PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Jets

The Oilers officially open their 2024-25 NHL regular season against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

Limited tickets are still available for tonight's matchup at EdmontonOilers.com/tickets.

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Jets

EDMONTON, AB – It’s time for the Edmonton Oilers to begin writing Chapter 46 of their long-storied history in the NHL, which includes five Stanley Cups as a franchise and a few more unforgettable runs that will be remembered forever in Oil Country.

Just 104 days removed from their trip to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers—and almost a full calendar year (363 days) since their 2023-24 campaign started off on the wrong skate—the Oilers are ready to wipe the slate clean starting on Wednesday night against the Winnipeg Jets and begin anew with a better start to their regular season.

The Oilers are hoping to channel lessons learned from heartbreak last year by establishing their identity and their game early to set themselves back on course to make the playoffs, and this time, they’ll be trying to bookend a new chapter of Oilers hockey with the right start and the proper ending.

“You learn a lot from that experience, and it’s just something that you live with, you move on from, and you get ready for another journey,” said Zach Hyman, speaking to the media on Tuesday morning at Rogers Place. “It's such a long road to even get to the playoffs, and the playoffs themselves are another really long road.”

“So you just have to be present. You have to enjoy every day. We have the best job in the world. We get to play hockey for a living, and every day is fun in itself and a new adventure. You have to live in the moment and we have a great opportunity to start the season off well.”

The Oilers open their season on Wednesday against the Jets on home ice, aiming to have a better start and utilize their experience last season of falling one victory shy of lifting the Stanley Cup to put themselves in the best position possible to take another run at winning the club's sixth championship.

Edmonton will raise a banner to the rafters tonight as Western Conference Champions for the first time since 2005-06, marking an unforgettable season in Oil Country, but if you asked Connor McDavid about Game 7 in Florida and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP without lifting the Stanley Cup (or watched on Oilers+ in The Drop or in Amazon's 'Faceoff: Inside the NHL' docuseries), he'd tell you that last year is last year.

All that matters is the guys in the locker room dialling it in for Game 1 of 82.

"It's about this year," the captain said. "We've talked a lot about last year and I've answered a lot of questions about it and different things about last year. I've answered all of them and done everything, but we're moving on to this year. It's about this group in here. There are definitely lessons that you learn that we'll take from last year and remember this year. But last year's over and done with and we're starting a new year."

"I think it's definitely a different group; new faces and it's been good, kind of gelling with everybody. But every group is going to kind of form a different identity, and our group is still doing that. But I'm confident in everybody in this room and I'm looking forward to getting it going."

Over the last 20 days and eight pre-season games, those who were part of Edmonton’s trip to the Final last season have worked to get back into a rhythm and find a groove with some new faces, including wingers Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner and Vasily Podkolzin, and defencemen like Ty Emberson and the newly-signed Travis Dermott, who signed a one-year contract following a successful PTO at Training Camp.

Oilers players and coaches are excited to break out of Camp and continue forming a brand-new team identity with a fresh perspective from last year’s experiences and new additions to the lineup this offseason who can help push the Blue & Orange back into a position to win the last game in June.

“It feels like camp's been a while, so it feels like we’re ready to roll and ready to start a brand new year with a bunch of new faces who now feel like they've been part of the team a long time because Camp’s long when you have eight pre-season games,” Hyman said.

“I think you'll find out really quickly as the season goes on what kind of team you have… Going into a new season, you just want to get off to a good start and you want to get a feel for what kind of group you have and what your identity is, but the regular season obviously shows exactly what you know. You need to work on what your team's good at and you want to get out ahead.”

Edmonton’s new quest for the Stanley Cup begins with needing to improve on last season’s 2-9-1 start to the 2023-24 campaign after they dug themselves into a deep hole following defeat to the lowly San Jose Sharks back on Nov. 9, 2023.

The Oilers defeated the Kraken two nights later before Kris Knoblauch took over for Jay Woodcroft behind the bench, serving as the catalyst to his side winning 46 of the next 69 games and setting a new franchise record with a 16-game win streak from December to February – one shy of the all-time record of 17 held by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins.

While it was a major confidence boost for the group to know they have the capabilities to pull themselves back from such a poor start, captain Connor McDavid is adamant that his team doesn’t want to go through what they did in the first 12 games of the '23-24 regular season.

“Well, we certainly don't want to put ourselves into the same spot as last year, but all while knowing that you can maybe dig yourself out of a hole if there is a bad start,” McDavid said.

“I think there's that confidence in the group, but that being said, we don't want to go through that again. Just like every team around the league, everybody wants to get off to a good start. It's important and we're looking to do that as well.”

In addition to preparing to start stronger, the Oilers also have to be prepared to receive every opponent’s best game this season as a Stanley Cup finalist, reigning Western Conference champions, championship favourites, and the side that boasts stars such as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl – the latter of whom is set to become the NHL's highest-paid player next year after signing an eight-year, $14-million AAV extension that will keep him in an Oilers uniform until 2033.

This is nothing new to the Oilers, along with the club once again being painted as a favourite to win the Stanley Cup. But players like Zach Hyman understand from experience that the League’s too good to make those predictions and it's foolish to place your focus on anything other than the regular season at this point.

“Obviously, we had a tough start, so I think that we can learn from that,” Hyman said. “When you have success, other teams are prepared. When you have two of the best players in the world, nobody's coming in here tip-toeing around. They know that we have a good team and we’ve got to be prepared, because everybody's a good team in this league. There are no bad teams and no easy nights."

For Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, there’s no better way for the Oilers to prepare themselves for the playoffs than by being the measuring stick of the NHL.

“I think it's great,” Knoblauch said. “I think it's good competition for us, and if we're seeing everybody's best, it's only going to bring out the best in us and it's just going to help us down in the long run. Obviously, it'll be a little more difficult each night to win games and move up the standings, but overall, it'll make us a better team and we want to be a better team at the end of the season.”