Oilers training camp preview: Can Babcock push team over the top?

EDMONTON — So, who exactly are the Edmonton Oilers?

Are they simply an above-average team that went to two Stanley Cup Finals, tripped up last season, and are now poised to resume their spot as a true Cup contender?

Or, must they reclaim a place among the five or six teams we would say have a legitimate Cup shot, as camps open across the National Hockey League? Have they descended below Carolina, Florida, Colorado etc., to the point that the Oilers should no longer be spoken of in the same breath — despite playing more playoff games over the past five seasons than any other NHL club?

Edmonton still has the core of a team that rolled through the West in the springs of ’24 and ’25. It is well-rested with two of the best players in the world, the best power play in hockey, a 95-point defenceman and a beefed-up defensive game with depth additions over the summer.

New head coach Mike Babcock arrives with solid ideas on how to improve on the razor-thin shortfalls that stood between Edmonton and two Stanley Cup victories. But will those solid ideas be overcome by Babcock’s historic shenanigans?

Will Babcock celebrate New Year’s as the Oilers coach? Or on the unemployment line?

While there are fan bases across the NHL that would trade their roster for Edmonton’s in a heartbeat, until they see a Stanley Cup parade down Jasper Ave., folks will doubt the Oilers’ ability to finish the job. And that is fair.

But we’d predict that a rested, hungry, and still (mostly) in its prime Oilers lineup will reclaim its spot among the elite teams this season. And if a team that’s done what this team has done over the past three seasons can’t be considered a true Stanley Cup contender, then perhaps the bar should be reset.

Salary cap space: $1,078,334

Head coach: Mike Babcock

Assistant coaches: D.J. Smith, Paul McFarland

Key additions: Frederik Anderson, Devon Levi, Alex Formenton, Mathieu Joseph, Ryan Shea, Shakir Mukhamadullin.

Key subtractions: Darnell Nurse, Adam Henrique, Jack Roslovic, Connor Ingram, Curtis Lazar, Calvin Pickard.

Is the roster set already?

As with any veteran team at this point in their arc of contention, this roster is dominated by players who have spots nailed down.

The Top 6 group is established, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Vasily Podkolzin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and whoever gets the chance to fill in for an injured Matt Savoie. So we’ll learn if Ike Howard can nab a spot on the second line or if Babcock leans on a veteran like Kasperi Kapanen — but not much more.

The bottom six is well stocked with NHL experience, if not particularly sexy, a group from which Babcock will try to form the foundation to hand more responsibility to than previous Oilers coaches. That has been his stated goal.

The bottom six starts with a trusty 3C in Jason Dickinson, a young Josh Samanski at 4C, and a group of wingers like Kapanen, Trent Frederic, the controversial Alex Formenton, Colton Dach, Max Jones, Mathieu Joseph and Eduards Tralmaks, whose skills vary. Whether the injured veteran Mattias Janmarks plays again is up in the air.

Is goaltending still an issue in Edmonton?

Signing Frederik Andersen, then third-stringer Devon Levi, was supposed to give Edmonton a three-goalie system. Then, predictably, Andersen got hurt, and it’s up to Tristan Jarry and Levi to carry the ball.

With a limited four-game pre-season, we’re not sure how much we’ll learn about Jarry’s ability to be a No. 1, or the level to which Levi will challenge him. But both of those things need to happen while the Oilers wait for Andersen to return.

Jarry’s career fell off a cliff last season upon joining Edmonton, and he knows it.

He’s worked all summer long with that in mind, and is looking to show the critics that losing the starting job to Connor Ingram last season was a one-off. Let’s see if it was.

The McDavid-Draisaitl carousel keeps spinning.

Listening to McDavid and Draisaitl in the lead-up to the season, there is an implied belief that the line-juggling will lessen this season.

That means we’ll either get a huge dose of the “Nuclear Option” in Edmonton, or it will be a strategy dispensed sparingly, when the team needs a boost late in the game.

Preseason may give us a hint on that. Or it may not — let’s see what the new coach does.

The last time the Oilers won their Division in the regular season, their captain wore No. 99, not 97. It was the Smythe Division, not the Pacific.

We predict that, for the first time since the 1986-87 season, Edmonton will win its Division in the regular season.

They’re rested, healthy, hungry, and with a new coach whose mandate is to do things differently, they will be far more focused than they were a season ago. Add in the fact that the Pacific will be the worst Division in the NHL again this season, Edmonton has handled Vegas in the regular season for five years now — they’re 13-5-1 versus VGK in that span — and we predict a first-place finish for the first time in 40 years.

(Injured — Frederik Andersen)

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