They always say you should wait until 10 games into the season before you start judging a hockey team.
After a long summer, or short summer, in the case of the good teams, it takes time to shake off the golfing tan, gel with the new additions and find your identity as a club.
The Oilers play that 10th game Tuesday against the first-place (What?) Utah Mammoth, who are 8-2 on the season and come to Edmonton on a seven-game win streak.
It’s showtime. The Oilers had time to settle into the season, they’re at home for a few games, there is some urgency sprinkled into the mix — now is when we start to find out who they really are.
As for the first 10 games, there are several different ways to view their current and somewhat concerning state of affairs
On one hand, they have just four wins in those 10 games and lost five of their last seven. They needed a 5-1 power play advantage to beat a Montreal Canadiens team that had been eating their lunch. They couldn’t beat a Vancouver Canucks team that was missing Quinn Hughes, and they rank 23rd in the league in five-on-five offence, averaging just 1.6 goals per game.
On the other hand, this is their best start in three years.
Their 4-4-2 record is better than last year’s 4-5-1 or the 2-7-1 through 10 games two years ago.
Things are far from smooth — they’ve had one really solid game and nine where they looked lifeless and disconnected for large stretches — but it’s hardly a crisis when a team is sitting three points out of first place in the Pacific Division.
So, yeah, if it’s possible to have the worst good start ever, this is it.
Who are these Oilers?
Right now, we still don’t know what we’re dealing with here because the Oilers have yet to establish an identity.
They haven’t been an offensive powerhouse, obviously, despite boasting two of the best players in the world. They haven’t shown the smart, responsible team defence that took them to two Stanley Cup Finals. They aren’t equipped to be a tough, physical team.
Right now, their identity is a team that starts slowly, makes some big mistakes, falls behind, and then uses a red-hot power play to come back and turn the last five minutes of what looked like a lost cause into a coin toss.
It makes for some great drama — frustration, exhilaration and alternating heartbreak and jubilation all rolled into one game — but it’s not sustainable, and they know that. Despite overcoming early-season struggles two years in a row, and despite sitting .500, the Oilers aren’t taking their current issues lightly.
“It can get frustrating regardless of whether it’s happened in the past,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who is holding up his end of the bargain with five goals and six assists in 10 games.
“It’s not easy just to say ‘It’s time to turn it on and here we come.’ You have to start building your game. We’ve been talking about it, we’re obviously trying, we’re working. We don’t want to let it slip too far.”
ELMONT, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 16: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins #93 of the Edmonton Oilers (l) celebrates his second period goal against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on October 16, 2025 in Elmont, New York.
Nothing to worry about
All we know for sure is that the Oilers have built up so much equity with their Stanley Cup runs that it won’t be time to really start worrying until it’s too late. They could carry on like this for the next two months and they’ll still get the benefit of the doubt.
If you don’t judge most teams until the 10-game mark, you don’t judge THIS team until about March or April.
They’ve earned that.
So, I guess Oilers fans shouldn’t worry.
Connor McDavid is currently on pace for eight goals. You kind of have to think that will change at some point and he will return to his dominant, dynamic self.
And the Oilers will start scoring. There aren’t enough skilled wingers here for Edmonton to be an offensive powerhouse, but there is much more there than we’re seeing right now.
Evan Bouchard has been a turnstile at the offensive blue line and sits a sobering minus-nine with four points in 10 games. But he’s struggled like this before and come out of it. When he puts his mind to it and bears down, he is a game changer. Post-season superstars don’t just fall off the map for good.
Edmonton’s team defence is what carried them to back-to-back Finals. They know how to tighten up and make their opponent work for everything they get. They can lock it down, and they haven’t forgotten how; they just can’t find the fire yet. They will.
The schedule will ease up. Eight games in eight different cities in 13 days is no joke. Granted, these aren’t coal miners eating bologna sandwiches in the middle of 12 hours shifts, it’s 12 to 20 minutes of ice time accompanied by luxury hotels, massage therapists, recovery drinks and charter airplanes, but it does take a bit of a toll.
They get five of the next seven at home and even have a three-day gap between games next week. Just don’t ask what happens in mid-November.
The new guys will settle in. Andrew Mangiapane, David Tomasek, Trent Frederic, Ike Howard and Matt Savoie have combined for 10 points and are minus-15 in 48 man-games. Everyone knew it would take some time for things to come together with so many off-season changes, and that could be what we’re seeing now.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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