2025-26 Puck Drop Preview for the Back-to-Back Cup Finalist Edmonton Oilers

Last Word On Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2025-26 season! As the regular season approaches, us here at Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also do our best to project how things will go for each team throughout the campaign. Today, we’re previewing the hungry, 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers, led by number 97, captain Connor McDavid.

2025-26 Edmonton Oilers Starting With 2024-25 Season Recap

The 2024-25 Edmonton Oilers had a relatively successful season. The team put up a 48-29-5 record in the regular season, finishing third in the NHL’s Pacific Division with 101 points. The Oilers then made their way through springtime hockey, qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoff Final against the Florida Panthers for the second year in a row. Unfortunately for the Oilers, the Panthers only got better at essentially countering the Oilers in their rematch, beating Edmonton in six games to win their second-straight championship. Superstars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid led the way in scoring. Draisaitl led the team with 52 goals and 106 points through 71 games. McDavid, battling injuries, scored 100 points through 67 games, for really only the second time in career, not since his rookie season.

2025 Offseason

Edmonton had a busy offseason, starting with the extension of star defenceman Evan Bouchard. The offensive defenceman scored 14 goals and 67 points in 82 games last season. He extended for four years at an average annual value of $10.5 million. In an attempt to get younger and free up cap space, the Oilers moved out veteran wingers Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson in separate trades, freeing up nearly $10 million in cap space. The team would use some of this space to extend Trent Frederic for five years at an AAV of $3.85 million, as well as signing forward Andrew Mangiapane for $3.6 million on a two-year contract. Finally, Edmonton moved out prospect Sam O’Reilly to the Tampa Bay Lightning for prospect Isaac Howard. While there was a lot of tinkering on the forwards group, defence and goaltending have remained unchanged. From a proportion of the population of Oiler fans, this decision to stay the course defensively, it was much to the dismay of fans of the team.

Projected Lineup

Forwards

Mangiapane – McDavid – Hyman

Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie

Howard – Nuge – Frederic

Janmark – Henrique – Lazar

Top Six

The Oilers forward group has a ton of questions, starting in the top six. The prospective top line consists of Andrew Mangiapane, Connor McDavid, and Zach Hyman. McDavid, the best player in the world, is expected to carry this line as he tends to do year in and year out. However, neither one of Mangiapane or Hyman are slouches either. A former 35-goal scorer, Mangiapane scored 14 goals and 28 points with the Washington Capitals last season. Hyman meanwhile, scored 27 goals and 44 points in 73 games with Edmonton last season. However, that was a major fall off from his career year goal total of 54, from 2023-24. Furthermore, his absence in the playoffs due to injury was felt throughout the Oilers lineup. He’s become an integral part of driving the club’s offence.

The second line brings up a slew of questions. Leon Draisaitl is a top-ten, arguably top-five player in the league. The German centre has scored six-100-plus-point seasons. He’ll have to lead a line of relative unlikely, mismatches on his either of his wings. Once a highly-touted prospect, Vasily Podkolzin struggled to live up to expectations as a tenth-overall pick in Vancouver before moving to Edmonton. His time in Edmonton has been more successful, however. He scored eight goals and 24 points in 82 games last season. Podkolzin was highly valuable in the playoffs, scoring three goals and ten points through 22 games. Finally, all eyes will be on prospect Matt Savoie. The former ninth-overall pick is expected to make the jump to the NHL this season. His success will be important to this second line of the Oilers.

Bottom Six

The bottom-six forward group poses just as many questions as the top six, starting with prospect Isaac Howard. Howard, a Hobey Baker winner, forced his way off the Lightning in search of a better path to making the NHL, which he seems to have found in Edmonton. He’ll be surrounded by various NHL veterans. Moreover, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins and Trent Frederic fill out a spectacular third line with a great mix of scoring ability and two-way play. Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique and Curtis Lazar are a great fourth line, once against focused on scoring and playing defence equally as effectively. This bottom six will hinge on the success of question marks like Howard and Frederic, potentially boosting this bottom six group from good to elite.

