The Edmonton Oilers entered the 2025–26 season with high expectations, a star-studded lineup, and legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations. Yet, the opening months have tested the team’s mental and physical resolve with one of the league’s most demanding and travel-heavy schedules.
While the discourse among fans and analysts has focused on fixable issues like defensive lapses, inconsistent goaltending, chemistry struggles, and inconsistent special teams, one of the biggest, most underestimated factors has been the impact of exhausting travel demands. The Oilers have been battling a “silent opponent” – the brutal geography and timing of their early-season itinerary.
Related: Oilers Need Strong Start to 2025-26 Season
Between a character-testing, seven-game eastern road swing in the opening weeks, another formidable East Coast trip looming in December, and severely limited opportunities for structured practice, the Oilers have been forced to navigate obstacles few teams face so early in a campaign.
They have also played a lot of hockey over the past two seasons, with two Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2024 and 2025, meaning less rest during the offseason. The silver lining, however, is substantial: the second half of the schedule is heavily weighted in the club’s favour, promising more home games, reduced travel, and the vital practice time necessary to fully settle into their rhythm and make a serious playoff push.
A Seven-Game Eastern Road Trip: The True Cost of Endurance
One of the defining stretches of the 2025–26 season to date has been the Oilers’ recent seven-game road trip played exclusively against Eastern Conference opposition. They’ll wrap this trip up on Nov. 22 against two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and bitter rivals Florida Panthers. Not an easy way for the Oilers to end their longest road swing of the season. For a Western Canadian team operating out of the Mountain Time Zone (MT), this is not merely a competitive challenge; it represents a major logistical and physical grind.
Here are a few stats that indicate the extent of the challenge of this road trip:
Time-Zone Changes: The team endured six time-zone changes (moving from MT to Eastern Time – ET – and back) within approximately 14 days.
Late Arrivals: Given the competitive East Coast market and flight availability, most games ended around 10:00 PM ET, meaning post-game flights and subsequent late-night hotel arrivals often happened between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM ET.
Lost Sleep: Consistent sleep cycles were interrupted, leading to a calculated reduction of approximately 15-20 hours of optimal, non-disrupted sleep across the trip, a critical factor in physical and cognitive recovery.
This constant disruption directly impacts the team’s ability to perform. Travel fatigue is a documented phenomenon in sports; it slows down reaction times, diminishes cognitive processing (leading to defensive mistakes or poor decisions with the puck), and makes the legs feel heavy. For a team built on the speed and precision of players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, this lack of energy and focus is a major, yet invisible, disadvantage.
The Oilers have essentially been forced to “learn on the fly,” trying to play their way out of mistakes instead of correcting them with the consistency that only dedicated practice can offer. The extended road trip also severely hampered the coaching staff’s ability to make necessary system tweaks and special-teams adjustments.
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch and his team typically rely on multi-hour, full-ice sessions during homestands to drill fundamental concepts. On the road, they are limited to short video sessions, brief walk-throughs, and morning skates that rarely exceed 30 minutes of intensive work, none of which can replace the systemic reinforcement of a full practice. Knoblauch mentioned after the Oilers’ 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 20 that his team is fragile at the moment. They need to get back to Rogers Place to regroup and recharge for a tough stretch of games ahead.
December Doesn’t Offer Much Relief: The Mileage Adds Up
Just as the Oilers breathed a collective sigh of relief for surviving their longest road trip of the season, the December schedule has yet another gauntlet to run. Four of five games on their December road trip are again situated within the demanding Eastern Time Zone.
The opponents are also in high-profile, pressure-filled markets, adding mental strain to the physical fatigue:
Dec. 13: Toronto Maple Leafs (ET)
Dec. 14: Montreal Canadiens (ET)
Dec. 16: Pittsburgh Penguins (ET)
Dec. 18: Boston Bruins (ET)
This stretch concludes with a final Western test on Dec. 20 against the Minnesota Wild (Central Time), adding one more airport, one more plane ride, and one more late night before the team can finally enjoy an extended stay at home.
