<p>For better or worse, the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/edmonton-oilers/line-combinations">Edmonton Oilers</a> have cultivated a reputation over the last few seasons as being extremely slow starters.</p>



<p>Back in 2022-23, the Oilers went 10-10-0 in their first 20 games before finishing with a 50-23-9 record and 109 points. Their 3-9-1 start the following year cost head coach Jay Woodcroft his job; even in 2024-25, under new bench boss Kris Knoblauch, they lost five of their first seven and remained below .500 a week into November. </p>



<p>And through 11 games this year, the Oilers — the reigning Western Conference champions in 2024 and 2025, remember — sit outside the playoff picture with a 5-4-2 record and a dead-even goal differential, having lost to such teams as the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/calgary-flames/line-combinations">Calgary Flames</a>, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/new-york-islanders/line-combinations">New York Islanders</a>, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/detroit-red-wings/line-combinations">Detroit Red Wings</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/seattle-kraken/line-combinations">Seattle Kraken</a> in the opening weeks of the 2025-26 regular season.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="141"></div>



<p>Even with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard in tow, the Oilers have been unable to avoid falling into this trap on a yearly basis. If anything, those three have shared various levels of culpability for the team’s poor performances out of the gate. But each year, without exception, they’ve snapped out of it.</p>



<p>Tuesday’s game against the red-hot <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/utah-mammoth/line-combinations">Utah Mammoth</a> could serve as the ideal litmus test going forward. The Oilers had so many things working against them — they were also debuting <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/edmonton-oilers-unveil-new-alternate-jersey-nhl-2025-26-season">their subpar alternate jerseys</a> — and it didn’t help when Utah took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. But they scored half a dozen of their own after that en route to a 6-3 win, and it wasn’t just their stars driving the bus.</p>



<p>Last year, McDavid and Draisaitl were the only two Oilers with more than 70 points, and they both hit 100. Bouchard was the only other player on the team to score 50, and he finished with 67. This is an extremely top-heavy group, which has allowed the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/florida-panthers/line-combinations">Florida Panthers</a> to beat them with their depth in each of the last two Stanley Cup Finals. And the Oilers <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/oilers-place-zach-hyman-on-ltir-recall-david-tomasek-from-ahl">remain without Zach Hyman</a> as he continues to recover from off-season wrist surgery.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="210"></div>



<p>But on Tuesday, it wasn’t just the Oilers’ offensive stars who began to show more signs of life. Ike Howard, Ty Emberson, and Mattias Ekholm all contributed to a five-goal second period for the home side at Rogers Place, while Stuart Skinner rebounded from an iffy opening frame to stop 13 of 14 the rest of the way for his third victory of the year.</p>



<p>McDavid and Bouchard also helped out plenty, which hasn’t been as much of a foregone conclusion lately as in years’ past. McDavid entered Tuesday’s contest with just one goal in 10 games; Bouchard had just four points and far more defensive miscues than usual over that span. Those two combined for five points against Utah, with Draisaitl — who has been one of the few bright spots early on — adding a goal and an assist of his own.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="144"></div>



<p>The Oilers spent the summer retooling the forward group that helped them win three playoff rounds for the second consecutive year. Faced with salary cap constraints, as well as a desire to reshape an aging and inconsistent cohort of secondary scorers, they cut ties with Corey Perry, Evander Kane, Connor Brown, Jeff Skinner, and Viktor Arvidsson, who combined for 24 goals in the 2025 post-season.</p>



<p>In an ideal world, the Oilers would use Dylan Holloway, Ryan McLeod and Philip Broberg as reinforcements, but for a variety of reasons, those three players are no longer available to them. Instead, their new-look supporting cast includes a pair of rookies in Howard and Matt Savoie, as well as UFA signings Andrew Mangiapane and Jack Roslovic, 2025 trade deadline add Trent Frederic, and Czech League veteran David Tomasek.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="134"></div>