 Defence

Ekholm – Bouchard

Nurse – Walman

Kulak – Stecher

Top Four

The defensive group is unchanged from last season, seemingly the best move for the organization. Matthias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard combine to make an elite top-pairing. Ekholm’s ability to shutdown players is complemented by his point-production. He scored nine goals and 33 assists in 65 games last season. In the games he missed to injury, his absence was felt. Evan Bouchard is a fantastic point producer, scoring 67 points last season, and 82 points in 81 games in the 2023-24 season. His defensive play has been called into question, and will be a source of attention now that the star quarterback is being paid over $10 million per season.

Darnell Nurse has become quite the controversial player in Edmonton. Once a fan-favourite for his size and two-way play, a bloated extension coupled with subpar play has drastically lowered his stock around the league. Even then, the 30-year-old defenceman is still solidly a top-four defenceman, scoring five goals and 33 points through 76 games last season. He’s paired with Jake Walman, a defenceman hoping to cement his status as a top-four defenceman. Walman came over from the San Jose Sharks in a trade deadline deal. Through 15 games, he scored a goal and seven assists, quickly showcasing his ability as a two-way defenceman. He was useful in the playoffs as well, scoring two goals and ten points through 22 games. This second pair has the potential to be highly effective in minutes where McDavid and Bouchard aren’t on the ice.

Bottom Pair

The bottom pair of the Edmonton Oilers is no flash, all substance. Brett Kulak is the prototypical third-pairing defensive defenceman. He was able to contribute offensively last season though, scoring 25 points in 82 games. Troy Stecher is similarly known as a defence first player. He’s spent a lot of his career bouncing around the league, with the Oilers being his sixth NHL team. In 66 games last season, he scored three goals and seven points, highlighting his role as a shutdown defenceman. Dressing in eight playoff games, Stetcher failed to record a point, but provided solid defensive minutes.

Goalies

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

By far the biggest point of controversy for the Edmonton Oilers is in net. Goaltending has been an issue for the Oilers for years. It has become an issue that seems destined to continue as management didn’t bring in anyone new this offseason. Stuart Skinner has been the starter in Edmonton for three seasons, drawing a lot of criticism for his inconsistency and tendency to let in goals at the worst times. He went 26-18-4 last season, with a below average .896 save percentage. He was replaced at times by backup Calvin Pickard during their playoff run, owing to an .889 save percentage across 15 games played. Pickard, a career backup, played 36 games with the Oilers last season. He pitched a 22-10-1 record with a league average .900 save percentage. He had seven wins in ten playoff appearances, although he sported just an .886 save percentage. Maybe the Oilers realize, they do play a run-and-gun style.

Players to Watch

Stuart Skinner

Other than the McDavid contract talks, the biggest spotlight this season will be on starter Stuart Skinner. It’s already been three seasons of inconsistent, controversial play from the Oilers netminder, an issue that’s continued to spill into the playoffs year after year. He did put up a 29-14-5 record with a .914 save percentage back in 2022-23, which shows his ability to play at a high level. However, with the tendency for a goaltender that’s been “figured out” to struggle to get back to that level, Skinner will be on the hotseat during a pivotal season for the organization.

Isaac Howard

Isaac Howard was in the news cycle for months as a disgruntled prospect in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. It was surprising to see an organization as accomplished in recent memory as the Lightning struggling to sign a blue-chip prospect. Howard’s been insistent that he needs a better path to the NHL, and in Edmonton, he hopes to have found it. The Oilers paid a relatively high price in trading former-first round pick Sam O’Reilly to acquire Howard. With the organization in transition, Howard will get tons of chances to justify the Oilers decision to bring in the Hobey Baker winner this 2025-26 season.

Prediction for the 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers are a questionably constructed team propped up by having two of the best players in the world, in addition to a top-ten offensive defenceman. This has led to six-straight playoff appearances, and likely a seventh this season in addition to back-to-back Stanley Cup appearances.

However, it is incredibly difficult for any team to make the Stanley Cup Finals once, let alone back-to-back. The Oilers hope to surpass both of these accomplishments and make the Finals for a third straight year. A feat that involves a lot of questionable variables in players like Howard, Savoie, Skinner, Pickard and Nurse. While the Oilers will definitely qualify for the playoffs and win a round or two, it doesn’t seem likely the team is able to make a third straight Cup Finals and get over the hump to win a championship.