Edmonton Oilers 2025-26 slow start: how the lack of veteran forwards is derailing the season

The Edmonton Oilers are stuck in an all-too-familiar script: a November spent looking up at the playoff line, questions about 5-on-5 scoring, and a fan base repeating the mantra “we’ve been here before.” Yet the 2025-26 edition feels different. Yes, Connor McDavid is once again flirting with a 130-point pace, and Leon Draisaitl’s shot is as lethal as ever, but the supporting cast around them has been hollowed out. The result is a 9-8-4 record through 21 games, identical points to last season but none of the same swagger. The biggest change? A forward group that suddenly looks like it graduated straight from junior without stopping at the veterans’ lounge.

The exodus: who walked and what they took with them

Over the summer the Oilers said goodbye to five forwards who, for all their flaws, knew how playoff hockey is won:

• Corey Perry – 39 years young, league-wide pest, net-front lawyer, and owner of 95 career post-season goals.
• Evander Kane – injured for most of 2024-25, but a physical tone-setter who could still change a series in four shifts.
• Connor Brown – the human shot-block who turned penalty-killing into an energy drink.
• Viktor Arvidsson & Jeff Skinner – middle-six finishers who could slide up a line in a pinch.

Combined, those five accounted for 28 percent of Edmonton’s playoff hits, 42 percent of its “high-danger screens” (per Sportlogiq), and every ounce of the club’s been-there-before bravado. When the parade out of town ended, the only proven NHL veterans left in the top-nine were Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the recovering Zach Hyman—both currently wearing suits instead of sweaters.

Kids on ice: why the rookie wave hasn’t crested yet

GM Stan Bowman’s replacement plan was always going to involve youth; nobody expected it to be this immediate. Rookies Matt Savoie, Isaac Howard and 29-year-old Euro-league import David Tomášek were handed roster spots out of camp. The early returns:

• Matt Savoie: 5 points in 21 games, 43 percent expected-goals share.
• Isaac Howard: 2 points in 11 games before a press-box view.
• David Tomášek: 3 points in 14 games and a team-worst minus-7.

The raw talent is obvious—Savoie’s edges are NHL-elite, Howard’s release is wicked—but the league is littered with teenagers who looked dazzling in September and overwhelmed by Thanksgiving. Without a safety net of greybeards, the mistakes snowball. When the kids drift to the perimeter—something Craig Johnson highlighted in his Coaches Room column for NHL.com—there is no Perry to bark, “Get your butt to the blue paint.”

5-on-5 scoring crater: the numbers behind the eye test

Special teams remain elite (the power play still clicks at 31 %), but at even strength the Oilers have plummeted to 25th in goals per 60 and 26th in expected goals. Last spring they were top-five in both categories. The slide can be traced to two missing ingredients:

1. Net-front presence: Edmonton’s “screens per game” has dropped from 7.4 to 4.1.
2. Slot volume: High-danger shots are down 18 %, largely because no forward outside the top line wins rebound battles.

Hyman’s eventual return will help, but one man can’t replace an entire archetype. The club is begging for a middle-six grinder who lives on the inside—exactly the role Perry and Kane filled for free just four months ago.

Leadership vacuum: voices that aren’t in the room anymore

Leadership can’t be quantified, but it can be quoted. After an early-season loss in Philadelphia, McDavid told reporters: “We’re trying to find our identity… again.” That search used to be led by voices such as Perry, who famously made rookies do “bag skate” extras after bad losses, or Brown, who kept a running tab of team mistakes on the white board. Those micro-cultures matter when the calendar turns to March and every point feels like a playoff game. Right now the alternate-captain patch belongs to Darnell Nurse, a warrior but not yet the vocal presence his predecessor was.

Cap crunch or choice? Why the Oilers rolled the dice

Edmonton entered the summer with $8.4 million in projected space once bonus overages were factored. Re-signing Perry (who took $1.1 M from Los Angeles) or Brown ($1.05 M in Vancouver) was financially feasible, but Bowman doubled down on internal growth, choosing instead an eight-year, $32 M bet on Trent Frederic—currently stuck on one assist. The decision looks worse when you consider the flat cap environment: veteran specialists are taking discounts everywhere, and the Oilers still have $3.7 M in deadline space they elected not to use in October.

Trade winds: realistic fixes before the clock strikes 12

The good news? December is the new February; most contenders wait until the stretch to pry loose rentals. Edmonton has been linked to three names:

• Tyler Bertuzzi (Blackhawks) – 49 % expected-goals, plays left or right, cup-final experience.
• Adam Henrique (Ducks) – win-faceoffs, kills penalties, can still score 20.
• Jordan Eberle (Kraken) – sentimental favorite, still a 55-point driver who thinks the game like a vet.

Any of the trio would cost a second-round pick plus a B-level prospect—palatable for a club that owns all its draft capital through 2027. The risk is waiting too long; the Pacific Division is tighter than usual, and the loser-point cushion the Oilers enjoyed last year is already gone.

What it means for the 2025-26 playoff race

History says McDavid and Draisaitl will drag this roster into the dance—the Oilers have made the post-season every full year since 2017—but seeding matters. A wild-card berth likely means a first-round collision with Vegas or Dallas, two teams built to suffocate one-line offenses. If Edmonton wants to return to the final, it needs the forward depth that propelled them past Florida in 2025. That means either the kids grow up overnight, or Bowman swallows pride and acquires a veteran who still remembers how to stand on the goalie’s toes and smile while the puck goes in.

The next 20 games will decide which path defines the season. For a franchise that knows slow starts all too well, the difference this time is the safety net has already left the building.