They’ll be fine.
This happens every year.
Just wait till March, April and May.
Isn’t that what Edmonton Oilers fans keep telling themselves? Isn’t that what the guys on the television hockey panels keep assuring everyone?
Sure, they’ll gripe and moan about ice times and giveaways and penalty killing and goaltending and depth scoring and underachieving and a dozen other things that hockey fans like to gripe and moan about, but none of them believe their team is headed for a spectacular season-ending crash.
Nobody thinks they’ll miss the playoffs. Nobody thinks they’ll fizzle out in the first or second round.
They’ve got Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and one of the best power plays the NHL has ever seen.
And they’ve been to two straight Stanley Cup Finals, pulling seasons out of the fire when it looked, much like it does right now, that they were a disjointed, unbalanced mess.
But as the losses add up and the clock ticks down, that team is still nowhere to be found. We aren’t seeing any signs of the disciplined, smart, battle-hardened group that played 11 post-season rounds over the last three years.
We’re seeing the same sloppy mistakes, the same soft goals, the same slow starts and the same complete and utter dependence on five guys and a power play.
Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate a goal on Edmonton Oilers goalie Connor Ingram (39) during second period NHL action on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 in Edmonton.
The stretch drive is staring them in the face and all of the key indicators are trending in the wrong direction. Five-on-five scoring is 14th in the league. Penalty killing is 27th in the league. Goals against is 26th in the league. Team save percentage is 27th in the league.
The bottom six should have to buy tickets to get into the games and goaltending is worse with Tristan Jarry than it was with Stuart Skinner.
On a miserable three-game losing streak and with 34 goals against in the last seven games, and 10 power play goals against on their last 19 penalties, there has never been a team that needed to call a Time Out on a season more than the Oilers do right now.
It’s not so bad, they’re two points out of first in the Pacific, you say? That’s a mirage. Their points percentage of .552 is 17th in the NHL, below the Maple Leafs. If Edmonton played in the Central, they wouldn’t even be in a wildcard spot. If they were in the Eastern Conference, they’d be 11th.
They’re a barely average team. And their head-to-head record against legitimate contenders — Dallas, Colorado and Minnesota — is an abysmal 0-6, and they’ve been outscored 34-12.
They need to step away from this smouldering disappointment and clear their heads while their general manager tries to bring in some much-needed help because it’s awfully late in the season for a so-called contender to be this troubled.
They always give people a scare and then hit the gas, you say?
Sure, but the difference between then and now is that by the 58-game mark in each of the last three seasons, the Oilers had already shown what they could be. They proved they could get to the high end of their game, stay there for a consistent stretch, and compete with the best teams in the league.
Last year, they were 34-20-4 at the 58-game mark and had a five-game win streak, two four-game win streaks and three three-game win streaks.
Two years ago, they were 36-20-2 with win streaks of eight and 16 games.
Three years ago, they were 31-19-8 with win streaks of five and six games.
Calgary Flames Joel Farabee battles Edmonton Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in first period NHL action at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.
This year? They’ve lost more games than they’ve won (28-22-8) and it took them 55 games to put together a three-game win streak, which they immediately followed with a 7-3 loss to Minnesota, a 5-2 loss to Toronto and a 4-3 loss to Calgary heading into the break.
As Draisaitl put it so urgently after the Calgary game, the Oilers are “Not the same team. We’re not as good right now. We’re not even close. We need to understand that.”
Exactly. Last year’s team had Corey Perry, Brett Kulak, Connor Brown, John Klingberg and Evander Kane on it. This year? Beyond Curtis Lazar, there isn’t a single bottom-six player who has an identity or leads you to believe he’s going to be a difference maker in the playoffs.
If the Oilers make the playoffs, that is. Right now, they are on pace for just over 90 points, which isn’t going to be good enough.
And they aren’t exactly known for starting strong after a long break. They’ve started slowly in each of the last two seasons. They went 0-4 coming out of the 4 Nations Face Off tournament last year and 1-3 coming out of the Christmas break this year.
When a veteran from inside the room is sounding the alarm, it’s time to sit up and take notice. This is serious. And time is running out.
It’s never wise to give up on the Oilers; they’ve earned that, but if you aren’t very worried about where this season is going, you shouldn’t be watching.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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