The Edmonton Oilers have had an interesting start to the 2025-26 season, and while they have shown signs of being a championship contender, their inconsistency is becoming concerning as we reach the quarter-point of the season. After their second blowout loss of the season, where they suffered an 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid spoke honest about the team general struggle.
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“It’s very concerning,” Draisaitl said. He continued: “Everything is very worrying though. We’re almost 30 games in and we still don’t seem to know where we stand. I don’t really know what to say. It’s just not good enough at the moment.”
McDavid gave the fans something else to talk about, saying the team was still confident and confident they can turn things around.
“We’re still confident,” McDavid said. He added: “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but there is still an overarching belief that we will figure it out. Obviously it doesn’t look like it right now, but at least I still feel it.”
Draisaitl also defended the Oilers’ goaltending as both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard faced criticism online after a slow start to their campaign, laying the blame on the rest of the team.
“What should they do?” Draisaitl said when asked about the goaltending. He continued: “They’re part of the team too, and I’m sure they would tell you themselves that sometimes they can be better. We don’t always have to leave them out, but there’s only so much they can do. So we give up Class A look after Class A look. You can’t expect a goalkeeper to stop them all and win the game 3-1. It doesn’t work that way.”
Takeaways from their post-match interviews
It is very positive that the leadership group still seems to have full confidence in the rest of the team and believes they can turn things around, similar to how they have done in previous campaigns. The underlying analytics suggest they are wrong and that they need to make changes before they can start winning games, but having confidence is a step in the right direction.
Ultimately, the brutal truth is that the Oilers played like they gave up on Stuart Skinner. They showed him every high-danger scoring opportunity, they didn’t protect the front of the net, and little to no effort was made with their breakaways or backchecks.
This isn’t a complete defense of Skinner, who has been inconsistent this season, but the fact that the team isn’t doing him any favors can’t be ignored.
As for McDavid and Draisaitl’s post-game interviews, it’s always good to see them willing to take responsibility and own up to their lazy play while defending their teammates, because that’s what leaders do.
However, there has to come a point where they stop prioritizing friendships over championships. The fact that they reportedly went to work for Calvin Pickard behind closed doors, who has been one of, if not the worst, goaltenders in the NHL this season, shows that they don’t really care about winning and would rather just have fun off the ice. If that mentality doesn’t change, the Oilers could kiss their Stanley Cup dreams goodbye.
Stay tuned as the 2025-2026 season progresses The hockey writers as your source for news, updates and more from the NHL and the hockey world.
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