On tonight’s edition of Hockey Night in Canada, the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers will square off for the first of three meetings on the season and the first since game seven of the 2024 Western Conference semifinal.

From an Edmonton writer’s perspective, here’s what the Canucks can expect from the Oilers tonight at Rogers Arena.

The Oilers have remained reasonably healthy through their first 14 games of the season, with the exception of Evander Kane, who is out long-term as he continues to recover from multiple surgeries. Kane picked up two goals and a pair of assists in the seven-game playoff series between these two clubs, but he likely won’t be back in the Oilers’ lineup until well into the new year. Early reports from NHL insiders suggest that Kane could be back at some point in Q1 of 2025, but that’s obviously a pretty vague timeline for the 33-year-old forward.

Outside of Kane’s absence, the Oilers are expected to have everyone else in the lineup tonight in Vancouver, even though a few guys are likely playing hurt a little bit. Most notably, Connor McDavid missed some time with an ankle injury that was supposed to keep him out for two to three weeks. Instead, he only missed nine days and three games. The other guy who is probably not at 100% is Mattias Janmark. Janmark took a heavy hit along the boards in Wednesday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury after missing his reps at practice on Thursday. According to Saturday’s line rushes, Janmark was back in his usual spot on the fourth line and is expected to play.

Edmonton’s most consistent player through the first month of the season has easily been Leon Draisaitl. While not quite at his usual pace for points production, Draisaitl comes into tonight’s game with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points through 14 games. Draisaitl was actually at his best in the three games without McDavid in the lineup, with the former MVP producing six points over that stretch. Draisaitl will be anchoring the Oilers’ second line alongside former-Canuck Vasily Podkolzin and former-King Viktor Arvidsson.

Draisaitl has at least a point in 21 of his last 22 regular season games (16G, 18A) against Vancouver and 25 of his last 27 regular season games (18G, 23A) overall.

When it comes to who Canucks fans should be paying attention to most, it’s hard not to pick Connor McDavid. The guy is a freak and has been since the moment he debuted in the NHL, but the start of the 2024-25 season hasn’t quite lived up to what we’re used to from the captain. With only 10 points through 11 games, McDavid’s production looks human at this point, but I’d caution Canucks fans not to expect him to stay quiet for long. Traditionally a slow(ish) starter, it’s only a matter of time before McDavid explodes for a flurry of points.

McDavid has recorded at least a point in 17 of his last 18 regular season games (15G, 22A) against Vancouver and 28 of his last 30 regular season games (20G, 34A) overall. The 64 career points (23G, 41A) he has against the Canucks are his most against any single opponent.

If you’re looking for specific reasons why the Oilers’ start to the season has been slow, you can look no further than their goal production and special teams. Edmonton comes into tonight’s contest ranked 31st in goals for (33) despite some strong underlying numbers. At even strength, the Oilers are sporting a 56.63 Corsi for percentage (CF%) and 55.28 Expected goals for percentage (xGF%), which suggests the puck is generally moving in the right direction, but they’ve coupled those numbers with a 30th-ranked 5.82 shooting percentage. The tides will turn eventually if those shot metrics hold up, but it’s been a battle for Edmonton to produce offence consistently so far.

On the special teams, Edmonton is a mess right now. Their usually electric power play has been a non-factor through 14 games, registering goals on only 5/35 opportunities with the man advantage. That 14.3% success rate is good for 27th in the NHL, which is a far cry from what Oilers fans have grown accustomed to over the last handful of seasons. The real disaster, though, is on the penalty kill. Currently, the Oilers rank dead last in the league at 59.5% when shorthanded, and I don’t think I have to explain to anyone reading this why having a coin flip for a PK is a problem. If the Oilers can’t figure out their special teams woes in a hurry, it could end up as a major story of their season because both the PP and PK are costing them games right now.