Year after year, September brings its own traditions with it in Alberta's capital city. The kids head back to school, the weather cools and the sun goes down a little earlier each night, and the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers get their pre-season going.
We're almost into hockey season again and starting this week, important or notable events on the early season calendar will begin to occur.
Rookie Camp
On September 11th, the Oilers rookie camp will get rolling. The new batch of prospects gets a five day head start on the rest of the team, and even if the Oilers prospect group isn't highly regarded, you never know when a diamond can show up in the rough.
Most of the names from the Oilers Development Camp will be on the ice at Rogers Place, each of them hoping to find a way to crack the pro roster. Quinn Hutson will be one of several names to watch out for.
Main Camp
The main camp will begin on September 16th, with medicals and physicals occurring at that time. Under the updated preseason rules, as laid out in the collective bargaining agreement, there are tighter caps on the number of practices and games played.
Preseason Game 1 will see the Oilers playing the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place. Three days later, they'll meet again in Winnipeg's Canada Life Centre. After that, the Oilers will fly to the coast, meeting the Vancouver Canucks on September 24th, before closing out the preseason at home on September 26th versus the Calgary Flames.
Opening Night
The season will begin in earnest on September 29th. The Oilers start off with a two game set versus the Canucks. Game 1 is at home and Game 2 will be on the road in Vancouver.
The Canucks are surely due for some positive regression after a dismal 2025-26 season, but these should be two very winnable games for Connor McDavid and crew. Capturing four standings points before some teams will have played their first game of the season would be a great sign of things to come for the notoriously slow-starting Oilers.
From there forward into October and beyond, Oiler fans will see if new head coach Mike Babcock can push this year's version of the Oilers to higher heights than his predecessor Kris Knoblauch. The clock will begin running on McDavid's two year contract, and everyone involved is going to feel the pressure to win. Whichever way things go this fall, it's always great to have NHL hockey back.
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