Following a road victory against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/noah-philp-leads-way-edmonton-oilers-beat-winnipeg-jets-pre-season">Winnipeg Jets</a> last night, several veteran Edmonton Oilers are set to make their preseason debut on Wednesday. Among those suiting up for the home side against the Seattle Kraken will be Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Trent Frederic, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Stuart Skinner.

Some may know that last fall, McDavid requested head coach Kris Knoblauch play him in around five preseason games because he &#8220;didn&#8217;t feel like he was on top of his game,&#8221; according to Knoblauch.
<blockquote>&#8220;This year, talked to (Draisaitl and McDavid), said this is what I was thinking, and they kind of just shrugged their shoulders and said, &#8216;yeah, that sounds good.'&#8221;</blockquote>
Moreover, neither Draisaitl nor McDavid—that we know of—were injured during the 2025 playoffs and forced to recuperate well into September, unlike Trent Frederic, who managed an injury throughout the entire postseason.
<blockquote>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got to give him time into the season as well, because that&#8217;s an injury that certainly lingers around for a while, nagging at you,&#8221; stressed Draisaitl. &#8220;So he looks good, I&#8217;m sure he feels a lot more confident and comfortable within himself.
&#8220;I will say, though, with that specific injury, that it takes a long time. You&#8217;ve got to give him time.&#8221;</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
First morning skate, not just for the vets, but of the season. <a href="https://t.co/TOnrVi9JVm">pic.twitter.com/TOnrVi9JVm</a>
&mdash; Caprice St. Pierre (@caprice_stp) <a href="https://twitter.com/caprice_stp/status/1970904993650893023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Knoblauch later noted that Frederic&#8217;s unnamed injury was similar to, if not the same injury, that Drasaitl experienced during the playoffs a few years ago, but stressed that even if Frederic is not 100 percent healthy now, any residual effects are minor.
<blockquote>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t had this injury, but I&#8217;ve just heard our medical staff talk about it (when) Draisaitl had it in the playoffs several years ago. (Adam) Henrique two years ago in the playoffs,&#8221; began Knoblauch. &#8220;And they had two or three months off, and came back in September, and they (said), &#8216;oh, I still feel it, I&#8217;m not sure about it.&#8217; And then by October, they don&#8217;t even talk about it.
&#8220;So it&#8217;s a little bit, you can feel it, maybe just not trusting it quite yet, and then after playing and getting into the competition, the adrenaline of games, you feel comfortable. I don&#8217;t want to speak for Trent, but that&#8217;s kind of what I&#8217;ve heard about that kind of injury, and that&#8217;s kind of the process.&#8221;</blockquote>
If adrenaline and &#8216;getting into the games&#8217; is the goal for Trent Frederic, then right-winging alongside McDavid and Draisaitl in tonight&#8217;s preseason game against the Kraken might just be Knoblauch&#8217;s not-so-subtle method to speed the process along.
<h2>Lines and Pairings</h2>
Draisaitl-McDavid-Frederic
Jarventie-Tomasek-Mangiapane
Janmark-Lazar-Hutson
Hamblin-Samanski-Clattenburg
Ekholm-Bouchard
Leppanen-Regula
Millman-Akey
Skinner
Jonsson
Knoblauch confirmed at morning skate that <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-believe-stuart-skinner-take-leap-forward-new-goalie-coach">Stuart Skinner</a> is expected to play a full 60 minutes.
<h2>Notable Absences</h2>
While not necessarily notable to many, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-ike-howard-noah-philp-hone-leon-draisaitl-make-case-roster-spots">Noah Philp</a> was absent from the Oilers&#8217; first morning skate of the season despite a two-point performance the night prior.
Philp assisted on Quinn Hutson&#8217;s goal to open the scoring, and later Ty Emberson&#8217;s game-winning goal mid-way through the third period.
The right-shot center was seen at today&#8217;s practice with forwards Matt Savoie, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Isaac Howard, who, similarly to Philp, made an impact in their win over the Jets but will not dress for tonight&#8217;s preseason game.

Following a road victory against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/noah-philp-leads-way-edmonton-oilers-beat-winnipeg-jets-pre-season">Winnipeg Jets</a> last night, several veteran Edmonton Oilers are set to make their preseason debut on Wednesday. Among those suiting up for the home side against the Seattle Kraken will be Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Trent Frederic, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Stuart Skinner.



Some may know that last fall, McDavid requested head coach Kris Knoblauch play him in around five preseason games because he "didn't feel like he was on top of his game," according to Knoblauch.
<blockquote>"This year, talked to (Draisaitl and McDavid), said this is what I was thinking, and they kind of just shrugged their shoulders and said, 'yeah, that sounds good.'"</blockquote>
Moreover, neither Draisaitl nor McDavid—that we know of—were injured during the 2025 playoffs and forced to recuperate well into September, unlike Trent Frederic, who managed an injury throughout the entire postseason.
<blockquote>"You've got to give him time into the season as well, because that's an injury that certainly lingers around for a while, nagging at you," stressed Draisaitl. "So he looks good, I'm sure he feels a lot more confident and comfortable within himself.

"I will say, though, with that specific injury, that it takes a long time. You've got to give him time."</blockquote>
https://twitter.com/caprice_stp/status/1970904993650893023

Knoblauch later noted that Frederic's unnamed injury was similar to, if not the same injury, that Drasaitl experienced during the playoffs a few years ago, but stressed that even if Frederic is not 100 percent healthy now, any residual effects are minor.
<blockquote>"I haven't had this injury, but I've just heard our medical staff talk about it (when) Draisaitl had it in the playoffs several years ago. (Adam) Henrique two years ago in the playoffs," began Knoblauch. "And they had two or three months off, and came back in September, and they (said), 'oh, I still feel it, I'm not sure about it.' And then by October, they don't even talk about it.

"So it's a little bit, you can feel it, maybe just not trusting it quite yet, and then after playing and getting into the competition, the adrenaline of games, you feel comfortable. I don't want to speak for Trent, but that's kind of what I've heard about that kind of injury, and that's kind of the process."</blockquote>
If adrenaline and 'getting into the games' is the goal for Trent Frederic, then right-winging alongside McDavid and Draisaitl in tonight's preseason game against the Kraken might just be Knoblauch's not-so-subtle method to speed the process along.
<h2>Lines and Pairings</h2>
Draisaitl-McDavid-Frederic

Jarventie-Tomasek-Mangiapane

Janmark-Lazar-Hutson

Hamblin-Samanski-Clattenburg

Ekholm-Bouchard

Leppanen-Regula

Millman-Akey

Skinner

Jonsson

Knoblauch confirmed at morning skate that <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-believe-stuart-skinner-take-leap-forward-new-goalie-coach">Stuart Skinner</a> is expected to play a full 60 minutes.
<h2>Notable Absences</h2>
While not necessarily notable to many, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-ike-howard-noah-philp-hone-leon-draisaitl-make-case-roster-spots">Noah Philp</a> was absent from the Oilers' first morning skate of the season despite a two-point performance the night prior.

Philp assisted on Quinn Hutson's goal to open the scoring, and later Ty Emberson's game-winning goal mid-way through the third period.

The right-shot center was seen at today's practice with forwards Matt Savoie, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Isaac Howard, who, similarly to Philp, made an impact in their win over the Jets but will not dress for tonight's preseason game.

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