After the Edmonton Oilers wasted a season-opening, record-setting performance from Evan Bouchard in the unmitigated disaster against the Vancouver Canucks, it’s already time to make changes.

What goes on in net is its own can of worms, and while the first game of the year largely rests at the feet of Tristan Jarry, Mike Babcock’s deployment of the forward group, specifically up the middle of the ice, can be improved upon to give whoever is between the pipes more support.

How are early-season injuries impacting the Oilers’ roster depth?

One of, if not the only, benefits of an early playoff exit is supposed to be having a fully healthy and refreshed team when the following season rolls around. This has been anything but the case to begin the 2026-27 campaign, with news breaking in late August that Matt Savoie, Frederik Andersen, Alec Regula, and Mattias Janmark would miss time. Whether you have Janmark and Regula pencilled into your armchair GM lineup or on the outside looking in, that is a significant chunk of the team. In the last few days, news has broken that both Jason Dickinson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are on the mend as well, making that around 20% of the roster injured.........

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