With the recent signings of Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod, and the announcements of PTOs for Sam Gagner and Brandon Sutter, the Edmonton Oilers’ roster for the 2023–24 season is close to solidified. This upcoming season will be momentous for several Oilers, with milestones in games played, goals, and points on the horizon.
Here’s a look at the major upcoming milestones for the 2023–24 Oilers.
Games played
| Player | Threshold | Remaining |
|---|---|---|
| Pederson | 100 GP | 29 |
| Broberg | 100 GP | 31 |
| Skinner | 100 GP | 36 |
| Holloway | 100 GP | 49 |
| Niemelainen | 100 GP | 57 |
| Desharnais | 100 GP | 64 |
| Bouchard | 200 GP | 16 |
| Campbell | 200 GP | 29 |
| McLeod | 200 GP | 62 |
| Caggiula | 300 GP | 18 |
| Foegele | 400 GP | 51 |
| Janmark | 500 GP | 14 |
| Brown | 500 GP | 52 |
| McDavid | 600 GP | 31 |
| Nurse | 600 GP | 41 |
| Draisaitl | 700 GP | 62 |
| Sutter | 800 GP | 30 |
| Ekholm | 800 GP | 60 |
| Kane | 900 GP | 47 |
- Six players are within striking distance of 100 games played in the NHL. Philip Broberg, Stuart Skinner, Dylan Holloway, and Vincent Desharnais should hit the milestone this season, but Lane Pederson and Markus Niemelainen are not locks to earn a regular roster spot.
- For these Bouchard, Jack Campbell, and Ryan McLeod, hitting 200 GP should not be an issue, assuming they all stay healthy. McLeod will need to hit another career high after 57 GP last season, but he should play an important bottom-six role for the team in 2023–24 and should play every game.
- Just Drake Caggiula is within range of 300 GP, and he’ll have to earn a roster spot for that to happen. He only played four games last year and 18 the year before, so this one might be tougher to achieve than you may expect.
- Warren Foegele should be a fixture in the middle-six, and shouldn’t have an issue playing 51 games to hit 400 career GP as long as he stays healthy. He’s skated in 149 games for the Oilers over the past two seasons for an average of 75 per year.
- Mattias Janmark should easily hit 14 games this year for 500 in his career. The one to watch for 500 GP is Connor Brown hitting 52 after missing almost all of last season with injury.
- Both Darnell Nurse and Connor McDavid should easily hit this milestone. Neither has missed very much time over the last several seasons so playing half the year is all but guaranteed.
- Ditto for Leon Draisaitl hitting 700 GP.
- Sutter is just 30 games away from 800, but he’ll have to turn his PTO into a contract for that to happen. Mattias Ekholm should easily hit 800 GP in his career needing just 60 to hit the milestone.
- Finally, Evander Kane can hit 900 career GP with 47 games this season. He should be a lock to hit that milestone.
Goals
| Player | Threshold | Remaining |
|---|---|---|
| Caggiula | 50 G | 4 |
| Ceci | 50 G | 7 |
| Bouchard | 50 G | 27 |
| Brown | 100 G | 10 |
| Hyman | 150 G | 1 |
| Gagner | 200 G | 8 |
| Nugent-Hopkins | 250 G | 17 |
| Draisaitl | 350 G | 44 |
| McDavid | 350 G | 47 |
| Kane | 350 G | 48 |
- Three players are within striking distance of 50 career goals, and despite all three numbers being very different, I’d peg all as being equally likely to happen. Caggiula has only scored five goals over the past three seasons combined, Cody Ceci averages under five goals per season, and the highest scoring defenceman last year was Erik Karlsson with 25 goals. It’s likely that none of these player hit 50 goals this year, but it’s not unattainable.
- If Brown is able to stay healthy, he should easily hit 100 career goals, especially if he gets reps next to McDavid.
- Zach Hyman is a lock for 150 career goals as he currently sits at 149.
- If Sam Gagner earns a contract and plays a regular role on the fourth line, he could hit 200 career goals, being just eight away.
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a lock to hit 250 goals with just 17 to go.
- All of Draisaitl, McDavid, and Kane are within striking distance of 350 career goals. McDavid and Draisaitl should easily hit the mark with both needing fewer than 50 to get there, but 48 goals is a lot for Kane. His career high is 30, and he’s scored at a 37 goal pace as an Oiler.
Points
| Player | Threshold | Remaining |
|---|---|---|
| Caggiula | 100 P | 9 |
| Bouchard | 100 P | 11 |
| Kulak | 100 P | 16 |
| McLeod | 100 P | 55 |
| Ryan | 200 P | 9 |
| Ceci | 200 P | 14 |
| Janmark | 200 P | 17 |
| Sutter | 300 P | 11 |
| Ekholm | 300 P | 18 |
| Hyman | 400 P | 78 |
| Kane | 600 P | 27 |
| Nugent-Hopkins | 700 P | 68 |
| Draisaitl | 800 P | 56 |
| McDavid | 900 P | 50 |
| Draisaitl | 900 P | 156 |
| McDavid | 1000 P | 150 |
- Caggiula, Bouchard, and Brett Kulak shouldn’t have an issue hitting 100 career points this season. McLeod would have to have a truly outstanding year to achieve 55 points and 100 for his young career.
- Derek Ryan and Janmark should hit 200 career points, both averaging more than what they need as Oilers. Ceci would need to hit his average to get there, but it’s definitely doable.
- If Sutter makes the team, he should hit 11 points and surpass 300 on his career. Ekholm should easily score more than 18 points to hit 300 in his career after putting up 14 points in 21 games with the Oilers after he was acquired.
- Hyman had a career high of 83 points last season so it’s probable that he’ll hit 78 points and surpass the 400 point mark for his career.
- Kane should easily hit 600 points, just 27 away.
- Nugent-Hopkins should also be a lock to hit his milestone of 700 points, after a career year with 104 points in 2022–23.
- Finally, the two Oilers superstars could hit two points milestones this year. Draisaitl is a lock to hit 800 points and despite being 156 points away from 900 in his career, it’s entirely possible. McDavid set a career high of 153 points last year and he’d just have to equal that to pass 900 and 1000 points on his career. Plausible to say the least.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
