Welcome, dearest Internet friends, to another What Would You Do Wednesday (Thursday Edition), the article where I throw an Oilers-related question at you to see what kind of solutions you’ve got rolling around in your brains. With training camp underway, the first Oilers line combinations of the year are starting to roll out, and I want to know how you would put this roster together if Mike Babcock handed you the keys.

After spending the summer guessing how Mike Babcock would put his lines together, Thursday gave us our first look at what the coaches might be thinking in terms of personnel. Gregor posted the line combos as the boys hit the ice, and while nobody should be treating day one practice lines like they’re carved into our arms, but I did notice a few things worth digging into.

Jason Gregor

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Group One: Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl Joseph-Dach-Formenton Jones-Samanski-Hutson/Lewandowski Tralmaks-Nicholls-Berlzkalns/Bookman Shea-Bouchard Statsney-Emberson Stillman-Brown Robinson-Carfagna Jarry Tompkins Shea with Bouchard to start camp.

4:15 PM · Sep 17, 2026

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The obvious place to start is Vasily Podkolzin up on the top line with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. While we all love the magic the Dynamic Duo can create when they’re together, having them together has been one of the biggest way-too-early lineup debates from this summer. Stan Bowman spoke recently about the pros of playing Connor and Leon together, and while we may not always agree, Mike Babcock unsurprisingly opened camp up by giving that trio a look. Whether it lasts beyond a couple of practices remains to be seen, but having Connor and Leon together again is always going to get people talking.

There’s obviously no concern about whether McDavid and Draisaitl can play together. We’ve got countless examples of those two making the game look easy, and it’s not at all surprising that the new coach would want to push the nuclear deterrent button. The real question........

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