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Edmonton Oilers' forward lines are in shambles already

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Oct 1 2026, 8:54 pm
Edmonton Oilers' forward lines are in shambles already
Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images

The Edmonton Oilers’ 2026-27 season could hardly have gotten off to a worse start from an injury standpoint.

A 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday certainly didn’t help, but the bigger concern coming out of Edmonton is the number of bodies the team is already missing.

The Oilers entered the season knowing they would be without Matt Savoie, Mattias Janmark, Alec Regula, and Frederik Andersen due to injuries. Since then, the list has continued to grow.

Jason Dickinson is expected to miss at least the first week of the season after tweaking his ankle during training camp, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was ruled out for roughly two weeks with a lower-body injury ahead of Tuesday’s opener.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that yet another key member of the Oilers’ forward group will miss some time.

Ahead of Thursday’s rematch with the Canucks, head coach Mike Babcock told reporters that Zach Hyman will miss approximately two weeks with an undisclosed injury.

Hyman’s absence is particularly significant for an Oilers team that was already dealing with a lack of forward depth. It was evident in the lines Babcock put together for Thursday’s game.

The second line, in particular, shows just how thin things have become in Edmonton.

Colton Dach, who has 20 points in 87 career NHL games, is slated to centre the Oilers’ second line. On his left wing is Max Jones, who spent large portions of the past two seasons in the AHL.

Babcock is clearly looking to counter the lack of depth by loading up his top line, reuniting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The two superstars should have little trouble generating offence, as they showed plenty of times during Tuesday’s opener.

The bigger question is what happens behind them.

With Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, and Dickinson all unavailable, Edmonton is being forced to rely on players who ordinarily wouldn’t be asked to occupy such prominent roles this early in the season.

McDavid and Draisaitl can only do so much. If the Oilers are going to weather this early-season injury storm, the rest of the lineup will need to find a way to keep the team afloat until reinforcements arrive.

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