In a first-year journalism class, I was tasked with profiling a media organization I might want to work for one day.<\/p>\n
Standing at the front of the lecture hall in front of my fellow students, I gushed about a relatively new outlet called The Athletic, how it produced the best sports journalism and why it was a place I could see myself in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n
By \u201cnot too distant,\u201d I\u2019d have handicapped it at more than five years away, certainly long after I graduated from university. But sometimes life comes at you fast. Indeed, I\u2019ve swapped my home province of Ontario for the \u201cWild Rose Country\u201d of Alberta and joined The Athletic to cover one of the NHL\u2019s most fascinating stories: the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n
Following stops covering the Ottawa Senators and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, I get to cover the team with arguably the most urgent win-now mission in the entire NHL. With a core in its late prime years and a controversial yet accomplished coach brought in to get them over the hump, the Oilers are at an inflection point.<\/p>\n
For readers, that should mean no shortage of stories, analysis and insight from The Athletic.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s both incredibly exciting and a little daunting. This is a team that was on the cusp of Stanley Cup glory in 2024 and 2025, armed with the world\u2019s best player in Connor McDavid and blessed with one of the richest histories of any NHL franchise. I also know how much a winning team matters to this city.<\/p>\n
I consider myself extremely fortunate to now work alongside many of the best sportswriters in the business. I won\u2019t rest in my pursuit to match \u2014 and hopefully elevate \u2014 the excellent standard they\u2019ve set.<\/p>\n
I expect a lot from myself, and my goal is to deliver quality, in-depth storytelling. I want to tell original stories about the players and people around the Oilers organization. Some of my favourite stories centre on unusual pregame rituals, battles against adversity and feel-good triumphs. I also plan to pair that with analysis that situates the small and mundane moments of the season in a bigger context. As a guiding principle, all of my work will be anchored by a commitment to balanced and fair reporting around the biggest stories in Oil Country.<\/p>\n
Covering the Oilers is an incredible opportunity. I do not take it for granted, and I credit my family, friends, colleagues, professors and readers for getting me here. Oilers fans, I can\u2019t wait to get started.<\/p>\n
As an appetizer, here are the storylines I\u2019m most excited to cover in the 2026-27 season:<\/p>\n
McDavid\u2019s two-year clock<\/p>\n
When McDavid put pen to paper on a two-year extension with a below-market-value AAV of $12.5 million last October, the stakes were clearly defined for the Oilers: build a Stanley Cup contender around the world\u2019s best player, or risk the consequences.<\/p>\n
After back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, the last season of McDavid\u2019s previous eight-year pact ended with a whimper. The club majorly regressed in a first-round exit to the upstart Anaheim Ducks, with McDavid going as far as to say the Oilers were \u201can average team all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, entering the first campaign of McDavid\u2019s two-year extension, the Oilers desperately need to get it right this time around. General manager Stan Bowman needn\u2019t worry about his captain, who looks well positioned to match Mario Lemieux for the second-most 100-point seasons in NHL history (10).<\/p>\n
As always, the question is rather whether Bowman has done enough to complement his core of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard. With the additions of Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Frederik Andersen as well as Devon Levi, Ryan Shea and Shakir Mukhamadullin, and full seasons of Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, there\u2019s a strong argument to be made that the Oilers are Pacific Division favourites. (Somehow the Oilers have never won said division, though they have six second-place finishes.)<\/p>\n
Still, everything revolves around the McDavid timeline.<\/p>\n
The Babcock show<\/p>\n
No matter the outcome, head coach Mike Babcock\u2019s every decision will be under the microscope when the games begin. That\u2019s what follows when you hire a bench boss steeped in controversy who has a resume largely built before McDavid even entered the league.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman have all thrown their support behind the 63-year-old Stanley Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist, giving him a full endorsement to shape the team as he sees fit. That comes after Babcock reportedly challenged McDavid and Draisaitl for their role in the Oilers\u2019 failure to get over the hump in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. It will be interesting to see how they respond to Babcock\u2019s hardline approach on the heels of a more even-keeled bench boss in Kris Knoblauch.<\/p>\n
Another question on everyone\u2019s minds: How will Babcock deploy the dynamic duo of McDavid and Draisaitl? Every coach dating back to Todd McLellan has used the nuclear option to some degree at five-on-five, but the strategy wasn\u2019t nearly as effective last season under Knoblauch. The downside to splitting the pair up, as Babcock himself has already noted, is that it often doesn\u2019t allow enough ice time for two top lines. The impetus for acquiring Dickinson at the trade deadline was a desire to ice a capable third line, which could allow for 97 and 29 to share the ice more without worrying about the rest of the lineup losing its minutes.<\/p>\n
Which begs the question: How will Babcock use his depth? The bench boss is known for his strict role definition and emphasis on disciplined, possession-heavy hockey, sometimes to the detriment of offensive creativity. That could stand to benefit some players, perhaps the Colton Dachs and Matt Savoies of the world, but how could it affect the chances of, say, 22-year-old Ike Howard making an offensive mark? Babcock\u2019s early lineup decisions will be fascinating to follow.<\/p>\n
Three-goalie carousel<\/p>\n
One of the more obvious reasons for the Oilers\u2019 step back last season was goaltending. When all was said and done, the team relied on a four-goalie solution of Connor Ingram, Calvin Pickard, Stuart Skinner and Tristan Jarry, with the latter two being swapped in one of the season\u2019s most puzzling trades. Edmonton finished 29th league-wide with an .883 team save percentage, and it didn\u2019t improve much in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Jarry, who struggled with a dreadful .858 save percentage over 19 games, is the only carryover in the revamped crease. Andersen and Levi bring a measure of pedigree that was sorely lacking from last season\u2019s group, but confusion remains over the exact pecking order. The asset cost to acquire Jarry, in addition to his $5.375 million cap hit and history of being a solid No. 1, might make him the favourite among the Oilers\u2019 brass to grab the starter role. That\u2019s despite him losing the job to Ingram down the stretch. Andersen, although the most reliable of the three options, is famously injury-prone and therefore shouldn\u2019t be expected to play more than 35 games, a threshold he reached last campaign with Carolina for the first time in four seasons. Meanwhile, Levi is unproven as an NHL netminder (39 career games) but boasts sparkling numbers over three AHL seasons.<\/p>\n
Literally anything could happen here. With injuries likely on the horizon, all three men have a chance to be the Oilers\u2019 starter on the opening night of the playoffs. Edmonton fans just hope the team finally has a reliable solution in net, something that has remained elusive in the McDavid era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a first-year journalism class, I was tasked with profiling a media organization I might want to work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52,263,271],"class_list":["post-163795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-nhl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}