A deep dive into the Oilers’ 2025-26 schedule

The season opens a day before last year

Edmonton’s 2024-25 season opened up on October 8th when they hosted the Winnipeg Jets. But this year we’ll get a Battle of Alberta right off the bat, with the Calgary Flames rolling into Rogers Place on Wednesday, October 9th. They’ll keep it in the Pacific Division Vancouver Canucks three days later for a Saturday night showdown.

The Oilers will then kick off their second-longest road trip of the season, spanning five games.

Speaking of road trips…

That trip will take them into the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, visiting the New York Rangers on October 14th, the New York Islanders, the New the Jersey Devils, the Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators, closing on October 21st for five games in eight days.

Edmonton’s longest road-trip of the season will come less than a month later, when between November 12th and the 22nd they’ll go on a seven-game trip. It will start in Philadelphia and close in Florida, visiting the Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the closing against the Panthers.

The Oilers have another five game road trip in December, as well as four-game trips in early February and March.

Home cooked meals

Edmonton has it’s share of home stands, too. Their first of substance will come in early December for a four-game stand, hosting the Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings between Dec. 2 and 20.

While their seven-game scamper on the road is their longest away from Rogers Place, the team has a substantial home stand in January, playing in Edmonton for eight straight games in January.

Between Jan. 18 and Feb. 3, the Oilers will host the St. Louis Blues, the Devils, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals, the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks, the Wild and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Oilers will then play on February 4th in Calgary, before the Olympic Break kicks off.

Division battles

The Oilers will be getting a solid mix of games within their division this year. As a refresher, teams play five teams within their division twice both home and away, one team twice at home and once away, and another team once at home and twice away.

Edmonton will see each of the Flames, Canucks, Kraken, Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights four times this year, while playing the Los Angeles Kings and Ducks three times. They’ll host the Kings twice, and visit the Ducks once.

Last year, the Oilers saw the Flames and Canucks just three times, so getting an extra game against each of their closest rivals in terms of distance is a nice touch.

After opening the season against each other, Edmonton and Calgary will face off in the last game before the Christmas break, and immediately after the break, before playing their final game against each other on April 2nd.

Notes…

• Edmonton will close their regular season on the last day regular season games are played, April 16th, hosting the Canucks.
• The Oilers will play 44 of their 82 games this season against teams who didn’t make the playoffs last year after. In 2024-25, it was an even 50/50 split.
• Edmonton has 13 back-to-backs this season, one fewer than last year.
• 24 of the their final 29 games of the season (82.8 percent) will be against teams in the Western Conference, and 15 of those games will be against teams who were in the playoffs last year (51.7 percent).
• The first rematch of last years Stanley Cup Final between the Oilers and Panthers will take place on November 22nd, when the Oilers pay visit to Florida. They’ll face off in Edmonton on March 19th.
• We’re getting Olympic hockey this season, with the NHL pausing its schedule between February 6th and the 24th.
• On each of Saturday, October 11th and Tuesday, October 28th, all 32 teams will be in action. The latter game will include staggered start times running from 4 PM MT through 9 PM MT, setting up the chance for another Frozen Frenzy broadcast, though no announcement has been made as of the time of writing.