The Oilers Are Stuck In A Cycle Self-Correction
It’s no secret that the Edmonton Oilers are in win-now mode, and that mode has shifted to pure desperation as they enter the final two years of superstar captain Connor McDavid’s current contract. It’s completely understandable that the Oilers have spent years sacrificing future assets to win now, given the window they are in with the best player in the world on their roster. However, that desperation to win now has led Oilers management to make aggressive moves, many of which have been disasters. Their desperation has often forced them into awful trades or signings, sometimes to undo ill-advised moves or simply because they thought they had to fix a roster hole. This line of thinking has painted the Oilers into the corner they currently find themselves in, out of the playoffs in the first round, with an unhappy superstar and a fanbase left shaking their heads.
Edmonton has repeatedly paid a premium to plug holes in the lineup or to undo prior mistakes in player acquisition. This has been especially true for the Oilers’ depth, defensive reliability, and secondary scoring, where they’ve either ignored the problem or acquired players who created a hole. From the outside, it feels as though Edmonton is constantly chasing fixes, reacting to structural roster issues rather than building a roster with any semblance of a long-term plan. As mentioned, the Oilers sacrificed future assets to win now, but they’ve also repeatedly spent additional assets to fix the holes their prior aggressive moves often created. This type of thinking is often called the sunk cost fallacy, in which someone doubles down on a bad decision because too much has already been invested.
There are few better examples of Edmonton’s reactionary thinking than the Jason Dickinson trade with the Chicago Blackhawks prior to this year’s NHL Trade Deadline. The Oilers released a video of the team’s management group discussing the potential trade for Dickinson. Although the clips were just 2 minutes, they painted a picture of a management group with a relatively shallow, short-sighted understanding of the trade they were trying to make. Effectively, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman was trying to plug a hole on his roster that he thought he’d filled at last year’s trade deadline with the trade for Trent Frederic, only to see Frederic implode this season after signing an eight-year extension last summer. Simply put, the trade felt like damage control stemming from previous poor decisions with Frederic and the free-agent signing of Andrew Mangiapane, who was included in the Dickinson trade as a salary dump after a poor showing in Edmonton.
Mangiapane is a clear example of Edmonton’s mismanagement and inability to find the right pieces for the right roles. Signed to a two-year, $7.2MM deal, the Oilers hoped that playing alongside their skilled players would reignite the offensive side of Mangiapane’s game; however, that did not happen, and he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks less than one year into the deal.
As good an example as Mangiapane is, there is no better example than goaltender Tristan Jarry. Jarry was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in December, when the Oilers were in desperate need of better goaltending. The trade came less than three months after Bowman had stated that he “Liked where Stuart Skinner’s game was.” Bowman’s comments came on the heels of a summer with no movement in the Oilers’ crease, despite it being a clear area of weakness.
Skinner began the season with the Oilers, going 11-8-4 with an .891 SV% and a 2.83 GAA. At the time of the trade, Skinner was ranked 32nd in Goals Saved Above Expected, while Jarry was 22nd. Edmonton hoped that moving Skinner for Jarry would be a massive upgrade and even included defenseman Brett Kulak and a second-round pick.
The trade was a colossal disaster for the Oilers, as Jarry reverted to his recent form, going 9-6-2 in 19 games with Edmonton, posting an .857 SV% and a 3.86 GAA. Jarry wasn’t just bad in Edmonton; he was among the worst netminders in the league after the trade.
Had Edmonton management simply addressed the issue last summer, they likely would have avoided a trade for Jarry, which will have repercussions for years, as Jarry has two years left on his contract, a deal that is effectively buyout-proof.
The Oilers’ asset recycling continued with the Jarry trade and has become an alarming trend for a team that is shutting its own contention window with each passing season. The Oilers had a clear need to upgrade their roster construction last summer, particularly their goaltending and defense. Instead, they prioritized adding toughness, veterans, and depth scoring, and the results this past season speak for themselves.
