Which Oilers players are rated the highest on NHL 26?

As the release of NHL 26 approaches, EA Sports has announced the top 10 overall players for the Edmonton Oilers.

This year’s edition of the game features some new faces on the Oilers roster, as they’ve said goodbye to a few players while acquiring new ones since the release of NHL 25. With the latest ratings, we’ve seen a couple of upgrades and downgrades for Edmonton’s players.

Connor McDavid – 97 OVR

To no surprise, Connor McDavid is the highest-rated active player on the Edmonton Oilers and in the game. The game has included alumni and legends in the past, so one could assume that Wayne Gretzky has the highest rating. However, we will not know for sure until the full game launches.

Over the past three years, McDavid has maintained a 97 rating, with his last lower rating being 95 in NHL 22.

McDavid’s strongest attributes in NHL 26 are passing, offensive awareness, and speed, all of which are rated 98. However, some of his lower attributes include fighting skill (65), shot blocking (80), aggression (82), faceoffs (82), and discipline (83).

Leon Draisaitl – 96 OVR

Following his 2024-2025 season, Draisaitl is ranked among the best players in NHL 26. With a 96 overall, he is tied with Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov for the second-highest overall, just behind Connor McDavid.

Draisaitl led the league in scoring with 52 goals last year, taking home the Rocket Richard trophy.  It wasn’t his most productive season, yet he managed to score 106 points, tying David Pastrnak for the third-highest total in the NHL.

Leon Draisaitl’s exceptional scoring ability carried into the playoffs, leading the Edmonton Oilers back to the Stanley Cup Final. In this crucial series, Draisaitl made a significant impact, scoring 11 goals and providing 22 assists, for a total of 33 points.

His outstanding season earned him a plus-one upgrade from NHL 25, where he was rated 95.

Evan Bouchard – 88

He earned himself a contract extension, but a slight downgrade from NHL 25, where he was 89 overall. Bouchard, in the regular season, scored the third most points for the Oilers with 67, proving why he’s one of the league’s top offensive defencemen.

With an 88 rating, he is tied with Colton Parayko, Moritz Seider, Dougie Hamilton, John Carlson, Noah Dobson, and Drew Doughty for the third-highest right defencemen in NHL 26.

Zach Hyman – 87

Hyman found himself with a downgrade compared to NHL 25, where EA gave him an 89 overall after his 54-goal season in 2023-24. In NHL 26, he will be 87 overall.

While no one expected him to score 50 goals again, Hyman did have one of his least productive years with the Oilers, scoring 27 goals, 17 assists, and 44 points. However, health was not in his favour like many players on the Oilers, as he only played 73 games in the regular season and then suffered a wrist injury in May, which kept him out of the Stanley Cup Final.

He still would lead the 2025 NHL postseason with 111 hits. To equate that to NHL 26, his physical attributes this year are 84 aggression, 84 body checking, 70 fighting skill, 92 strength, and 85 durability.

Jake Walman – 87

After being traded to the Edmonton Oilers from the San Jose Sharks, Walman found himself quite a jump in rating for NHL 26 with an 87 overall. In NHL 25, EA introduced the season with him starting at an overall rating of 83.

The spike in rating is a little bit of a surprise, but there’s a good reason why the Oilers traded for him at last year’s trade deadline. He doesn’t score as much as Bouchard, but he’s found himself to be an important piece to Edmonton’s blue line. One notable stat from last year’s playoffs is that he led the NHL postseason in blocked shots with 66 in 22 games.

For those curious, his defensive attributes are 89 in defensive awareness, 87 in shot blocking, and 85 in stick checking.

Mattias Ekholm – 87

Conversations around Ekholm’s game last season became a little more critical than in previous years, mostly due to health concerns affecting his play. Regardless, when healthy, he was reliable on the blue line as many fans expected, and he actually received an upgrade to 87 overall for NHL 26 while he was an 86 in NHL 25.

We all know him for his defensive acumen, which earned him a defensive awareness attribute of 93 in NHL 26.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 86

It’s hard to say a bad word about Nugent-Hopkins. While his naysayers may pick on his production, every NHL player or coach who’s spoken about him only raves about his on-ice play.

The 32-year-old, however, has been downgraded to 86 from an 87 last year. Yes, he’s not as productive as some of his teammates, but Nugent-Hopkins still has an important role on the Edmonton Oilers and will be entering his 15th season with the club, with the 1000-game milestone right around the corner for him.

If he plays 79 games next year, he will surpass Kevin Lowe for the most games played in franchise history, having played 1,037 games for the Oilers.

Darnell Nurse – 85

Everyone loves to talk about Nurse in Edmonton, and EA must’ve ignored the ones who love to pin the blame on him. It’s not the highest rating amongst NHL defencemen in the game, but Nurse remains 85 overall, the same as last year’s game.

His strongest attributes in the game are skating and physicality. Three notable stats are acceleration at 91, speed at 91, and strength at 90.

Stuart Skinner – 84

One would assume that Skinner wants to have a bounce back season. Even EA decided to lower his rating to 84 after it was 86 in NHL 25. I feel an 84-overall is one that many fans would disagree with, considering the hyper-fixation on the goaltending position in Edmonton.

The magnifying glass will remain large on Skinner in 25/26 after he posted a 2.81 goals against average and .896 save percentage in last year’s regular season. His post-season was bumpy as well, after being pulled in multiple games, but he also posted three shutouts in 15 starts for the Oilers.

Maybe with the new goalie coach, Skinner can prove his doubters wrong and earn himself a higher rating in NHL 27.

Trent Frederic – 82

Frederic rounds out the Top 10 for the Edmonton Oilers in NHL 26 with an 82 overall.

After being traded from the Boston Bruins, fans were left feeling disappointed in his play; however, he had a lingering injury that limited his performance. While his rating looks low compared to some, Oilers fans will be interested to see what he can do after inking his eight-year extension with the team this past summer.

With the Boston Bruins last year in NHL 25, he had an 83 overall.

NHL 26 is set to release on September 5th, 2025, for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition. The base game will be available for purchase worldwide on September 12, 2025.