The Edmonton Oilers’ 2025–26 season was definitely unfulfilled, as there will once again be no Cup-raising banner night to open next season.

But there were still silver linings. The first that stands out is Connor McDavid putting up his second-best scoring season with 138 regular-season points, earning a recent Hart Trophy nomination. There were also other positives, including young players taking big steps forward and a feel-good story in net, which we dive into below.

Vasily Podkolzin’s career season and emergence as a leader

In Vasily Podkolzin’s first year with the Oilers last season, he put up 24 points and was praised for his hard work to get the puck in the hands of Leon Draisaitl, but he went into the 2025–26 campaign with a different mindset.

His skills coach, Ned Lukacevic, indicated that last off-season, they set a goal for the 2025–26 campaign to score “20 and 20,” and boy, was he ever close.

Podkolzin recorded 37 points (19 goals and 18 assists), and I have to say, as the self-anointed president of the Podkolzin fan club, I nailed the exact point total I’d projected for him before the season started.

The 24-year-old finished second on the team in five-on-five goals with 17. He also began to shed the perception that he can only produce with Draisaitl, as Natural Stat Trick shows that among regulars who played in the top-six, Podkolzin had the best goals-for percentage while playing with McDavid at five-on-five, at 66.67 per cent.

Away from the puck, his 242 hits led the Oilers, which was good for 12th-best in the entire NHL, and he was second on the team in shots blocked (52).

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JEFF VIEL AND VASILY PODKOLZIN DROP THE GLOVES IN THE FINAL SECONDS 💥

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4:50 AM · Apr 25, 2026

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He had six fights, with hockeyfights.com showing that he won five of the six, with the one exception being a draw, and the most recent one coming at the end of the game in Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks, in an effort to try to put the team on his back and rally the group. Moreover, we saw and heard his leadership traits trickle in last November, when, after a fight with Peyton Krebs in defence of his teammates, he said, “No one can play against our leaders like that. The whole team will protect them for sure.”

Podkolzin took a huge step in 2025–26 and has become such a valuable piece to the Oilers. He hits, fights, and scores, and at 24 years old, is starting to carve out a role in the new wave of leadership within this older, aging Oilers core.

Matt Savoie’s emergence as a top-line winger

When I think back to the 2025–26 season, I’ll remember it as........

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