The team clearly (and correctly) has a mandate to win now because of the presence of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but that urgency has distorted management’s decision-making, prompting panic move after panic move in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle. Management often overvalues urgency and undervalues patience, particularly in player development and salary-cap management.
A persistent narrative in Oilers fandom is that the team is one piece away, but for a team that constantly patches holes mid-season, that logic seems flawed and generally indicates poor organizational planning. You could certainly point to trades and moves in a vacuum and say they worked, but when you zoom out and look at the broader picture, a pattern starts to emerge.
The pattern is that the Oilers have rarely built forward and have spent most of the McDavid/Draisaitl era trying to escape the consequences of their past bets. If the Oilers want to finally bring a Stanley Cup back to Northern Alberta, some hard conversations need to be had among management to break this cycle.
Oilers Notes: McDavid, Dickinson, Draisaitl, Knoblauch
The Edmonton Oilers held their end-of-season interviews after failing to win one playoff round, on the heels of back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a day filled with difficult conversations and injury updates. Notably, both Connor McDavid and Jason Dickinson were revealed to be playing through foot fractures, head coach Kris Knoblauch told Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. Dickinson scored two goals in the opening game of the first round before missing the next two games with injury. He returned for the final three games of the series and added one assist.
McDavid played through all six postseason games but didn’t neccesarily appear like his usual self. He scored only one goal and six points. It was rare that he broke away with top-end speed or dominated offense – instead leaving those roles to Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Vasily Podkolzin who led the Oilers in playoff scoring. A fracture is reasonable explanation for those struggles and will now set both McDavid and Dickinson on the course of recovery for at least part of the summer. Knoblauch did not mention specifics for either player’s recovery.
Other notes out of Edmonton:
- Star winger Draisaitl was vocal about the team’s struggles, saying that he feels the organization took a step backwards per NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest. Their result at the end of the year made that backwards step evident enough – but McDavid echoed his teammate’s comments in his own interview. Draisaitl went on to speak to how big of a role Edmonton’s depth players filled on their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, even naming Ryan McLeod, Warren Foegele, Vincent Desharnais, and Cody Ceci. It seems the Oilers’ charge through the summer will be replicating that difference-making depth talent, if they want to appease their best players ahead of another playoff heave next season.
- No indication was made regarding Knoblauch’s future with in the Oilers head coach role through the team’s final interviews. General manager Stan Bowman said the organization will take their time to evaluate things before confirming if Knoblauch would be back per TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. Bowman went on to add that all aspects of the team will likely be evaluated, including his own role, after their disappointing end. Those decisions will give the Oilers a lot to consider in a small window before the NHL Draft in June and free agency in July.
Oilers Activate Leon Draisaitl Off LTIR
The Oilers will indeed welcome back one of their top players as their first-round series against Anaheim gets underway tonight. The team announced (Twitter link) that they have activated forward Leon Draisaitl off long-term injured reserve.
The 30-year-old has been sidelined since mid-March due to a lower-body injury. He briefly flew to Germany to be assessed and at that time, it was noted that the hope was that he’d be back at some point in the first round. He’ll beat that by being ready for the start of the series.
Draisaitl finished just shy of the 100-point mark this season, snapping a streak of four straight years at that threshold. However, he still managed 35 goals and 62 assists in 65 appearances with his 1.49 points per game mark matching what he put up in 2024-25.
Draisaitl has been especially productive in the playoffs in recent years which certainly bodes well for Edmonton. Last year, he led all players in postseason points with 33; he has surpassed the 30-point mark in three of the last four years. That extra firepower will certainly make their lineup that much more dangerous.
With Jason Dickinson expected to be available tonight, this should be the first game all season that the Oilers have had their fully healthy lineup. We’ll soon find out if that’s enough to give them a boost in the opener against the Ducks.
West Notes: Oilers, Colton, Hintz
Two welcome additions were on the ice today in Edmonton’s practice, as Leon Draisaitl and Jason Dickinson were full participants, noted by TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. It’s not yet certain, but the news suggests the Oilers could be icing a fully stocked lineup tomorrow night in Game 1 of their first round series against Anaheim.