By the time the Oilers reach the end of December, rough calculations suggest they will have logged an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 kilometres of air travel (approximately 9,300 to 12,400 miles) – a staggering figure that significantly outpaces the travel demands of most Metropolitan or Eastern Division teams in the first half of the season.
This dense travel schedule is statistically proven to correlate with dips in team shooting percentage, elevated penalty minutes, and increased goals-against averages, making it incredibly difficult for any team to maintain top-tier structure and execution.
Practice Time: The Missing Fundamental for the Oilers
One of the most profound and systemically damaging consequences of the Oilers’ early-season travel has been the near-total collapse of effective, structured practice time. In the NHL, practice is the laboratory where systems are sharpened, chemistry is built, special teams are refined, and mistakes are corrected.
Due to the travel demands, the Oilers have often been limited to:
Bare-bones morning skates (focused on quick puck movement and light stretching).
Optional practices (where many veterans prioritize rest).
Light, non-contact sessions that prevent the high-intensity drilling required for defensive zone coverage and breakout passes.
For a team that relies heavily on quick puck retrieval, coordinated defensive support, and clean, tape-to-tape breakouts, the inability to consistently reinforce these fundamentals on the ice is a major roadblock.
The coaching staff has tacitly acknowledged that the team hasn’t had the necessary on-ice repetitions to correct recurring tactical errors. Furthermore, research consistently shows that fatigued players are statistically 25% to 40% more prone to making unforced errors, a factor that is significantly amplified by constant travel.
A Favourable Second Half of the Season: Stability and Statistical Advantage
The narrative of the Oilers’ season is poised for a dramatic shift. Once the December road stretch concludes, the second half of the 2025–26 schedule offers a dramatically different and far more advantageous landscape. Crucially, the team will not have to travel to the Eastern Conference again for the remainder of the regular season.
This shift delivers several measurable advantages:
Increased Home Games: The Oilers are scheduled for approximately 60% of their remaining games at Rogers Place, one of the most significant statistical indicators of improved performance in the NHL.
Stable Sleep Schedules: Consistent time in the MT zone will allow players to normalize circadian rhythms, improving recovery and overall energy levels.
Reduced Air Mileage: Travel drops significantly, conserving physical energy for games instead of airports.
Practice Time: The most critical gain will be the return of full practice days. This time allows the team to dedicate over 50% more on-ice time to special teams and defensive drills than was possible during the travel-heavy first half.
It should be noted that several key players for the Oilers may not get the rest they need in the second half of the season. McDavid, Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm and possibly Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard could be faced with extra travel and pressure when the Winter Olympics arrive.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics run from Feb. 6-22, and the games will be as intense and exhausting as the Stanley Cup Final. Even though these players are in excellent physical condition, the grind of travelling and the intensity of Olympic hockey that will feature NHLers for the first time since 2016 will no doubt add to the fatigue the Oilers are facing.
Oilers Turnaround Awaits
Historically, the Oilers have demonstrated a capability to thrive in the second half when their schedule lightens. This upcoming stretch is not just an opportunity for a few wins; it represents the structural stability needed for the team to find its rhythm and mount a true surge up the NHL’s Western Conference standings. The improved schedule provides the necessary framework for players to recover, systems to be reinforced, and chemistry to solidify—all the ingredients for a successful playoff push.
The story of the Edmonton Oilers’ first half is ultimately a story of survival against a statistically imposing schedule. The heavy East Coast travel has acted as a perpetual headwind, draining energy, disrupting routines, and limiting the essential practice time required for success in the NHL. However, the toughest chapter of the travel log is drawing to a close.
With a highly favourable schedule in the second half, increased practice opportunities, and long, stabilizing stretches at home, the Oilers are statistically positioned for a significant rebound. If they capitalize on this structural advantage, the team can shed the shackles of travel fatigue, regain their identity as a dominant offensive and quick-strike team, and charge into the playoff race with momentum.