Edmonton needs forwards back, not a Hellebuyck it can't fit

Edmonton's problem this week isn't the goalie everybody wants to trade for. It's the three forwards and a defenceman they can't dress, and the cap sheet that makes the goalie talk mostly noise.

One game into the Babcock era, the Oilers are down a top-six winger, a veteran centre and two more bodies on long-term injured reserve.

Devon Levi gets his first start in an Oilers sweater tonight in Vancouver, in a rematch of the 6-5 overtime loss that opened the season. That's the real story in Edmonton, and it's a lot less fun than a Hellebuyck trade.

1. The injury list, in order of how much it hurts

Zach Hyman didn't make the trip. He's out a couple of weeks with an upper-body injury, likely from the final preseason game against Calgary. He played 20:33 in the opener and scored 31 goals in 58 games last season, so this isn't a depth guy coming out.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went on injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body injury from a Monday practice. Babcock put it at about two weeks. Matt Savoie and Alec Regula went on long-term injured reserve, which means both miss at least the first 10 games. Babcock said Savoie is "over a month away."

Josh Samanski came up from Bakersfield on an emergency recall to fill the hole.

The read: Two weeks of Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins is survivable. Two weeks of both while the depth learns a new coach's system is how you start 3-5. Then you spend October answering questions about it.

2. Babcock's sales pitch

Babcock is selling the gaps as an audition. "For me, I gotta figure out who they are, but for them, what an opportunity," he said. "A little adversity at the start of the year never hurt anybody."

That's the right thing to say, and it might even be true for a kid like Samanski. But the Oilers didn't hire Babcock to run tryouts in October. In a market that grades the coach after every Saturday night, a slow start turns into a referendum quickly.

File under: Hot seat (early, and only a little warm)

3. The goalie rumor, graded

Here's where it gets loud.

Frank Seravalli floated a scenario this week with Connor Hellebuyck landing in Edmonton, and a Jets reporter, Sean Reynolds, said he thinks Hellebuyck would accept a move there for a shot at a Cup. Hellebuyck is 33, carries an $8.5 million cap hit, and is coming off a down year by his standards, Olympic gold with Team USA aside.

Grade: Smoke. It's a scenario and an opinion. Nobody has reported talks between Winnipeg and Edmonton, and other names in the Hellebuyck market have been Carolina, Buffalo, Montreal and Pittsburgh.

What the numbers say: This is where the smoke clears. One count has Edmonton at roughly $306,000 in cap space, and the Oilers don't have their 2027 first-round pick. Tristan Jarry carries $5.375 million through 2027-28.

To make $8.5 million fit, Edmonton would have to send a big contract back to a Jets team that thinks it can still win now, plus real assets on top. The names that come up are Mattias Ekholm and Trent Frederic, and moving Ekholm opens a hole on the blue line to fill one in the crease.

The read: It's a fun rumor with no fit. Edmonton needs forwards back from the trainer's room long before it needs an $8.5 million goalie it can't fit.

4. Housekeeping

Levi gets the net tonight with a projected top line of Vasily Podkolzin, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in front of him. Podkolzin scored twice on the power play in the opener.

Babcock called Levi "a very confident, quality goalie all camp." If the kid steals one in Vancouver, the Hellebuyck chatter gets quieter by Saturday. If he doesn't, it gets louder, fair or not.

File under: Trade winds · Cap crunch