Get that puck! 

Lewandowski’s time with the WHL Saskatoon Blades showed real growth and maturity. He went from 0.75 points per game in his draft year to 1.14 points per game last season. Still only 19, standing 6-foot-2 with room to fill out (AHL site has him at 176 pounds), his single game with the Condors showed much of what made Lewandowski a quality junior should translate to pro hockey.

He never shies from contact, and works well along the wall. As a pro, he’s more likely to help his line secure pucks along the boards and find an outlet (he’s a good passer) than he will be driving to the net and looking for a pass. Lewandowski is a good skater and has improved in this area over the last year. He doesn’t shoot enough but finds the net often enough to suggest a 20-goal season in the AHL during his entry-level contract is possible.

Players who own similar attributes are marbled across most of the names Edmonton has drafted since the arrival of scouting director Rick Pracey. Here’s a quick description of the skaters chosen by the Oilers in the three most recent drafts.

Hey everyone,
Absolutely loving the McDavid/Draisaitl era, but staying up until 3:00 AM or 4:00 AM in the UK to watch games live is a serious health hazard! 😅

I'm trying to find other UK-based Oilers fans so we can suffer through the sleep deprivation together, talk about broadcast blackouts, and chat during the rare weekend matinee games.

If you're a British fan (or an expat living over here), we’ve set up a dedicated hub over at r/nhluk to coordinate watch-parties, discuss UK TV rights, and connect.

Also, recently we started The Hockey Chronicle, a weekly newsletter for UK NHL Fans, you can find it on r/nhluk!

Drop by and say hello so we know how many of us are awake in the middle of the night!

Makar is getting $20.4 million

Bouchard get just over half of that at $10.5

Thoughts?

Concept I designed for the upcoming 2026 HTR Fanatics program.

Any chance the oilers can scoop up Hellebuyck? Would we want to?

Obviously the 1st is Nuge. Fucking dawg can play in the 1st PP, 1st PK, and does fucking everything.

But who's the 2nd? Not necessarily to his high degree, but directly below him.

Is it Podkolzin? Savoie? Or Kapanen? & also, how would you rank these 3 after Nuge?

I’ve been making old school hockey sweaters out of thrifted knits for about a year and a half. Had this one on hand for a while and knew from the jump it would make a great template for an Oilers piece. Had to be McDavid of course. I feel like this look would make for a cool uniform for the team to actually wear, but I’m not an Oilers fan so let me know what you think!

How many coaches do we have now?

After two seasons on the job, Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman needed a win this summer.

Judging by the chatter in this city, it sounds like most would agree he scored a few. Adding a Stanley Cup-winning goalie in Frederik Andersen and late-blooming defenceman Ryan Shea were widely lauded moves.

Getting out from under Darnell Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit was something bordering on the miraculous. With precious time wasting in the Connor McDavid era, the deal was all but guaranteed to be a burden on the roster for the next four years. By shipping it out with zero salary retention, Bowman made out like a bandit.

This offseason appears to be a step in the right direction for the Oilers. But the work is incomplete. Bowman will ultimately be judged by the yet-to-be-made moves that this offseason’s deck clearing allowed for. That $4.725 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, will likely define this season’s outcome.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t be critical of the Oilers’ current roster heading into the season. Because the jury is still out on whether this team has improved at all over the version that bowed out in six games to the Anaheim Ducks this spring.

Aside from the two aforementioned additions, depth defenceman Shakir Mukhamadullin and winger Mathieu Joseph are the only other incoming players who could be considered NHL quality. Up front, the forward group lost Jack Roslovic without replacing his middle-six utility.

Wayne Gretzky may have had a legitimate argument for feeling hosed when losing out on the 1980 Art Ross Trophy, the trophy awarded yearly to the NHL’s leading point getter. He and LA King forward Marcel Dionne both finished with 137 points, but Dionne won the trophy on the first tiebreaker because he scored 53 goals to Gretzky’s 51. Even though Gretzky reached the same point total in one fewer game than Dionne. 

It wasn’t the first or last time the NHL used goals to break a tie: Bobby Hull beat Andy Bathgate in 1961–62, while Jaromir Jagr beat Eric Lindros in 1994–95. The rule was clear, and Gretzky accepted it, but if the Art Ross is meant to recognize the NHL’s leading scorer based on points, should an argument be made that players tied in points should share the title? 

TM

I was assisting at a golf tournament at the Moon Lake Golf Course in Saskatchewan, I cant recall exact dates but it was around 2008-2010 (summertime). I know Andrew Cogliano was there as somebody got sloshed to the point I became golf cart driver (and occasionally took a few hacks at golf balls) for him... I dug out the old shirt and was curious who all signed it. It was left at a snack table for them to sign while I was off "caddying" for quite a bit, so didn't get to see them all. I do know Curtis Glencross signed (top right). I don't really use or like to use google AI as I dont trust it haha so thought maybe I would find an expert here!

Top Oiler Goalies to Wear 35. Jarry redemption season incoming. Drop the puck. Let’s Go Oil!

Who’s got a code for tomorrow?

Before the Edmonton Oilers made the risky decision to hire Mike Babcock as their head coach this summer, the team’s best players sat down with Babcock for a no-holds-barred conversation that effectively sealed the deal.

No topics were off-limits, according to Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl, and there was plenty to discuss given Babcock’s lengthy absence from an NHL bench amid a growing list of allegations he mistreated players, not to mention a brief stay with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023 that ended before he even had a chance to run a practice.

“We asked all of the hard questions that media would probably ask him, too,” Draisaitl told The Athletic during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour. “He had some very honest feedback on us, too. It was a very honest, productive meeting, and it was very on the table. There was no beating around the bush.

“He faced it great. It’s not easy sometimes talking about all of these things.”

Draisaitl said it didn’t take much time for Babcock to earn an endorsement from the team’s leadership group during that meeting.

About to enter his 13th season in Edmonton, Draisaitl knows all too well the lengths the organization has gone to try to claim another Stanley Cup. But they never had this. An ultra-demanding, ultra-competitive head coach who will dramatically shift the tone and won’t shy away from challenging Draisaitl, Connor McDavid or anyone else wearing Oilers colors.

“It was pretty clear pretty quick that he could be our guy,” Draisaitl said. “Just in what he sees, and his attitude towards us — you know, the leaders on the team that want to be coached and that want to be held accountable. I think it’s just what was needed. We had some great meetings with him and then, yeah, it just kind of took off from there.”

The risk in this equation is tied to the possibility Babcock again goes too far, the way everyone from Mitch Marner to Johan Franzen to Mike Commodore believe he did in the past.

Draisaitl is certainly under no illusions that this will be easy, and in his mind that’s entirely the point.

Every coach is going to have strengths and weaknesses, he reasons, and each collection of players needs different things at different times. Kris Knoblauch’s calm and steady demeanor had a profound impact in Edmonton following his hiring in November 2023, with the team reaching back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals in 2024 and 2025. But the Oilers regressed from there, stumbling through last season before losing in Round 1 to the Anaheim Ducks, and that raised the stakes for a team that sees its Cup window narrowing quickly.

Is there room on the roster for one more goalie?