CONFIRMED? A 7-DAY LEAGUE RULE, NOT BABCOCK, PICKS WHO SKATES WITH MCDAVID - OILERS NEWS

After an overtime loss to Vancouver on September 29, the Edmonton Oilers headed into their second game of the 2026-27 season missing close to 20% of their roster, with Matthew Savoie, Frederik Andersen, Alec Regula, and Mattias Janmark out since late August and Jason Dickinson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins now listed day-to-day by PuckPedia. Most coverage treated "day-to-day" as a hopeful forecast, but it is a distinct roster category from injured reserve, and the NHL's own rule requires a minimum seven-day absence once a player is formally placed on IR, regardless of how quickly he recovers — which is the real clock behind Edmonton's plan to recall Josh Samanski and send down Owen Michaels under the league's 23-man roster limit. Meanwhile Savoie, Andersen, Regula, and Janmark are already past the 24-day mark for long-term injured reserve eligibility but have not yet cleared the separate 10-games-missed threshold, meaning the cap relief everyone assumes is banked is not actually available yet. Narration are AI generated. #EdmontonOilers #OilersNews #ConnorMcDavid