Through 67 games, the Edmonton Oilers sit third in the Pacific Division with 73 points, two behind the division-leading Anaheim Ducks. They are also third in points percentage, which will become relevant as the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings play the games in hand they have over the Oilers. As it stands right now, the Sharks would need to earn six more points in those four games to overtake Edmonton at the current points pace. The Kings would have to improve overall by winning both of their games in hand and finding two more points in the remaining games to overtake the Oilers. Edmonton would likely have the regulation win tiebreaker over both teams.
Watching the Oilers this season has been nothing short of a struggle. What should be a highly competitive team showing why it is supposedly a Stanley Cup contender has, in practice, done little more than stumble its way through the regular season. This would have been the year to capitalize on a horrifically weak Pacific Division for a good playoff seed while counting on the Central Division to turn into a thunderdome and pave the way to an easy return trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They have done anything but.
As we head into the final month of the regular season, there is not much time remaining for Connor McDavid and his team to figure things out. There may be far too many issues for them to solve to make this season’s playoff run viable.
We wanted to gauge the temperature of fans this week by asking X where Oil Country thinks the Edmonton Oilers will finish in the division seeding.
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Finally raising a division title banner
This would be the perfect season to end a 40-year-long division title drought. The Pacific is concerningly weak, with the division leader having fewer points than teams missing the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. It should have been a runaway win for the Oilers, given how they’ve performed the last few seasons. They could still make it happen, quite easily, actually, given how close they are to the division leader. But there is little confidence from fans, as 16.5% of voters think this team can win the Pacific, third in this week’s poll.
It may be difficult, given a few factors including the remaining strength of schedule placing the Oilers among the more difficult of the teams in this particular battle.
Still stuck in the same positions
For six straight seasons heading into 2025–26, the Oilers finished second or third in the division. This includes five straight second-place finishes from 2019–20 to 2023–24. As it stands right now, this is the most likely outcome, both in the actual standings and according to the voters. This is the runaway winner of this week’s poll, as 49.4% of voters think the Oilers will finish second or third in the Pacific Division.
Given how weak the division is and how almost all teams in the middle of this seeding competition are struggling, ranging around seven to 10 points in their last 10 games, staying put right where the team is seems the most likely.
Wild card could be an option
Placing a close second in this week’s poll is finishing in a wild card spot, earning 18.8% of the votes. Oddly enough, this might be a difficult outcome to achieve. Despite having games in hand as mentioned earlier, the Sharks and Kings would have to play well past their season points percentage to properly overtake the Oilers, who would likely hold the regulation win tiebreaker in the event of a tie.
The Oilers have been hot and cold since the end of the Olympic break, matching the rest of the season in which they’ve been unable to string together a strong streak of play. Despite some positive underlying numbers indicating possible improvement to come since Paul Coffey returned to the bench, it has not led to any sustained higher level of performance yet.
A catastrophe if the Oilers don’t make it
This would be the worst-case scenario. This team, a Stanley Cup favourite, missing the playoffs. Even though it is unlikely, looking at the standings, it is technically possible. Two of the Sharks, Kings, and (less likely) Seattle Kraken would have to make the most of their games in hand to jump the Oilers in the standings, or one of the Nashville Predators or St. Louis Blues to knock them out of a wild card spot if it comes down to that.
Oilers fans have confidence in this team still, as this was the least selected option in this week’s poll. 15.3% of voters think the Oilers will finish outside of the playoff picture.
This would be an outcome that highlights the poor decisions and team composition that have led to the season’s struggles. Weakness in the goaltending position, questionable roster moves, and lack of confidence in coaching decisions all around. All contributing parts to the team’s possible failure this season.
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