You can’t win ’em all, but nobody expected the Edmonton Oilers to lose like that.
After a summer spent stressing the need for a more structured and responsible game, after hiring bad cop taskmaster Mike Babcock to implement that structure and after trumpeting a unanimous buy in during training camp, that 6-5 opening night festival of slop at Rogers Place was an absolute shocker.
As TSN analyst Craig button put it “If they think, or anybody thinks, they’re a Stanley Cup contender playing like this they’re delusional.”
Delusional is right. That was the entire 2025-26 season rolled into one disturbing microcosm. Yes, it’s only one game, but the worrisome part is that it’s the same game we’ve seen hundreds of times over the years. The same habits no coach has ever been able to cleanse from their game.
And, in Edmonton, it’s never too early to worry.
A good start is imperative this year for a long list of reasons, not the least of which is keeping the critics quiet, the waters calm and showing that the Mike Babcock Experience is working.
But instead of the 1-0 start they’d been preparing all summer for, the Oilers looked woeful.
Chasing the game, trying to outscore their mistakes. Needing a miracle third-period comeback. Bad pinches. Stars turning over pucks at the offensive blue line. Serving up breakaways and odd man rushes. Not getting the saves they need. Zero goals when McDavid and Draisaitl weren’t on the ice.
And this was against the worst team in hockey. Imagine if they’d been playing Carolina or Florida.
Whether this is the result of the new stuff not sinking in yet or a team falling back on old bad habits when the going got tough remains to be seen. It was a short training camp with a bunch of new faces, a new coach, a new system and some key injuries, so you have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Being without their second and third line centres meant the deployment strategy they’d been working on all preseason, the one where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl play on the same line, had to be abandoned 24 hours before the season started in favour of Plan B — which was also gutted by the loss of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson.
There is still plenty of time for all of this to come together. And you have to believe they will be an entirely different team when they face the Canucks in a rematch Thursday.
But what we do know for sure is that right now the Oilers look like they’re behind schedule.
Edmonton Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard celebrates a first-period goal at the bench during the game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Sept. 29, 2026, in Edmonton.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Evan Bouchard picked up right where he left off last season, scoring an opening night hat trick en route to a five-point first-star performance.
He played a team-high 25:41, had a team-high 11 shot attempts and three blocked shots. He’s played three games so far, counting preseason, and he has 10 points.
If it’s possible for a defenceman who had 95 points last year to reach an even higher level, Bouchard looks like he’s ready for the challenge.
PODZILLA STRIKES
If the Vasily Podkolzin we saw Tuesday night is the player he’s going to be all season, look out — he’s about to become a force in the NHL.
He bulls his way to the slot and muscles in his first goal of the night to start the third-period comeback and then picks a corner from distance with 43 seconds left in regulation to tie the game. That’s some serious versatility. And they must have told him to shoot more because he had led the team with seven shots.
His 19 goals last year looks like just the start of what he can accomplish. Remember, he was originally a 10th overall pick. Babcock already thinks enough of Podkolzin to give him 18:20 of ice time (he averaged 15:30 last year) and put him on the power play in the absence of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
And why not? Podkolzin is everything the Oilers need — he can skate, he can score, he can fight, he’s 6-foot-1, 212 pounds, he’s a total team guy and he’s in the first year of a three-year contract worth just $2.95 million a year.
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson scores a third-period goal against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Tristan Jarry during the game at Rogers Place on Sept. 29, 2026.
AND ANOTHER THING…
Speaking of criminal trades, the Oilers sent Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and a second round draft pick to Pittsburgh to get Tristan Jarry, who appears to be just a more expensive version of Skinner.
Goaltending in Edmonton is never just about the goalies, it’s about slipshod puck management hanging the goalies out to dry and the goalies not handling it well. But if they don’t get both of these things shored up nothing else matters.
Ryan Shea was just OK in his Oilers debut. He didn’t look great on the overtime winner and his bad pinch led to the third period goal that Jarry whiffed on… There seem to be signs of life in Trent Frederic, which is a good sign… Alex Formenton managed to go plus three in a 6-5 loss… McDavid’s turnover on the fourth goal, a button hook just inside the blue line with two Canucks on him, is what he brought Babcock in to clean up. We’ll see how this plays out.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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