The Injury List Hasn't Changed. That's the Story.

Training camp is open and five Oilers aren't in it. Frederik Andersen, Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Alec Regula, and Matt Savoie are all out, and Mike Babcock is running his first practices without his starting goaltender, two forwards, and a defenseman he was counting on to fill real minutes. That's the situation as it stands.

Savoie remains the one name with any daylight attached to it. Stan Bowman said last week he expects the absence to be short-term, which is something. Savoie put up 15 points in 49 games last season — modest production, but he was a regular in the lineup and that kind of depth availability matters when you're already thin. The other four have no public timeline, and the organization hasn't offered one.

The broader context here is that Edmonton spent the offseason building toward depth — Dickinson re-signed, Connor Murphy added on the blue line, Colton Dach extended. The idea was to give Babcock enough bodies to actually implement something new. Right now he's evaluating a roster with significant gaps where some of those depth pieces were supposed to sit. Andersen in particular is the one that stings: you sign a veteran goalie specifically for stability, and he can't be on the ice for the first practices of a new coaching regime.

September 29 against Vancouver is still a month away. There's time. But Babcock hasn't had a full practice yet, and the roster he's working with right now isn't the one Edmonton built.