven-game trip), displayed better hands than I anticipated, was responsible defensively, and his involvement in the scrum near the end of the game was more than welcome. I hope the kid gets another game or two before the regulars return…which sounds like soon for both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen, who are both back skating.

1.At the outset of the season much was made of the Edmonton Oilers blueline. And frankly I had agreed. But the first twenty games were anything but. However, we are starting to see signs of the group coming around. In fact, the top pairing of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm was reunited on Saturday and they were flat-out excellent. Both men picked up three assists, and both were also +5. But because everyone else also played a decent amount, the two top guys were not overtaxed. Bouchard finished at 22:12, Ekholm 20:37. Jake Walman missed Saturday with a leg injury but he had been coming on as of late, too. I’ve felt that him missing most of training camp kept him from being the best version of himself. Darnell Nurse, who endured a really rough patch, has looked more like the hard-to-play-against Darnell of late and had two goals in the Tampa game. Ty Emberson started slow but has been coming on. Alec Regula kind of the opposite, but I sure like his tools and size. And I don’t know about you, but I have not forgotten the quality hockey Brett Kulak has delivered in successive Stanley Cup Playoff series. I am not worried about him.

The Oilers will not repeat as Western Conference Champions without a blueline that is top five or six in the league in terms of two-way play. I believe this group of seven players has that in them. And the more connected play of the forwards we have seen as of late should make a difference. It is not all on the D-men, even though the tail-end of the video replays may sometimes suggest that.

I suspect Stan Bowman will re-assess his club at the thirty-game mark, deciding what needs shoring up and what does not. What he really needs between now and then is for team defence to round into form.

Because the less the G.M. must do, the greater impact he can have in the areas of greatest need.

This article is not AI generated.

Leavins Cult of Hockey

Leavins Cult of Hockey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.

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