It’s a good thing that preseason results don’t count towards anything in the NHL, because the last two weeks were quite ugly for the Edmonton Oilers. They were beaten 4-1 by the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday (Oct. 4) to finish the 2024-25 NHL preseason with three wins and five losses. As subpar as that record is, it actually is flattering to the Oilers.
Over their eight games, the Oilers scored just 19 times and allowed a league-worst 36 goals. Edmonton’s goal differential of minus-17 is the third worst in a single NHL preseason during the salary cap era.
All five of the Oilers’ losses came by at least three goals, and they gave up six goals on four occasions, including twice on the same night, when they suffered split-squad losses of 6-1 and 6-3 to the provincial rival Calgary Flames on Sept. 23. Meanwhile, all three of Edmonton’s victories were decided by a single goal, and the Oilers won just once in regulation.
Struggles Started at Young Stars Classic
Results-wise, this has been a dreadful stretch for the Oilers, going back to their rookie camp last month. At the Young Stars Classic, an annual exhibition tournament in Penticton, B.C., that features teams of prospects from the Oilers, Canucks, Flames and Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton’s squad went 0-3-0 while managing to score just once over three games.
Related: 5 Oilers Prospects Who Made Impression at 2024 Young Stars Classic
In the 2024 Young Stars Classic and NHL preseason combined, Edmonton’s teams won just three of 11 games and were outscored by a total of 43-20.
Remembering What the Preseason Is Really for
But as stated, wins and losses at this time of year don’t matter. The purposes of the preseason are for coaches to assess players and build the lineup, and for players to get ready for the season and develop chemistry with new teammates.
In those respects, it’s hard to say yet whether this preseason was successful for the Oilers. While Edmonton has a couple of open roster spots at forward and defence, none of the players on the bubble really stepped up to secure their place in the lineup. By the end of the preseason, the Oilers couldn’t have felt too confident that they’d found the pieces to address the needs in their lineup. Fans are still waiting to find out who made the cut and will be in the lineup for Edmonton’s 2024-25 season-opening game against the Jets at Rogers Place on Wednesday (Oct. 9).
Most of the key players in Oilers training camp arrived with little rust and even less rest. Because of Edmonton’s lengthy run in the 2024 playoffs, making it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, there was a break of less than three months between Edmonton’s last postseason contest and first preseason game.
About three-quarters of the Oilers that will be in uniform when Edmonton opens its 2024-25 schedule against the Jets on Oct. 9 are players that were part of the team’s 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff lineup.
The two biggest offseason additions, forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner, got to play three games with Leon Draisaitl on Edmonton’s new second line. The potentially explosive trio is very much a work in progress.
Preseason Doesn’t Necessarily Predict Regular Season
Oilers fans might be a little hypersensitive about the team’s lackluster preseason, considering how poorly Edmonton started in 2023-24. Edmonton was 5-12-1 and 10 points back of a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving last November, so any sign that the Oilers could stumble out of the gates again this season is going to cause concern.
With that in mind, it bears examining whether a team’s preseason performance is indicative of how it will do during the regular season and beyond.
Looking at recent seasons, teams that went on to win the Stanley Cup posted records around .500 in the preseason. The Florida Panthers were 4-4-0 in 2023-24, the Vegas Golden Knights were 4-2-1 in 2022-23, and the Colorado Avalanche were 2-4-0 in 2021-22.
Meanwhile, teams that finished with the most points in the preseason had mixed results in the months that followed. Edmonton advanced to the Western Conference Final in 2022, the Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the postseason in 2023, and the New Jersey Devils failed to qualify for the playoffs last season.
In conclusion, championships are not won and lost in September. For the 2024-25 edition of the Oilers, that’s a very good thing.