Draisaitl centered Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen on the second line, two skilled role players who mesh well with the superstar Draisaitl. He’s been unable to play since March 15, missing the club’s last 14 games to wrap up the campaign. Even without him, Edmonton handled business and earned home ice advantage, now on the cusp of adding a massive boost to their lineup. Despite playing in 65 games, his lowest since the shortened 2020-21 season, the 30-year-old still ranked second in team scoring with 97 points.
Meanwhile, Dickinson took the middle between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic on the third line. With just one goal and four points in 17 games since being acquired from Chicago, he will lean fully into a shutdown role to try and help the Oilers make a third-consecutive deep run. The 30-year-old’s possession metrics at five-on-five with his new team aren’t pretty, under 40% corsi for, but he’s starting over 71% of shifts in the defensive zone, which will continue to be his calling card ahead. Dickinson has missed the team’s last three games with a leg injury and hasn’t found the back of the net in his last 13 contests.
With other teams wrapping up their respective second games around the time the puck finally drops to open the Oilers/Ducks series, the scheduling worked to the benefit of Edmonton, giving them the real possibility of returning to full health.
Elsewhere across the conference:
- Colorado’s Ross Colton is expected to be scratched for Game 1 this afternoon against Los Angeles, reported by Corey Masisak of The Denver Post. The 29-year-old brings championship pedigree within his 64 games of postseason experience, even scoring the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for Tampa Bay’s 2021 title, but he’ll be out of the lineup for the start of a potential run from the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Colton netted nine goals in 73 games, a near 50% drop off from his first two seasons with the Avs, and his ice time has declined, down to 12:31 in 2025-26. Surprisingly, the 29-year-old has actually posted his best even strength possession metrics of his career this year, but it’s in good part thanks to the team’s overall dominance in that area. Colton is not trusted on the penalty kill, a factor in the decision, but it’s likely he’ll get a shot eventually based on how his teammates perform out of the gate.
- Stars head coach Glen Gulatzan told reporters, including Robert Tiffin of Stars Thoughts, that Roope Hintz is still not skating on his own yet. The standout center hasn’t been able to play since March 6 as a result of a lower body injury. Dallas certainly felt the effects of missing such a player in Game 1’s resounding defeat against Minnesota. Based on the word on Hintz, his status for any time in the first round is up in the air, and the club will have to dig deep to get back on track and buy enough time for his return. With 44 points in 53 games this year, it’s clearly a big loss, but Hintz’s elite defensive impact is especially crucial at this time of year.
Oilers’ Zach Hyman Out With Lingering Injury
The Edmonton Oilers are opting for the careful approach as another successful season nears its end. Top winger Zach Hyman will be held out of Saturday’s matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights, head coach Kris Knoblauch told Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun.
Hyman also sat out of Thursday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The details of his injury have not been disclosed. Hyman may have played through the injury if Saturday were a playoff game, but he could instead wind up shelved for the rest of the regular season as Edmonton errs on the side of resting players, Knoblauch added. Instead, the Oilers will let him focus on recovery for as long as it takes, with a few weeks left before the start of the playoffs.
Hyman has scored nine goals and 15 points in 18 games since the Olympic break, the fourth-most on the Oilers. He is up to 31 goals and 51 points in 57 games this season, a nice bump up from his 44-point campaign last year, but still well below the 83-point career-high he set in the 2022-23 season.
A return to near-point-per-game scoring is nonetheless encouraging after Hyman missed the first 19 games of the season with a dislocated wrist sustained in Game 4 of the 2025 Western Conference Finals. Hyman told reporters that his current injury is unrelated to the wrist injury that kept him out for nearly five months.
The Oilers are sitting in a comfortable playoff position, tied with the Anaheim Ducks for first in the Pacific Division. At the same time, they are facing a long list of injuries, including superstar forward Leon Draisaitl and depth center Mattias Janmark. Draisaitl returned to practice but won’t join Edmonton on their upcoming three-game road trip, per Sportsnet’s Gene Principe. That only emphasizes Edmonton’s focus on healing up before the postseason. They will move forward without two of their top forwards with six games remaining on the schedule – all against Western Conference competition.
