The Edmonton Oilers have been enjoying the Pacific Division pillow soft opposition so far this season, but the three-game road trip to New York should offer a stiffer test. Edmonton’s top line and pairing are absolute money, but what about the rest of the roster? Please read this.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: Vancouver (Expected 1-0) Actual 0-0-1
- On the road: Vancouver (Expected 1-0) Actual 1-0-0
- At home to: Seattle (Expected 1-0) Actual 1-0-0
- On the road to: Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles (1-1-1) Actual 3-0-0
- At home to: Mammoth (1-0) Actual 0-1-0
- On the road to: Mammoth (0-0-1) Actual 1-0-0
- At home to: Minnesota, Carolina, Toronto, Detroit, Calgary (3-2) Actual 3-1-1
- On the road to: New York Islanders (1-0)
- Expected Record: 9-3-2, 20 points in 14 games
- Actual Record: 9-2-2, 20 points in 13 games
The Oilers have already covered my bet on them, so we are dealing with house money this afternoon. Edmonton doesn’t traditionally perform well in these afternoon games, and Babcock doesn’t know that yet. The New York Islanders are a team with an incredible amount of age, with an elite young defenseman who just turned 19 and some goaltending witchcraft. I have the game as a win for the road team, your mileage may vary.
HOW TO IMPROVE?
The good thing about Babcock’s Oilers? The win-loss the record, followed by obvious areas to improve. People are hammering Jake Walman currently, and rightly so, he’s been awful. That said, we’ve seen him playing well and now he needs to get back to that place.
Some of the lines on this team haven’t played well and were still jumping over the boards as of earlier this week. As we know Babcock hates losing, suspect we will see more adds and subtractions as the season wears along. He has made some tweaks, and they show promise; here are the five-on-five numbers by line currently:
- Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl: 164 mins, 73 pct goal share, 2.19GA-60 2.85 XGA-60
- Dach-Nuge-Kapanen: 20 mins, 100 pct goal share, 0 GA-60, 1.31 XGA-60
- Formenton-Dickinson-Joseph: 12 mins, 100 pct goal share, 0 GA-60, 2.43 XGA-60
- Howard-Michaels-Frederic: 18 mins, 0 goal share 0GA-60, 2.43 XGA-60
This is the new alignment, trashing the Michaels line with Formenton and Joseph. That trio played 100 minutes together, 36 percent goal share, 5.34 GA-60 and 2.99 XGA-60. So, yeah. Babcock doesn’t like to lose and either by gut or by golly this group is going to improve. I like Michaels, think he might need some time in Bakersfield. On the other hand, the new fourth line looks fine early days.
The defense has three guys (Ekholm, Bouchard, Shea) who are diamonds, two guys (Murphy, Emberson) who are adequate and one old chunk of coal (Walman). Who was the last NHL defenseman making $7 million to spend several years on the farm? Wade Redden? The Oilers have some real talent on LD in Bakersfield (Damien Carfagna and Tomas Cibulka) so the pressure is on Walman. I don’t have a solution, but if the coach isn’t playing Walman and the Condors reports are strong on the youngsters, what is stopping the team from making that move? Babcock is impatient. That isn’t a bad thing.
Does Edmonton Oilers rookie Owen Michaels need time in the minors?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7734123/2026/10/31/edmonton-oilers-owen-michaels-rookie-stats-2026/
So just out of curiosity, do you believe Edmonton is on Kucherov’s 10 team approved trade list?
Doubt it. Guessing he wants to go to New York or Colorado maybe. It would seem playing in Canada is not all that attractive unless you are a Canadian (or perhaps a Viking!)
Anyone here going to the game? I’m on the train now heading to the rink. If you see a guy in a 97 sweater getting beat up in the UBS arena parking lot, please render assistance. (Unless I had it coming, which you should never rule out.)
I have a few Isles message board friends, they’re a good bunch. If they start beating on you tell them LNOF said to stop. No guarantee they won’t wail on you harder but it’s worth a shot.
I like noon games about as much as I like watching Sorrowking. Ill ya.
Speaking of players not contributing, I hear Trent Frederic is healthy this year and playing better.
In 12 games, 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point. On pace for a whopping 7 goals and 7 points.
Useless.
To be honest, I’m less worried about Walman at $7m than Frederic at whatever $3.8m.
At least with Walman I’ve seen with my own eyes a player that was a substantial contributor to the team.
I’ve never seen Frederic be a contributor unless taking punches to the face is a skill.
This makes zero sense.
Stop buying coke machines from
Boston.
I dont see it with Michael’s either but then again, he has been playing far above his place in the line up due to injuries. I suppose let’s see how he does in a 4th line role for a few games, but for me, he would absolutely be one of the first guys out of the line up when the injured players come back.
If Samanski needs/needed time in the minors, what makes Michael’s different? I dont think there is one.
That’s funny because Michaels is far more useful than Howard in a fourth line role. Now that Dickinson has returned, Mike naturally slides down to the fourth line , and they have decided Dach should be a winger, Howard is the one that obviously needs time in the minors. What makes him different?
Prospectoween!
A spooky Saturday means matinee hockey in the CHL and USHL.
For sheer offensive output, David Lewandowski is enjoying the best season so far amongst the NAmateurs. Even cooling off a bit after a torrid start, he has 4-12-16 in 11 GP.
Not far behind is the House of Windsor, both of whom are at exactly a point per game (Harvey 11, Robinson 9). Harvey has 10 games goalless gone but eight apples his last six GP. Robinson has missed two games due to injury — shall he return today? We wait.
So it appears that Berry is not the only skater yet to record a point. Aidan Park is in the same boat, though he hasn’t played since the opening weekend four weeks ago. Hurt? Lost in the shuffle? It is uncertain. One wonders whether he might transfer elsewhere next season to get more playing time.
Park’s teammate Asher Barnett had started the season on the top pairing with likely #1 overall pick next summer Landon DuPont, but has lately been 2/3LD. Barnett has 1-1-2 in 7 GP.
Sioux Falls (Cameron) @ noon
Windsor (Robinson, Harvey) @ noon
Saskatoon (Lewandowski) @ 2 p.m.
Michigan (Barnett, Park) @ 4 p.m.
Notre Dame (Fischer) @ 5 p.m.
UMass-Lowell (Wakely) @ 5:30 p.m.
St. Thomas (Berry) @ 5:30 p.m.
All times, at all times, are La Crete time.