Evan Bouchard set up four goals and Ryan Shea scored in his Oilers debut as Edmonton beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Saturday at Rogers Place, in the preseason opener for both teams and the first game of Mike Babcock’s tenure as Oilers head coach.
Parker Ford put the Jets ahead 1:58 into the first period, but Edmonton answered with three straight goals spanning the first two periods. Shea tied it on a feed from Bouchard, Connor McDavid put the Oilers ahead on an assist from Leon Draisaitl, and Draisaitl doubled his own output early in the second period by converting a return pass from McDavid. Alex Formenton made it 4-1 later in the second, again finishing off a pass from Bouchard. Jacob Julien got one back for Winnipeg in the third before Colton Dach sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Oilers 5, Jets 2. Tristan Jarry stopped 15 of 16 shots over two periods in his Edmonton debut; Matt Tomkins made four saves in relief.
The result mattered less than what it showed about how Babcock intends to deploy his top players. McDavid and Draisaitl, skating on a line with Vasily Podkolzin, led all Oilers forwards in ice time, with McDavid logging 19 minutes 13 seconds and Draisaitl 19:11, and both finished the night at plus-four, according to NHL.com’s game recap. Babcock had committed to the pairing throughout training camp, and Saturday’s opener was the first chance to see it against another team.
Shea, signed by Edmonton over the off-season, was named the game’s first star in his first appearance in an Oilers uniform, finishing with a goal and two assists. “I thought everything felt pretty good,” Shea said afterward, according to NHL.com. “When you’re in the O-zone with some of those guys, you pretty much just try to get open and they’ll find you.”
Special teams were even, with Edmonton and Winnipeg both going 0-for-1 on the power play.
Saturday marked the official start of Babcock’s second act behind an NHL bench. He last coached games in the league with Toronto, through 2019, before Columbus hired him in July 2023; he resigned before coaching a single game there after allegations he had asked players to share personal photos on their phones. The NHL reviewed that history before clearing Edmonton’s hire this summer, with commissioner Gary Bettman saying the league found no basis to prohibit Babcock from coaching, while stressing an expectation of “a certain level of decorum and conduct” going forward. Babcock replaces Kris Knoblauch, fired in May after leading the Oilers to consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, and consecutive losses to Florida, in 2024 and 2025.
Bouchard, one of two players Edmonton named alternate captain over the summer alongside Zach Hyman, was on the ice for four of the Oilers’ five goals Saturday and set up three of them directly.
The win was Edmonton’s only preseason meeting with Winnipeg before the two teams play again Tuesday in Manitoba, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. MT on Oilers+. The Oilers’ exhibition slate continues over the following week and a half as Babcock trims his roster before the regular-season opener, a home-and-home against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 that begins Edmonton’s 2026-27 season.
Nothing from Saturday changes the one lingering camp storyline. Forward Jason Dickinson has yet to return to full contact after being held out of scrimmages, though Babcock said this week he does not expect an extended absence. “We’re just monitoring that,” Babcock said. No new injuries were reported out of Saturday’s game.
For a franchise that has fallen one win short of a championship in each of the past two springs, a preseason victory carries little weight on its own. But for a new coaching staff trying to establish habits before games start counting, Saturday’s opener offered an early, mostly encouraging look, from the top line’s chemistry to a serviceable answer in goal, with sterner tests still to come once the calendar turns to real NHL games in October.