Edmonton has faced the Florida Panthers in each of the last two Stanley Cup Finals. Draisaitl played a crucial role in the 2025 Final, leading the Oilers with 8 points in 6 games before their eventual defeat. Hyman filled the bigger shoes in 2024, netting four points in seven games to Draisaitl’s three. Either way, the duo has been heavily utilized through the last two postseasons, with Draisaitl averaging 22 minutes of ice time through 47 games and Hyman averaging 20 minutes through 40 games. Their health will be of the utmost importance as the Oilers hope to right their wrongs and seal a Cup win this season.
Oilers Place Leon Draisaitl On Long-Term Injured Reserve
The Oilers were expected to eventually move star center Leon Draisaitl to long-term injured reserve after it was announced he’ll be shut down for the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury. That’s now happened, per a team announcement, and they’ve used their newfound cap space to recall winger Roby Jarventie from AHL Bakersfield in the corresponding move.
As the ever-durable Draisaitl gears up for the longest absence of his career at one of the worst possible times, the Oilers had just a few days left to be eligible for cap relief by placing him on LTIR. They have 28 days left in their regular season, and there has to be at least 24 days or 10 games – the LTIR minimums – left on the regular-season calendar to initiate an LTIR placement.
Edmonton is now over the cap by nearly $2.5MM, but with Draisaitl now generating some relief in addition to the previously LTIR-bound Colton Dach, Mattias Janmark, and Curtis Lazar, the Oilers’ LTIR pool is now at almost $7MM, leaving them $3.3MM in current cap space after Jarventie’s recall, per PuckPedia.
With all those names sidelined, the 23-year-old Jarventie should be ticketed for his first NHL appearance since debuting with the Senators in November 2023. An early second-round pick in the 2020 draft, he was traded to Edmonton in the 2024 offseason for Xavier Bourgault, but he missed all but two AHL games last season due to knee surgery.
Jarventie initially planned to return home to Finland with Tappara early last offseason, but ended up accepting a two-way extension from the Oilers in June. That decision has proved fruitful for both parties. The 6’2″, 184-lb Jarventie hasn’t clicked at the near point-per-game rate he did in the minors before his injury, but he’s back to at least being a serviceable producer. In 52 outings for Bakersfield, he has 17 goals and 36 points with a +12 rating. That’s good for fifth on the team in scoring.
Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl Expected To Miss Remaining Regular Season
The Edmonton Oilers will be missing major firepower for Tuesday night’s divisional matchup against the San Jose Sharks. Superstar Leon Draisaitl has been declared out for the matchup due to a lower-body injury sustained in Sunday’s win over the Nashville Predators. Draisaitl left that game in the first period after taking a hard bump from Predators winger Ozzy Wiesblatt. No update was provided after the game.
After announcing that he would miss Tuesday night’s game, the Oilers released an additional statement sharing that Draisaitl will have to miss the remaining regular season. He will not need surgery for the injury and should be available for the start of playoffs, general manager Stan Bowman told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
This news will be a major blow to the Oilers offense as they look to seal their spot in the top-three of the Pacific Division. Draisaitl has stayed red-hot since Edmonton returned from the Olympic break. He has six goals and 17 points in his last 10 games, bringing his year-long totals up to 35 goals and 97 points in just 65 games. The 30 year old ranks second on the Oilers in scoring behind Connor McDavid, who has already reached 114 points in 68 games. The two are one of the best duos in the league whether they’re playing alongside each other or not – making Edmonton’s task of replacing Draisaitl that much more challenging.
