Chicago’s sojourn through Canada continues this weekend as the Blackhawks face off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
It’s a similar Cup-or-bust season for the Oilers, who lost in six games to the Florida Panthers in last summer’s after losing in seven games to the same Panthers in 2024. With Sasha Barkov out for the season in Sunrise, though, the possibility of Edmonton finally summiting the top of the hockey world seems more real than ever. And it’s largely the same group running it back in Edmonton this season. A few veterans (Evander Kane, Corey Perry and Viktor Arvidsson) are gone with a couple new veterans in their place (Andrew Mangiapane, Jack Roslovic and Kasperi Kapanen) but the heart of this team is still atop its lineup in the names you know by now: McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm.
One potential season-long distraction was put to bed a month ago, when McDavid signed a two-year extension for $25 million (a criminally low $12.5M AAV), keeping him in Edmonton through the summer of 2028 and seemingly giving the current regime three more chances to finally capture a Cup or McDavid’s hunt will continue elsewhere.
Edmonton has had a slow-ish start this season, with a 5-4-3 record after 12 games that has them as part of a three-way tie for third in the Pacific. The regular season matters little for this Oilers side because of its lofty postseason aspirations, although doing enough to ensure a possible Game 7 of the Cup Final would be in their barn isn’t the worst idea in the world — even if that was something in their back pocket last season that went unused after Florida claimed the Cup at home in Game 6.
Edmonton has a trio of depth players on injured reserve and Zach Hyman on long-term injured reserve, although Hyman is inching closer to his season debut after suffering a dislocated wrist during last year’s playoff run. All the big names are here otherwise, so how tall of a task it’ll be for the Blackhawks this evening depends on how hard Edmonton decides to hit the throttle when it takes the ice, because this is a team not too concerned with stockpiling wins in November.
Here was Edmonton’s most recent lineup:
As for the Hawks, Thursday’s start to the road trip was an unpleasant one, with the host Winnipeg Jets handing Chicago a sound 6-3 loss. Mistakes that Chicago may have been able to overcome or play through in prior outings were harshly punished in Winnipeg, allowing that game to get relatively out of hand in a hurry save for a late fake rally from the Hawks.
The lineup will get a little boost with Ilya Mikheyev expected to return after a brief stint on the sidelines with an injury. Jason Dickinson did not participate in the morning skate, which suggests he will not play. Spencer Knight was in the starter’s crease, making him the odds-on favorite to be there when the puck drops. With no line rushes at the morning skate, the lineup for this game is anyone’s guess. But some clues could be offered from this practice lineup on Friday:
Blackhawks are practicing now in Edmonton.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 31, 2025
I don’t see Dickinson on the ice. I do see Mikheyev. Here are the forward lines:
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Donato-Dach-Mikheyev
Slaggert-Foligno-Lafferty pic.twitter.com/GDTGE4PIUc
If the Blackhawks thought Winnipeg had a penchant for capitalizing on their mistakes on Thursday, just wait til they get a load of what happens when McDavid or Draisaitl is given extra time and space to make a play in the offensive zone. Chicago’s youthful lineup suggests those gaffes will continue to happen, but they’ll need to be minimized against this team or the scoreboard will be extremely unkind to them by the end of those 60 minutes. Lessons to be learned, one way or another.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Oilers
44.09% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 54.08% (4th)
43.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 54.39% (3rd)
2.73 (26th) — Goals per game — 3.16 (11th)
3.56 (31st) — Goals against per game — 2.87 (14th)
44.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50.9% (12th)
24.9% (7th) — Power play — 23.7% (12th)
79.3% (14th) — Penalty kill — 78.2% (16th)
(All stats from last season)
How to watch
When: 9 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720