- Daily Faceoff’s 2026-27 Oilers preview says last season’s 93 points and first-round exit left the team out of excuses
- Mike Babcock inherits a top-heavy roster, an unsettled crease and a captain two years from free agency
- Read below for the projection, the goaltending mess and where the depth scoring has to come from
Edmonton has run out of room to explain things away.
Daily Faceoff’s Mike Gould published his 2026-27 Oilers preview on Wednesday and did not soften the landing. Two straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final were followed by a 93-point season and a six-game first-round loss to the Ducks, and Gould’s verdict is that the Oilers are out of excuses.
Leon Draisaitl said something close to that himself when the season ended. Asked about the direction of the team in his end-of-year media availability, he skipped the diplomacy:
“I am concerned because we’re not trending in the right direction. We’ve taken big steps backwards.”
Offense is not the worry. Connor McDavid finished with 138 points, Draisaitl got to 97 in 65 games around an injury, and Evan Bouchard set a career high with 95 while playing all 82. Edmonton’s 282 goals ranked second in the Western Conference.
Everything behind that slipped. The Oilers allowed the seventh-most goals in the league, killed penalties at 77.8 percent, then surrendered eight goals on 16 Anaheim power plays in the playoffs.
Stan Bowman spent his summer on the back end. Darnell Nurse went to San Jose with four years and a $9.25 million cap hit still attached, Ryan Shea signed a five-year deal on the same July 1, and Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi arrived to sort out the crease.
Fixing it on time is the harder part. Andersen will miss all of training camp after an offseason training injury, which leaves Tristan Jarry and Levi as the likely opening tandem. Jarry put up a .858 save percentage across his first 19 games in Edmonton last year.
Babcock is the other variable, and a loud one. Hired June 23 as the sixth head coach of the McDavid era, he has not won a playoff series since 2013 and has gone one-and-done in his last five tries. Take a look at how his first day in Edmonton went:
McDavid’s own clock sits behind all of it. He signed a two-year extension at a $12.5 million cap hit days before last season, choosing short over long, and it expires after 2027-28.
Gould’s projection has Edmonton in a divisional playoff spot, winning a first-round series and losing in the Western Conference semifinals. He also raised the ceiling: a first division title since 1987 if the new staff gets the two-way version of this team back.
Putting McDavid and Draisaitl on one line is already on the table in Edmonton. Babcock may need that button earlier than he wants.
