On Sunday, the NHL announced the regular season schedule for all 30 teams, weeks earlier than previous years. For the second year in a row, each team will visit every city at least once, all west and east team will play two games against each other, three games against the other division, and a much more games than any Oilers fan would like against the Pacific division.
This year, the Oilers won’t get to start the season against a ton of eastern teams, but also will not be tasked with an insane amount of east coast road games to start the year. In fact, Edmonton will play more than a handful of games at home to start the year.
The Highlights:
*Home Sweet Home: The Oilers will start the season with eight of their first eleven games at home, including opening night against the Flames. In that, the Oilers will have a seven game homestand and three game road trip to go with hosting opening night. The homestand is one of the longest of the season, and will feature teams like Tampa Bay, Washington, Carolina and Montreal.
The Oilers have been very poor on home ice the last few seasons, and will need to change that right out of the gate this year. The team will need to make Rexall Place a tough arena to go into and take two points. The Oilers can’t afford another start like last year, or their season will once again be over before the calender hits November. They’ll need to protect the house.
*The Road Trips: Edmonton’s got a few long road trips this season. The first real lengthy one is at the start of November, when the team visits Philly, Boston (see ya there!), Buffalo, New York and Nashville all in a row. The team will also have a lengthy east coast road trip February 7th to the 16th, when they stop in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, New Jersey, and Winnipeg.
*Back To Backs: The Oil will play a total of eleven back to back games this season, with some really tough draws. The first set is early and tough, as they’ll battle the Kings and Coyotes back to back on October 14th and 15th on the road. They’ll also go back to back on November 6th and 7th when they battle the Bruins and Sabres, both on the road.
The remaining back to back sets are as follows: Nov. 21 and 22: New Jersey and Chicago, both at home ; Nov. 27 and 28: Nashville and St. Louis, both on the road ; Dec. 9th and 10th, San Jose and Anaheim, both on the road ; Dec. 30th and 31st, LA and Calgary, both on the road ; Feb. 9th and 10th, New Jersey and New York Islanders, both on the road ; Feb. 20th and 21st, Minnesota and Anaheim, both at home ; March 8th and 9th, Carolina and Detroit, both on the road ; March 12th and 13th, Pittsburgh and Columbus, both on the road ; April 1st and 2nd, Anaheim and LA, both on the road.
* Division Rivals: The Oilers will meet the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes, and San Jose Sharks five times a piece this year, while meeting the Anaheim Ducks only four times. The Oilers and Ducks will each host two games, while the Oilers will play three home games and two road games against Vancouver and Arizona, while playing the opposite with Los Angeles, Calgary and San Jose.
*New Year’s Eve: The Oilers will once again play on New Year’s Eve this year, this time rekindling an old tradition with their rivals from Southern Alberta. The Flames and Oilers will meet at the Saddledome on Wednesday Night Hockey on Sportsnet.
*National Exposure: The Oilers will play a total of 22 games on National TV in Canada this coming season. The team will be featured once on Rogers new Sunday Night Hockey. That will be on January 11th on CityTV when they host the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers will get nine Wednesday Night Hockey games and 12 Hockey Night In Canada games, including a Hockey Day In Canada battle with Ottawa on road on February 14th.
As of this time, the Oilers have no American National games on NHL Network or NBC, but those won’t be announced until later this summer.
*Original Six Visitors: The Oilers will get a visit from all six original six teams once again this year. Montreal is in town on October 27th, Toronto on March 16th, Boston on February 18th, New York on December 14th, Detroit on January 6th, and Chicago on November 22nd and January 9th.
The Oilers Rig will also be hosting the second annual charity fundraiser this year, and I will try and make it up from Boston this time! The event is in it’s planning stages right now, and we’ll be sure to share the date with you as soon as we plan it!
You can read the entire Oilers schedule here: http://oilers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=723413&navid=DL|EDM|home
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