The Edmonton Oilers will open their pre-season schedule and stage their largest public fan event of the year in the same building on the same day, the club’s ownership group announced Tuesday.
OEG Sports and Entertainment said Oilers Fan Day presented by Rogers returns to Rogers Place and ICE District on Saturday, Sept. 19, running from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with free admission. The Oilers host the Winnipeg Jets in the same arena that evening at 6 p.m. MT in the first of only four exhibition games.
Fan Day opens with the club’s locker room sale in Ford Hall from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., featuring game-used equipment and limited-edition merchandise, according to the team’s release. The players are split across two rinks that morning. The game roster takes a 9:30 a.m. morning skate at Rogers Place, while the rest of the team practises at the Downtown Community Arena at 10:10 a.m. The club’s published itinerary also lists a hot stove session with Oilers alumni in Ford Hall from 11:15 to 11:35 a.m., and alumni photo opportunities from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
That Saturday morning is one of the few public looks fans will get at the group before the games start counting. The Oilers announced in June that their pre-season had been cut to four games, played between Sept. 19 and Sept. 26, a change the club attributed directly to the NHL expanding its regular-season schedule to 84 games.
The full exhibition slate is Sept. 19 versus Winnipeg at 6 p.m. MT, Sept. 22 at Winnipeg at 5 p.m. MT, Sept. 24 at Vancouver at 7 p.m. MT and Sept. 26 versus Calgary at 7 p.m. MT. All four dates are against Western Canadian rivals, compressed into eight days.
The short runway carries more weight than usual this year. The Oilers announced on Aug. 26 that forwards Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie, defenceman Alec Regula and goaltender Frederik Andersen were not expected to take part in training camp.
“Both Mattias Janmark and Alec Regula continue to recover from medical procedures performed last season and shortly after the season concluded, respectively, while Matt Savoie and Frederik Andersen are currently rehabilitating injuries which occurred during off-season training sessions,” the club said in that statement.
Edmonton did not attach a return timeline to any of the four, saying only that updates on each player’s availability would be provided when appropriate. The team had not published a revised availability for any of them as of Wednesday.
The regular season follows quickly. The Oilers open at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 29, the first half of a home-and-home set that continues Oct. 1, the club announced in July.
Photo: Rogers Place entrance, by Urban Versis 32, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Archive image, not from the 2026 pre-season.
