PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers to launch new-look group for season opener against Flames

EDMONTON, AB – Back in business with the Battle of Alberta.

The Edmonton Oilers will begin their 2025-26 regular season on Wednesday at Rogers Place against the Calgary Flames, using their revamped lineup that's been tested over a long training camp and preseason to prepare them to start the year strong on home ice with a good performance against their rivals.

With the excitement that's developed over the past 48 hours in Oil Country from the signing of contract extensions for Connor McDavid, Jake Walman and Mattias Ekholm, plus a new young crop of players including forwards Matt Savoie, Isaac Howard and defenceman Alec Regula looking ready to have an impact, fans & players alike are looking forward to the start of a new season with the goal of getting back to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year.

"Obviously, winning would be number one," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Number two, just seeing us have a lot of excitement and a lot of energy coming in. I assume Opening Night, with all the contracts that we signed and all the new players that we've brought in, I don't think that will be an issue – especially in front of our fans."

Forward Matt Savoie will play alongside two reliable forwards in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Andrew Mangiapane to begin the regular season after being one of Edmonton's leading performers throughout training camp and preseason, giving him the chance to impress in a top-six role right out of the gate.

The 21-year-old is also poised to take on a role with the penalty kill in a pairing with Adam Henrique, who's expected to play on the fourth line between Isaac Howard and David Tomasek at even strength – both of whom are set to make their NHL debuts tonight.

"We've relied mostly on the veterans to do that, but with Savoie, I thought he showed a lot of promise in the preseason, and it's something that he did quite well in Bakersfield," Knoblauch said. "He was one of the key penalty-killing forwards in Bakersfield, and we want to give him that role.

"I think from what we've seen, we want somebody who can break up plays, get up ice a little bit, and it's also nice to have a little more threat offensively. You usually don't have much threat on the penalty kill unless you have speed, and Savy gives us some speed."

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, as expected, are set to start the season on the top line with Trent Frederic, with the Dynamic Duo having also taken reps on the penalty kill during the preseason to give Coach Knoblauch even more versatility when it comes to his forward group.

With plenty of options at his disposal, the bench boss believes there's still going to be adjustments when it comes to the systems and figuring out who to throw out on the penalty kill, but it's going to take a team effort and he's comfortable with what he's seen so far from the PK during the preseason.

"It's going to take a while," he said. "It's going to take a while for everyone to get on the same page and read off of each other. We've just recently established pairs for the forwards. We've been mixing those up just with lineups. Who's playing in those exhibition games, who's not, who do we think can do it?"

"We have six penalty kill forwards for tonight. We have other individuals who we think can also do it. But it's going to take a while for everyone to get familiar. We're heading in that direction and it's going to take a complete team effort, whether it's the forwards, the defenceman, or our goaltender making saves. But so far, I like where we're at."

Defenceman Mattias Ekholm will be back alongside Evan Bouchard on the top defensive pairing after signing his three-year contract extension ($4 million AAV) this morning, locking in the Swedish blueliner who's become a critical piece of Edmonton's D corps that continues to grow in strength.

"I think we have all the pieces on the back end to be a really solid group, and we probably have guys on the third pair that should be on a second pair and that's obviously a really good problem to have," Ekholm said. "So I think the world of these guys. We've shown in the last two seasons, too, that we can swing them with the best, so I'm really confident in our whole team. But our defence has been very solid."

Ekholm mentioned that it's been a point of emphasis for the Oilers this season to have a much better start than in previous years, and there's plenty of energy in the locker room after what's been happening around the team in recent days that's driving them even more to hit the ground running.

"You look at the last couple of years, our starts haven't been great, so I think we're all aware of that," EKholm said. "I think we all need to put an emphasis on it, and if I'm being honest, this league is probably the hardest in the first 10 games. Everybody's in it again. Everybody has meaningful games. Everybody feels good about their roster and where they're going, so we have to make sure we bear down and don't think that things are going to come easy or just be handed to us. Everybody's going to want to beat us.

"We won the West last year. Everyone's going to want to get us for that, so we just need to make sure we're on top of our game."

Defencemen Jake Walman, Troy Stecher and centre Curtis Lazar are expected to be the healthy scratches for the Oilers tonight, with Walman taking part in Wednesday's pre-game skate at Rogers Place but being unable to go tonight due to an undisclosed injury from the preseason.

There was good news surrounding winger Zach Hyman, who was on the ice with his teammates for the first time as he continues to work his way back from a wrist injury sustained in last year's Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.

Coach Knoblauch said last week that Hyman isn't expected to join the Oilers on their first road trip of the season, but it's encouraging progress nonetheless to see the 33-year-old winger on the ice on Wednesday and trending toward a return to the lineup before the end of the month of October.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner will make the season-opening start for the Oilers for the second time in his career, having gone 5-2-0 against the Flames with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.

"I think all of us are super eager just to get out there and have the puck drop," he said. "It's been a long lead-up. A little camp before camp, and then a lot of preseason games and just being able to get all that work in to prepare us for tonight. Going into it, I think the way that we've been playing, we've been trying to be at the top of our game right away. We're ready to go."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Calgary below:

Forwards

Draisaitl - McDavid - Frederic
Mangiapane - Nugent-Hopkins - Savoie
Podkolzin - Philp - Kapanen
Howard - Henrique - Tomasek

Defence

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Regula
Kulak - Emberson

Goalies

Skinner
Pickard