<p>The early returns from this group haven’t been great. Knoblauch clearly has little patience for Howard and Savoie, with both players struggling to generate at 5-on-5 despite being heavily sheltered. Roslovic has been just OK on Draisaitl’s wing. Mangiapane scored in each of his first two games as an Oiler but has just seven shots on goal in nine games since. Frederic has only one point to go along with poor shot and chance metrics. Tomasek is barely playing.</p>



<p>Without much else to rely on in high-leverage situations, Knoblauch has defaulted back to the long-standing crutch leaned on by many Oilers head coaches before him: a McDrai line. Nos. 29 and 97 have spent more time with each other than apart this season, averaging nearly 10 minutes of ice time per game together at 5-on-5 alone. On most teams, the No. 1 defenseman plays far more than anybody else; through October, Bouchard is leading McDavid on a per-game basis by 11 seconds.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="162"></div>



<p>When McDavid signed his new two-year contract with the Oilers earlier this month, he simultaneously extended their competitive runway by a couple seasons while also upping the pressure on them to win <em>right now</em>. But if his new deal created any extra urgency around the team to take that next step forward, it certainly isn’t showing on the ice. The Oilers’ early results have been concerningly pedestrian in every category, marking a considerable departure from their two-way dominance in past seasons. </p>



<p>The Oilers badly need to prove that this October, like the three before it, has been a fluke. They’re not that far out of a playoff spot, although they’d need to do a lot to have a chance at ending their 38-year division title drought. Their November schedule is far from a walk in the park, including dates against Dallas, Colorado, Carolina, Washington, and both Florida teams.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="149"></div>



<p>If any team has proven it can overcome this kind of adversity, it’s the Oilers. But their top players are getting older — Draisaitl turned 30 last week, Ekholm is 35, and McDavid will turn 29 in January — so it truly is now or never. After the truly unparalleled run of fair fortune the Oilers had at the draft in the early 2010s, it’ll go down as one of the all-time failures if they’re unable to complete even one successful championship run with this group.</p>



<p>_____</p>



<p></p><div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="309" data-promotion-id="19111" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div><p></p>




<p>POST SPONSORED BY bet365</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Recently by Mike Gould</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/calgary-flames-embrace-gavin-mckenna-2026-nhl-draft-lottery-dustin-wolf-nazem-kadri-rasmus-andersson">The Calgary Flames need to embrace being a lottery team in 2025-26</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/which-nhl-teams-deserve-gavin-mckenna-most-least-2026-draft-lottery">Which NHL teams deserve Gavin McKenna the most — and the least?</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/everything-on-the-line-new-look-new-york-rangers-2025-26-panarin-contract-future">Everything is on the line for the new-look Rangers in the 2025-26 season</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2025-26-nhl-team-preview-prediction-winnipeg-jets-kyle-connor-hellebuyck-mark-scheifele">2025–26 NHL team preview: Winnipeg Jets</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/anaheim-ducks-sign-jackson-lacombe-eight-years-nine-million">Ducks sign Jackson LaCombe to eight-year contract extension</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2025-26-nhl-team-preview-predictions-seattle-kraken-beniers-kakko-wright-catton">2025–26 NHL team preview: Seattle Kraken</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/calgary-flames-sign-mikael-backlund-two-year-contract-extension">Flames sign captain Mikael Backlund to two-year extension</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/los-angeles-kings-team-preview-2025-26-nhl-season-predictions-breakdown-roster-lineup">2025–26 NHL team preview: Los Angeles Kings</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/winnipeg-jets-captain-adam-lowry-hip-surgery-return-october-november">Jets captain Adam Lowry expected to make season debut by early November</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2025-26-nhl-team-preview-prediction-dallas-stars">2025–26 NHL team preview: Dallas Stars</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ottawa-senators-new-red-alternate-jerseys">Senators unveil new red alternate jerseys for 2025-26 season</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2025-26-nhl-team-preview-prediction-calgary-flames">2025–26 NHL team preview: Calgary Flames</a></li>
</ul>
