The Edmonton Oilers will be racking up their frequent flyer points this season, as they’re set to have a heavy travel schedule once again.
The Oilers will travel 50,000 miles — or 80,467.2 kilometres for us Canadians — across North America, according to TJStats.
Busy travel schedules aren’t anything new for the Oilers. Given their geographical location, they’ve long been forced into busy travel. In fact, the Pacific Division as a whole sees lots of travel, with the Anaheim Ducks, the Utah Hockey Club, the Seattle Kraken, the Vegas Golden Knights the Calgary Flames, the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks all in the top dozen spots.
It pales in comparison with some of the teams in the Atlantic and Metro Divisions, as clubs like the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators and others have a third of the travel the Oilers do.
Despite the distance required to travel over the course of the season, the Oilers have a relatively good schedule in terms of how the home and away games are set up. Their longest road trip will come in late February, when they embark on a five-game swing through the northeastern United States, down to sunny southern Florida and back again.
It kicks off Feb. 22 when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers, stopping for visits to Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina, before returning back home. They have two four-game road trips, as well as three three-game road trips.
Three teams will have more travel than the Oilers this year, with the Ducks (51,000 miles/82,076.5 kilometres), Panthers (51,100 mi/82,237.5 km) and the Dallas Stars (56,700 mi/x91,249.8 km having to fly more
The league average travel? 41,909.4 miles, or 67,446.6 kilometres.
Edmonton’s season kicks off with a four-game homestand on Oct. 9 hosting the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers.