So far, the Edmonton Oilers have had a rocky start to the 2025-26 National Hockey League season, currently holding a 6-4-3 record in 13 games played and have seen some big highs and deep lows. Most of the season so far the Oilers have been outside of the playoff picture but currently sit second in the Pacific Division.
There have been struggles throughout the lineup at various times and the team seems to be struggling with meshing the entire roster. This is an understandable problem given the vast turnover -- especially up front -- throughout the lineup but is something that should hopefully correct itself by the quarter or midway point of the season.
The Oilers said goodbye to veterans such as; Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Evander Kane, Viktor Arvidsson, and Jeff Skinner over the summer. They have replaced them largely with rookies and a few new faces in Andrew Mangiapane and Jack Roslovic.
This seems to have created some disruption in the Oilers chemistry to start the year but how bad has it been?
Forwards have struggled to produce
The main story plaguing the Oilers performances so far this year is the team's struggles to produce offence at even strength. Despite having arguably the most lethal one-two punch in the game with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the club at times cannot beg for goals.
Although this appears to be trending up in recent games, this problem has plagued just about every line and nearly ever player not named Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers top rookies have started the season slow, struggling to produce in their own right. Both Isaac Howard and Matt Savoie combining for five points (three goals, two assists) in a combined 25 games. Howard was even made a healthy scratch earlier on this year for one game.
These struggles have resulted in the Oilers 5-on-5 goals for per 60 ranking 25th across the entire league, which is in line with their corsi for which ranks 24th and expected goals for, ranking 26th (according to evolving-hockey.com). Last year, these were both in the top-five rankings league wide.
Looking deeper at the breakdown by the team's forward lines, it makes sense that the team is struggling to generate offence. Using moneypuck.com, you can see that the Oilers recent line combinations have struggled to break even using expected goals with none of them hitting even a 50 percent in xGF percentage.
On the brightside, these lines are above 50 percent when it comes to corsi for percentage. This means that when these lines are playing, the Oilers are getting outchanced but they are at least outshooting their opponents. xGF can sometimes be a lagging statistic where eventually it rises if the CF percentage is higher, but that is not a guarantee.
How the Oilers can improve
One of the easiest ways the Oilers should improve is through the return of top line forward, Zach Hyman. They are certainly missing the injured Hyman, who has been on the long term injured reserve list all season up to this point. However, he is expected to return soon and should have a positive impact when he hits the ice again.
Zooming out, the Oilers can improve their offensive output this year by simply getting more shots and scoring chances on goal. Given their ranking is in the bottom-third of the league, it is clear that a team with the firepower that they possess should be scoring more but they should also be getting more chances.
This is a major drop from last year and is something that is expected to improve or should be anyways. The team has too much talent for it not to unless it is a systemic issue based around the system they are running. The club did make changes behind the bench during the off season but with head coach Kris Knoblauch retaining his job -- even signing an extension -- it should not have changed this drastically.
If this problem persists it will be a bigger issue but for now, the offensive dip can likely be chalked up to some rust, injuries, and lack of established chemistry and cohesion throughout the roster.