Max Jones will step into the lineup to fill Draisaitl’s hole. Jones has appeared in nine NHL games, and scored one point, this season. He has also racked up 10 goals, 18 points, and 61 penalty minutes in 39 AHL games. He is a veteran of 293 NHL games with 66 points, split evenly, to show for it. Jones should assume a bottom-line role, while Vasily Podkolzin and Matthew Savoie move up the lineup to bridge the top-six. Podkolzin has three points in his last six games and 30 points on the year, while Savoie has two points in his last two games and 27 points in total. The two should keep play moving just enough to earn Edmonton’s other star talent – McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman – scoring chances. Meanwhile the Oilers brass will hold their breath until a clearer timeline for Draisaitl’s return becomes available. The team expects to have updates before the weekend.
If that will be enough to sustain Edmonton’s offense across their remaining 14 games will be a larger question. The Oilers have scored the second-most goals in the NHL (238) behind only the Colorado Avalanche (249). Much of that scoring came from the one-two punch that is McDavid and Draisaitl. Without one of those hooks, the Oilers will need to look towards Hyman to make up for short-term scoring. This could also be a major opportunity for Savoie or Isaac Howard to step up as scoring pieces, after quieter starts to their pro careers than many expected.
Injury Notes: Draisaitl, Hoglander, Rondbjerg
There’s still no status update on Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who left early in Sunday’s action against the Predators, playing just 3:12. Late last night head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters, including Jason Gregor of Sports 1440, that “I don’t think it should be long. There might be some time off”.
Draisaitl scored a power play tally just minutes into the game, marking his 30th goal against Nashville across his career, the most against any team he’s played. It’s particularly noteworthy because he’s done so in just 32 games. However, not long after, he took a hit into the opponent’s bench. Staying on his feet, there was still a blow to the lower back area.
The superstar played briefly after, but then was pulled and didn’t return. There was never an official announcement from the team that he’d been ruled out, but as the game wore on, it became only more evident.
It would take a late season collapse for Edmonton to miss the playoffs, but with a goaltending situation as fragile as ever, and a vital player banged up, there’s cause for concern. Draisaitl currently sits fourth in the entire league with 97 points in 65 games, and if he has to miss multiple games, divisional foes Seattle and San Jose may make them uncomfortable in the final stretch of the campaign.
The Oilers are a tale of two extremes, surrendering 232 goals which has them right among the worst in the league, but simultaneously sitting second in ones forced with 238. As a result they’ve ended up perfectly in the middle of the league, 16th, and third in the Pacific.
Edmonton hosts a possible playoff-snatcher in San Jose tomorrow night. Apparently set to do so without Draisaitl, they must shore things up defensively. Giving up 3.4 goals per game, simply out-scoring their issues will be much more difficult. It’s a feeling not foreign to the Oilers throughout the Connor McDavid/Draisaitl era, but at some point, something has to give if they’ll make a third straight run and finally get over the hump.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Canucks head coach Adam Foote shared news to reporters, including Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province/Sun, that Nils Höglander will return tomorrow against Florida. The forward had missed the club’s last two games as a scratch, although injuries have also been a factor. 2025-26 has been a year to forget for the 25-year-old, who suffered a lower-body injury in the preseason, unable to play until December. Ever since then he’s hardly moved the needle with just three points in 25 games, and averaging the lowest ice time of his career. Höglander still has solid possession metrics, indicating he remains useful at even strength. A 24-goal scorer two years ago, the 5’9” winger will try to finish the season on a strong note. He has security, holding a contract which is signed through 2027-28, and could turn things around in a lower pressure environment across the coming years.
- Another update came earlier today, this time from Vegas as Jonas Røndbjerg has resumed skating, relayed by the Review Journal’s Danny Webster. The 26-year-old is not the most recognizable name, but unfortunately his lower-body injury sustained in early February cost him a chance to play on Team Denmark at the Olympics. It’s worth mentioning that it was caused by Anaheim’s Radko Gudas, a player who has been in the headlines of late for his questionable play. Nonetheless, Røndbjerg has skated in just four games for Vegas in 2025-26, notching an assist. He was part of Vegas’ inaugural 2017 draft class, chosen in the third round, since then becoming a key player for AHL Henderson over the years. Røndbjerg has chipped in 11 points across 80 total games for the Golden Knights as a fill-in option with limited usage.
