August 26, 2026 by Eric Friesen

While a longer-than-usual off-season has surely provided the Edmonton Oilers’ core group with plenty of time to rest and recover, the club will be without four players when training camp opens in three weeks.

The Oilers announced that Matt Savoie, Mattias Janmark, Alec Regula and Frederik Andersen are all expected to miss training camp on Wednesday. This is a tough blow for an Oilers squad looking to have a strong start, following three consecutive seasons where they struggled out of the gate.

After playing in all 82 games as a rookie last season (one of only six players on the team to play in every game), Savoie was a strong candidate to open the 2026-27 campaign on the first line with Connor McDavid. Savoie significantly improved his offensive output after the Olympic break, with 19 points in the final 24 games, including his first career NHL hat trick in the regular season finale against the Vancouver Canucks.

Related: Savoie is starting to find his way

The 22-year-old had just one assist in six playoff games last spring, but considering it was his first post-season experience, his natural skill and offensive instincts suggest he could thrive in a featured role. Per Oilers insider Bob Stauffer, Savoie is dealing with a lower-body injury that could keep him out of action for the first month of the season.

Janmark was limited to just 43 games last season, before undergoing surgery for an undisclosed injury in March that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Though Janmark brings next to nothing offensively, he’s still a solid penalty killer, which might be enough for him to stick in the lineup under new Head Coach Mike Babcock when he’s cleared to play.

Regula has dealt with multiple lower-body injuries in his career, but the club hasn’t provided any details on the type of procedure he had this off-season. With seven NHL defencemen already on the roster, Regula wasn’t expected to make the team out of camp, but he would likely be the first recall from Bakersfield on the back end.

There was plenty of excitement in Edmonton when it was announced late on the first day of the free agency that the Oilers had inked Andersen to a one-year, $1 million with playoff performance bonuses. It’s a rare occurrence when any team has the opportunity to sign the Stanley Cup winning goalie.

However, Oilers fans will now have to wait until at least October to get their first look at Andersen in orange and blue. Prior to injuring his knee in Game 3 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, Andersen was among the contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs, posting a 13-2 record with a 1.89 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and three shutouts in 16 games.

With the Oilers planning to carry three goalies this season, there is no rush for Andersen to get back between the pipes. The 36-year-old netminder has played in 16, 22 and 35 games, respectively, over the past three seasons, so a lighter workload would likely yield the the best results in the spring, especially as the projected starter for the 2027 playoffs.