EDMONTON. The Edmonton Oilers will open Rogers Place and ICE District to the public free of charge on Saturday, Sept. 19, the club announced Tuesday, hours before the team plays its pre-season opener against the Winnipeg Jets in the same building.
OEG Sports and Entertainment said Oilers Fan Day, presented by Rogers, will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is free and fans of all ages are welcome, according to the release.
The schedule inside that announcement is the more interesting part for anyone tracking the roster. The release states that the game roster for that night’s meeting with Winnipeg will take the ice for a morning skate at Rogers Place at 9:30 a.m., while the rest of the team practises at the Downtown Community Arena at 10:10 a.m. The club did not name the players in either group and has not published a lineup. The split itself, though, will be visible to anyone who walks in, which makes Fan Day the first public read on how the new coaching staff is dividing its camp roster.
That staff is new. Mike Babcock was named the 19th head coach in franchise history on June 24, with D.J. Smith appointed associate coach, at a news conference at Rogers Place led by general manager and executive vice-president of hockey operations Stan Bowman. Babcock had not coached an NHL game since November 2019, a point put to Bowman at that availability.
Depth was the theme of the introduction. “What I think is a huge priority here is creating depth within the organization, and everybody on this team has to be important,” Babcock said, according to the transcript published by the club. Bowman was blunter about the season that preceded the coaching change, saying the workload had been “far too tilted for just a handful of players.” How a first-year staff distributes ice time in September is not a trivial question in Edmonton, and Fan Day is the first time anyone outside the organization gets to watch it happen.
Four players are not expected to be on either sheet. The Oilers announced Aug. 26 that forwards Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie, defenceman Alec Regula and goaltender Frederik Andersen are not expected to participate in training camp. Janmark and Regula continue to recover from medical procedures, the club said, while Savoie and Andersen are rehabilitating injuries sustained during off-season training. Andersen signed a one-year contract with Edmonton on July 2. The team said updates would be provided when appropriate and has not given a return timeline for any of the four.
The rest of the day is built for families. The Oilers Locker Room Sale runs in Ford Hall from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., offering game-used equipment and limited-edition merchandise. ICE District Plaza will host bouncy castles, balloon artists and face painting, and fans can have photos taken with Oilers and Oil Kings alumni and with mascots Hunter the Lynx and Louie the Lion. The club said fans attending can also collect LOILTY Reward points.
Fan Day: Saturday, Sept. 19, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Rogers Place and ICE District, free admission. Pre-season opener against Winnipeg, 6 p.m., Rogers Place. Oktoberfest at the Fan Park at ICE District, doors 5 p.m.
The Sept. 19 game against the Jets opens Edmonton’s exhibition schedule. The regular season begins Sept. 29 at Rogers Place against the Vancouver Canucks, according to the schedule the club released July 15.
Sources: Edmonton Oilers releases of Sept. 8, Aug. 26, July 15 and July 2, 2026, and the club’s published transcript of the June 24, 2026 news conference introducing Mike Babcock, all via NHL.com/oilers.
