EDMONTON, AB – Back in business with the Battle of Alberta.
The Edmonton Oilers will begin their 2025-26 regular season on Wednesday at Rogers Place against the Calgary Flames, using their revamped lineup that’s been tested over a long Training Camp and Preseason to prepare them to start the year strong with a good performance tonight against their rivals.
The excitement that’s developed over the past 48 hours in Oil Country from the signing of contract extensions for Connor McDavid, Jake Walman and Mattias Ekholm, along with the arrival of a new young crop of players that includes forwards Matt Savoie, Isaac Howard and defenceman Alec Regula, has fans & players alike looking forward to the start of a new season with the goal in mind of getting back to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year.
“Obviously, winning would be number one,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Number two, just seeing us have a lot of excitement and a lot of energy coming in. I assume Opening Night, with all the contracts that we signed and all the new players that we’ve brought in, I don’t think that will be an issue – especially in front of our fans.”
Here are the expected lines and defence pairings for the Oilers based on the pre-game skate:
Forwards
Draisaitl – McDavid – Frederic
Mangiapane – Nugent-Hopkins – Savoie
Podkolzin – Philp – Kapanen
Howard – Henrique – Tomasek
Defence
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Regula
Kulak – Emberson
Goalies
Skinner
Pickard