{"id":912709,"date":"2026-09-28T10:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/912709\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:42:28","slug":"the-day-after-injuries-leave-oilers-lineup-questions-unanswered-as-pre-season-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/912709\/","title":{"rendered":"The Day After: Injuries leave Oilers lineup questions unanswered as pre-season ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Day After: Injuries leave Oilers lineup questions unanswered as pre-season ends<\/p>\n

And just like that, one week after it began, the 2026-27 NHL pre-season is over.<\/p>\n

For the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>, it couldn\u2019t have come soon enough. After a long summer of waiting after getting bounced in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks, the Oilers came out swinging in the pre-season, capping off a perfect 4-0 with a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames<\/a> Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be done exhibition (games),\u201d said Oilers head coach Mike Babcock. \u201cI think we did lots of positive things during exhibition and we\u2019ve learned a lot about our team. We can be way better. We understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to figure out our depth, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therein lies the problem. The games haven\u2019t counted yet, and the team is already ravished. Matt Savoie and Freddie Andersen were banged up over the summer, something the Oilers could offset easily with Isaac Howard sliding up the lineup, and Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi tending the crease.<\/p>\n

But losing Jason Dickinson<\/a> has thrown a wrench into things \u2014 exactly what Babcock has alluded to.<\/p>\n

Signed out of the NCAA last spring, he joined the team right away, but never dressed in a game. The consensus was that he was destined to start the year in the AHL and go from there, but now, he might be a centre for the Oilers to start the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta give Mike credit because he wasn\u2019t even on the radar at all, and then he just keeps showing up in all the good clips, and then suddenly he wins these faceoffs, he tracks, he\u2019s in the right spot,\u201d said Babcock. \u201cThen after he got going good, I started looking at his career scoring-wise, and I think I said this the other day, he\u2019s never been the guy who led the league in scoring, but he\u2019s the captain of the team that wins the national championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he must know how to play. He bought himself another day, and good for him. And I mean, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here. We\u2019re trying to create depth and try to find good players, and he looks like he\u2019s a good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good players are good to have, and the Oilers need as many as they can get.<\/p>\n

One has to wonder how long keeping Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line will last for. The numbers are good together, so long as Zach Hyman has been there, but the numbers show they work well when they\u2019re apart. It\u2019s the age-old question in these parts, and one the team will likely never be able to make a decision on. Play \u2019em together, play \u2019em apart, there may not be a \u201cright answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite them skating together with Vasily Podkolzin on their flank since captains\u2019 skates, one has to wonder if bumping Draisaitl to the 2C and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to 3C can better offset the loss of Dickinson.<\/p>\n

Zach Laing is Daily Faceoff Edmonton\u2019s managing editor and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.THE FIRST NATION VACATION OF THE 2026\/27 SEASON IS HERE!\"\"<\/p>\n

Toronto is calling \u2014 and this isn\u2019t your average hockey trip.<\/p>\n

The first 2026\/27 Nation Vacation presented by JetSet Parking is here, and we\u2019re taking over Toronto for one hell of a weekend.<\/p>\n

From November 13\u201316, 2026, you\u2019ll experience Edmonton vs. Toronto from a VIP suite surrounded by your people, fellow Nation fans and special guests who\u2019ll make this more than just a night at the rink.<\/p>\n

Add in Nation events, a pre-game celebration, a downtown Toronto stay and a weekend built around hockey, and you\u2019ve got an experience you simply can\u2019t get from buying a ticket and booking a hotel.<\/p>\n

And you can reserve your spot with just $500 down.<\/p>\n

Bring the jersey. Bring your crew. We\u2019ll bring the Nation.<\/p>\n

A hockey trip is good. A Nation Vacation is better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Day After: Injuries leave Oilers lineup questions unanswered as pre-season ends And just like that, one week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":912710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-912709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}