Evening Notes: Draisaitl, Dach, Nugent-Hopkins
A potentially major storyline has emerged tonight as Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl left tonight against Nashville, noted by Ryan Rishaug of TSN. The team has still yet to confirm his status, but he did not return to start the second or third period.
Early in the game Draisaitl was hit into the Predators’ bench. He stayed on his feet, but it caused a hard impact in the vulnerable lower back area. It was a routine check which Calgary native Ozzy Wiesblatt is expected to finish in his fourth line role, but naturally it was met with retaliation from Edmonton.
The 30-year-old returned momentarily, but didn’t seem right, and did not come back again, likely ending his night after just 3:12. Even in the limited time, Draisaitl buried a power play tally. It’s the norm against the Predators, as he has an unbelievable 29 goals in 31 career games against the club in gold.
Post game updates on the superstar will be watched urgently. With 96 points in 64 games, it hardly requires much analysis to speak on Draisaitl’s importance to Edmonton. In a season where things haven’t come easily for the group, he and Connor McDavid are forced to drive even more offense than normal to overcome their 231 goals surrendered; third worse in the league.
Edmonton is back in action Tuesday hosting San Jose. The team is third in the Pacific, likely to make the playoffs but still not where the back-to-back runners up would like to be by mid-March. If Draisaitl has to miss any time, their odds may swing dramatically.
Elsewhere across the league:
- The Montreal Canadiens shared mid-game that Kirby Dach would not return due to an upper-body injury. Dach absorbed a hard hit from Anaheim grinder Jeffrey Viel with an impact concentrated in the shoulder area. The 25-year-old has had to deal with various injuries throughout his Habs tenure, as he underwent knee surgery last year, along with a fractured foot last November. Dach has only managed 31 games in 2025-26, where he’s put up 14 points. A former third overall pick, he’s is still chasing his 2022-23 Canadiens debut, breaking out with 38 points in 58 games. Unfortunately it’s starting to look like Dach won’t flourish as a top six center for the storied franchise, but based on all the health issues, it’s hard to be critical. As long as Dach has avoided another serious injury, he will likely return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20 as a Blackhawks rookie.
- Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has returned tonight against Nashville, per the team. The 32-year-old missed last game against St. Louis due to personal reasons, the team falling in overtime without their longest tenured player. Nugent-Hopkins has missed 10 games this year, otherwise posting 50 points in 57 games, a nice improvement from last year’s 49 in total. He has been durable over the past several seasons, as 2025-26 will mark the first time he’s played in under 78 regular season games since 2021-22. Nugent-Hopkins is back on the third line, flanking center Jason Dickinson as Edmonton works to balance their attack.
Leon Draisaitl To Take Brief Leave Of Absence
The Oilers will be without one of their superstars for the next few games. The team announced that center Leon Draisaitl will be stepping away from the team to attend to a family illness back home in Germany. He is currently expected to rejoin the team at some point next week.
Once again, the 30-year-old is among not only Edmonton’s top scorers but the rest of the league as well. Draisaitl has 25 goals and 42 assists in 48 games so far this season, putting him second on the team in scoring behind Connor McDavid (who is tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead with 82). Meanwhile, his 67 points are fifth overall, behind those two along with Macklin Celebrini and Nikita Kucherov.
In his absence, the Oilers will have to decide if they want to move Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back down the middle and take him off McDavid’s line. Alternatively, Jack Roslovic could move up to the second line to take Draisaitl’s spot. Meanwhile, his absence should pave the way for Andrew Mangiapane to return to the lineup; the speculated trade candidate has been a frequent healthy scratch as of late.
Edmonton is currently carrying a full 23-player roster. Draisaitl is eligible to be moved to non-roster status if needed which would allow them to recall a replacement player from AHL Bakersfield. However, with only $270K in LTIR room at the moment per PuckPedia, other moves would need to be made in order for them to be able to afford to bring someone else up.