Edmonton Rebuilt Its Roster This Summer. Now It Has to Open Against Vancouver With Two Forwards Already Out.

The Oilers did a lot of work this offseason. Mike Babcock is in as head coach. Darnell Nurse — who finished last season at -9 — is gone to San Jose. Connor Murphy is in on a five-year deal to shore up the blue line, and Frederik Andersen signed to bring some veteran steadiness to a goaltending situation that lost Jack Campbell to retirement. Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach are locked up for depth. By any measure, this is a meaningfully different roster than the one that went 41-41 and lost 22 of 35 one-goal games.

The part that isn't resolved: Adam Henrique is out and Mattias Janmark is on injured reserve, with no clear timeline on either. That's two forwards unavailable before training camp opens, and it lands on a depth chart that was already thin after Zach Hyman played just 25 games last season. The Oilers added bodies, but they're also losing them before the first puck drops.

September 29 against Vancouver at home is the opener — a reasonable spot to debut a rebuilt team in front of a crowd that wants to believe the overhaul means something. McDavid and Draisaitl will be there; that part is not in question. The question is what surrounds them when the injury list is already two names long in August.

My read: the Henrique and Janmark situations are the most important non-star story between now and opening night. If both are back, Edmonton has enough forward depth to manage. If they're not, Babcock is starting his tenure one line short.