Welcome to my annual preview series of the opponent where I will go to division, looking at how the Vancouver Canucks Match against the teams with which they are confronted during the regular season.
Related: More Canouct season Prespusus -Hetful
After we looked at the first opponent of the season, the Calgary Flames, we will continue this series with another rival of the Pacific Division, the Edmonton Oilers.
Edmonton Oilers
- 2024-25 Record: 48-29-5 (101 points, third in Pacific Division, eliminated in the Stanley Cup final by the Florida Panthers)
- Remarkable additions: Ike Howard, Curtis Lazar, Andrew Mangiapane, David Tomaseek
- Remarkable losses: Viktor Arvidsson, Corey Perry, Connor Brown
- 2024-25 Season Series: 1-2-0
- Record of all time: 114-123-19-16
The oilers came all the way to the Stanley Cup final last season, but were short of the second consecutive year. They were eliminated by the Florida Panthers and enter the 2025-26 season as a bridesmaid and not the bride again. They lost a number of important foot soldiers in the low season in the timeless Corey Perry and Utility Vooruit Connor Brown, so it will be interesting to see if their new additions will have a similar impact or flames such as Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner. They also still have questions in the fold and of course the current drama of Connor McDavid’s future in the Olieland.
Anyway, the Canucks will have their hands full in all four games they play against the oilers this season, so let’s see how they match.
How do the canucks match?
Forward: Oilers
The Canucks will always lag behind the forward department as long as McDavid and Draisaitl Oilers colors. With the one-two punch of two superstar centers, the Canucks just don’t have the horses they match this season. They came close in 2023-24 when they had JT Miller, Elias Pettersson and Elias Lindholm in the middle, but the first is in New York and the last one is now in Boston, so they are unpleasant in that department on their way to 2025-26.
Regarding the rest of the forward group, the Canucks are well matched, but if Nugent-Hopkins center the third line instead of standing together with McDavid on the top rule, Aatu Raty/Teddy Blueger is not long not the caliber of centers he is, so they would also fall back on it.
In short, it is the central depth of the Canucks, which means they lose this battle, because when it comes to Wingers, they demonstrably have the better harvest of proven NHLers. Ike Howard and Matthew Savoie, who are expected to play in the top six, are both rookies and have a combination of five games (all recorded by Savoie), while former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin has not yet cracked 20 goals in the competition. The Canucks, on the other hand, have a 40-target scorer in Brock Boeser and 20-25 goal scorers in Evander Kane, Jake Debransk and Conor Garland.
The Bottom-Six is pretty much a wash with a mashup of good, physical utility wing players in Trent Frederic and Kiefer Sherwood, versatile goalkeeper who in the past have shown the offensive potential in Andrew Mangiapane and Nils Hollander, and fast fine murderers. The only thing that separates these forward groups is the presence of star centers McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Oilers. Otherwise they are even pretty.
Defense: Canucks
The Canucks and Oilers both have a mobile defense corps able to move the puck and set up points. They also have two of the best offensive defenders in the NHL in Quinn Hughes and Evan Bouchard. Hughes is perhaps the better about the two when it comes to defensive play and decision -making, but when it comes to offense, they are right in how much pain they can cause an opponent.
Related: Canucks News & Rumors: Pettersson, Hughes, Prospects Showcase & More
In addition to them, both teams have different two -way options that they can turn for, including their partners Filip Hronek and Mattias Ekholm/Jake Walman. They complement each other well and can also produce, with all three placing 30-plus points last season. All in all, the defense corps is pretty the same, but what the Canucks places exaggerated is the presence of Hughes. Although Bouchard is absolutely offensive, his defense often leaves much to be desired, and that sometimes costs his team wins. Hughes is one of, if not the best, two -way defenders in the competition, and that places the Canucks ahead in this matchup.
Goal tending: Canucks
Although Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have been in the fold for the last two performances of the oilers in the Stanley Cup final, the team has demonstrably achieved it despite them, not because of them. Skinner has difficulty retaining even average figures in the course of his career in the late season, with an overwhelming 2.88 goals against average (gaa) and a .893 Save percentage (SV%) in 50 starts, while he is drawn several times for Pickard. Pickard, although in a much smaller sample size, it is not done much better with a 2.72 GAA EN .892 SV% in nine starts, including seven in the play -offs of 2025.
Even in the past two regular seasons, Skinner and Pickard did not deliver elite objectives for the oilers, which encourages many articles and podcasts to discuss the need for an upgrade. Skinner was particularly mediocre last season with a Sub-900 SV% and a career-high 2.81 GAA. He also posted a career-high 12 really bad starts (RBS) and fell in the negative in goals that was stored above the average (GSAA) on min-5.3.
The Canucks, on the other hand, probably have One of the best one-two punches In the NHL with Demko and Lankinen, the net anchor. Yes, Demko has struggled with injuries, but at the best he is with people like Connor Hellebuyck for the top goalkeeper in the competition. As far as Lankinen is concerned, he has always been a solid backup, but he brought it to another level last season when he held the fort more than when Demko was sidelined. With both healthy and ready to go before the start of the season, the Canucks have a considerable advantage over the oilers when it comes to goal congregation.
Seasonal series schedule
- October 11 @ Oilers
- October 26 vs. Oilers
- January 17 vs. Oilers
- April 16 @ Oilers
That is a wrap on the latest preview of the opponent of Canucks of the low season. Then, the Vegas Golden Knights, who will probably fight for the first place in the division with the oilers.
#Canucks #Opponent #Preview #Edmonton #Oilers #Hockey #Writers #Vancouver #Canucks #latest #news #analysis