Edmonton Oilers might have the easiest schedule in the NHL next season
The NHL schedule makers seemed to have done the Edmonton Oilers a few favours.
Edmonton noticeably ran out of gas at the end of last season. Two straight Stanley Cup Final runs finally caught up to them, and the team didn’t get any favours with a jam-packed NHL schedule limiting rest throughout last season.
That is a lot to go through for a team, and the Oilers struggled along the way with a disappointing first-round playoff exit ending their season. The silver lining of the early elimination is that Edmonton’s star players will get some more time to recover from what has been an arduous schedule over the past couple of years.
Heading into the 2026-27 season, however, it appears they got some much-needed help from the league’s schedule makers. According to analytics site Hockey Alchemy, the Oilers will enter the season with the easiest schedule in the entire league.
The Maple Leafs have the hardest schedule in the NHL next season š³
Anything else stand out? š¤ pic.twitter.com/9huwr0YdWL
— DraftKings Sports (@DKSports) July 22, 2026
How is this calculated?
So, how did Hockey Alchemy determine the strength of schedule for each team in the NHL? According to its blog post on the subject, these rankings are based on the ELO ratings of each team, which is a stat that boils down a team’s strength into one singular number.
That is done by using a formula that incorporates data from previous seasons, home-ice advantage, and other analytical stats like expected goals-for (xGF).
The rankings then take the average ELO of the opponents on a team’s schedule to create a power ranking. The higher the average, the harder the schedule, while the lower the number, the easier it is.
Edmonton sits with the lowest average ELO of opponents at 1498.3, while the Toronto Maple Leafs have the highest at 1513.5. The NHL average ELO is 1505.
Where do the Oilers’ biggest rivals sit?
The good news for the Oilers is that they sit with the easiest schedule in these rankings; the bad news is that nearly all of their biggest opponents also appear to have easy schedules.
The Anaheim Ducks have the third-easiest schedule with an average opponent ELO of 1498.6, which is just three decimal points higher than the Oilers. The Vegas Golden Knights aren’t far away at 1499, while the upstart San Jose Sharks sit nearby at 1499.2.
Even the Calgary Flames (1500.3), LA Kings (1500.4), Seattle Kraken (1501.3), and Vancouver Canucks (1504) sit in the top half of the league.
These rankings paint a pretty rosy picture for the Pacific Division, meaning that the Oilers will need to take advantage of their schedule every chance they get to keep pace.
Breaking down the Oilers’ schedule
So what makes the Oilers’ schedule so easy compared to the rest of the league?
A big reason for their perceived advantage is that they have a lot of in-division games against teams that are expected to be weaker this upcoming season. All of the Kraken, Canucks, Ducks, and Kings are expected to take at least a little bit of a step back next season, and the Oilers have a combined 20 games against those four this season.
In theory, those games should be a golden opportunity for Edmonton to rack up points. It also helps that the Western Conference is expected to be weaker than the East next season.
The Oilers also only have 11 sets of back-to-back games, which is middle of the pack.