It is no secret that the Edmonton Oilers have been struggling in new and concerning ways so far this season. Although they are no stranger to slow starts—after all, this team has taken poor starts to the Stanley Cup Final two seasons in a row—this season feels different. In the past, they’ve had some strong underlying numbers indicating things would turn around soon enough. This season, the Oilers do not have that luxury. Poor performance when evaluating both with the eye test and the analytics.
This poor start has turned what was once a sure thing to make the playoffs into a situation in which the Oilers have less than a 50% chance to make the playoffs. Not ideal in the middle of Connor McDavid’s prime after he just took a jaw-dropping discount to give the organization two more years to build a contender around him.
What is at the core of these struggles? The fanbase would generally put the onus of the blame on the goaltending. It’s been the most utilized lightning rod over the last few years. For good reason, the performance in net has severely limited the Oilers’ overall performance, potentially holding them back from lifting the Stanley Cup in at least one of the past two seasons. But for whatever reason, the front office, led by General Manager Stan Bowman, has decided to roll the same tandem back one more time as the team entered the season with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard tending the crease.
As expected, this has not been a strong part of the roster. Although to his credit, Skinner has been approximately average on the season and has stolen a few crucial points in the standings. Calvin Pickard, on the other hand, has had a rough start to 2025–26, and has probably cost at least as many points as Skinner has stolen.
The overall picture, however, may be best summed up by this shot at the Oilers’ goaltending situation during yesterday’s 5–1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
But how does the team feel about the performance early on, particularly in net? Bowman joined Bob Stauffer on OilersNow on Monday to discuss his thoughts on the team, including the goaltending.
A consistently inconsistent start to the season
Bowman opened the interview by answering a question about what he has learned about the team over the first 20 games of the season. And he started by talking about how, despite the team not having shown their best or been able to maintain it in any capacity, they’ve been able to show the resiliency that this group has to scrape together some points.
The focal point of that answer seemed to be the note that the Oilers had yet to find their groove. Even if they start to appear to be turning things around, it does not last. As Bowman noted, they had yet to win more than two games in a row all season, though they have had two three-game losing streaks.
Bowman primarily focuses on that factor, as the Oilers have yet to find their game, despite having a brutal travel schedule to start the season and playing 16 of their first 24 games on the road. Additionally, though he notes that the Oilers have yet to see what a fully healthy roster would be able to do, that is a problem every team deals with.
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An update on Ryan-Nugent-Hopkins
Bowman provided a brief update on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has missed some time due to injury. The longest tenured Oiler did not travel with the team, and according to the general manager, is not expected to join the group during the final week of the road trip.
Although there was no definite timeline, Bowman said, “it’s probably gonna be December” before they can (hopefully) have a fully healthy top end of the roster. We could be missing Nugent-Hopkins for a couple more weeks as of now.
Matthew Savoie earns praise
Matthew Savoie quickly became the top prospect in the Edmonton Oilers organization after being acquired in the 2024 offseason. He only appeared in a couple of NHL games last year, though he had a major developmental year in the AHL, where he took on a role as possibly the most important forward on the Bakersfield Condors.
This year, he graduated full-time to the NHL. Fans and team personnel alike have nothing but good things to say about the rookie forward.
Bowman listed out a few key parts of Savoie’s game that have stood out so far. Beginning with praise for his high-energy, high-tempo game, utilizing his speed to stay involved in the play as well as keep up with McDavid in recent games. Savoie is the type of player who can make things happen even when he does not have the puck. Being able to trust him on the penalty kill is a huge vote of confidence from the organization, clearly valuing what Savoie can do on the ice.
Bowman calls defence “biggest disappointment of the year” so far
We can go around in circles indefinitely, figuring out where to place the blame for the poor start. But Bowman is quick to look at the defence, as he calls out the inconsistent performance from the defenders as the biggest disappointment of this young season. The Oilers’ system relies heavily on a sound defence that can successfully start a rush and break the puck out of the defensive zone. Something that they have not been able to reliably do, whether it be issues gaining possession in the first place or the inability to find a pass when they do.
It seems in the evaluation of the defence that they have been unable to get all of the defensive pairs going at the same time. Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm started poorly, but have since bounced back. Whereas Jake Walman started strong after his return from injury, but has regressed since. Bowman indicates that “we’ve never really had all six going at the same time.”
Bowman truly feels that this is the bigger concern early on. Even though the goaltending gets the most attention, he praises Skinner for having given the team a number of solid starts and good performances, specifying his shutout victory against the New York Rangers and bailing the team out a bit in the win over the Carolina Hurricanes last Saturday.
In his media availabilities and press conferences, Bowman is quick to shrug off criticism of the goaltending and hesitant to indicate a desire to make a change. We do know he is preaching patience in this regard, whether it be waiting for Skinner to finally figure it out or for the right move to make itself available. But is this business of seemingly sitting on his hands leading to another missed opportunity in McDavid and Draisaitl’s prime? If they write off the season waiting for Skinner’s final chance to be the Oilers’ starting goalie, who’s to say what even appears as a possible move later on?
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We all forget the physical and emotional and psychological impact.of playing in 2 consecutive Cup finals. Fans dont realize Oilers players, including Connor are subconsciously holding back their full commitment as the season is draining, especially the travel schedule. Read the research on this. I did. 3 years in a row is no coincidence. Its proof.