Babcock Inherits the Blueprint. He Just Can't Use the Full Roster Yet.

The five names haven't moved. Frederik Andersen, Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Alec Regula, and Matt Savoie are all still out as Edmonton approaches its September 29 opener against Vancouver, and the list looks the same as it did when camp opened. Andersen's absence is the sharpest one — the whole point of signing a 36-year-old veteran with playoff experience was to put a steadying presence in net behind a defense that Babcock is trying to rebuild from the crease outward.

The defensive piece matters because there's something real to build on. Last season's final stretch — 2.3 goals allowed per game over the last 10 — showed this group can actually execute the structure Babcock was hired to install. The problem is that those 10 games came after the season was already lost, and now Babcock has to replicate that discipline from game one, without his starting goaltender and with a forward group still sorting out its depth.

McDavid and Draisaitl are the constants, and Evan Bouchard anchors a blue line that looks more defensively sound on paper than last year's did. But the Oilers went 41-41 last season while those two were producing at an elite level, which tells you everything about how much the surrounding structure failed them. The injury list doesn't change that math — it makes it harder.

Eighteen days to the opener. The list needs to get shorter.