Now It's Five. Babcock Hasn't Coached a Practice Yet and the Depth Is Already Being Tested.

Andersen and Savoie are the new names. The goaltender Edmonton signed in July to bring veteran stability to a shaky crease won't be at training camp due to an offseason injury, and Savoie — who quietly played all 49 games last season and gave Babcock a reliable middle-six option — is out as well. Add Henrique, Janmark, and Regula, and Edmonton is walking into camp with five players already sidelined. That's not a depth test anymore. That's day one of the real season.

The summer was supposed to answer the depth question. Dickinson on a five-year deal, Murphy on the blue line, Dach extended — the organization spent real money and real term to build a roster that could absorb a bad week. This is a bad week before the first whistle blows. Andersen's absence is the sharpest sting: the whole point of signing a 36-year-old with playoff experience was to give Babcock a steadying presence in net while he installs a new system. That presence is now unavailable for the evaluation period when it would matter most.

What's left is still formidable at the top. McDavid and Draisaitl are healthy, and Evan Bouchard gives Babcock a legitimate power-play engine from the back end. But last season's central failure wasn't talent — it was execution in close games, where Edmonton won barely more than a third of one-goal decisions. Babcock needs camp to build the habits that fix that. Five players short, with a backup goaltender taking the first reps, those habits are harder to establish on schedule.

September 29 against Vancouver is still the date. My read is that the next two weeks will tell us whether the depth Edmonton built this summer is real or whether it was always one injury wave away from looking thin.