There's no excuse for being bad in the NHL. You're playing against the best players in the world, getting paid millions of dollars, and fans expect results regardless of circumstances. But if we're being honest, there are varying degrees of difficult, and the Edmonton Oilers got absolutely hammered by the schedule to start this season.

The schedule was absolutely brutal. A seven-game eastern road swing through exclusively Eastern Conference opponents. Multiple four-game road trips. Six time-zone changes in roughly 14 days. For a team based in Mountain Time, playing games that ended at 10 PM Eastern meant post-game flights and hotel arrivals between 2 and 3 AM. The math is sobering: an estimated 15-20 hours of optimal sleep lost across a single road trip. By season's end, the Oilers are projected to log between 15,000 to 20,000 kilometers of air travel, significantly outpacing most teams in the league.

They were ranked as having the sixth most challenging schedule based on travel, back-to-back games, and opponents. It's the kind of grind that doesn't just wear on bodies, but wears on systems, on rhythm, on the ability to be productive between games. Hard to work on your power play entries when you're sleeping on a plane at 35,000 feet.

"The practices are huge," Matt Savoie said recently. "Early in the year, we weren't practicing much. It was lots of play, travel the next day, play, have a day off, play. So to get more into the flow of things into the season, it's been good the last week or so."

That simple observation cuts to everything. The Oilers have finally had time to actually practice. Not just morning skates—those abbreviated 30-minute sessions on the road that barely qualify as work—but real, full-ice practices where systems can be drilled, special teams can be refined, and the coaching staff can teach instead of just manage.

After struggling to a 12-11-5 record through their first 28 games—a stretch dominated by road games and compressed schedules—the Oilers have looked considerably sharper. Their 6-2 dismantling of Winnipeg on Friday was a complete performance from a team that's had time to work on its game rather than just survive it.

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For young players like Savoie, the extended road trips early in the season presented a unique challenge. Learning NHL systems on the fly while dealing with jet lag and limited practice time isn't exactly ideal for development. But there's always a silver lining.

"It was definitely a grind," Savoie admitted. "The guys were saying there's not many road trips that are like this, especially to start the season, and we kind of had two back-to-back there at the start.

"So that was a grind, but it was a lot of fun. Getting on the road and being able to go for dinners with guys and just build those relationships with new teammates was definitely big for a young guy."

Chemistry doesn't develop in pre-game meetings—it develops over meals, on buses, in the quiet moments between games. The road trips that tested Edmonton's resolve early also helped build relationships that are paying dividends now.

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Here's where it gets better: the schedule eases considerably from here. The Oilers' longest road trip remaining all season is just five games, scheduled for late February into early March. Five games. Compare that to the gauntlet they navigated in October and November—when they barely had time to unpack their suitcases before heading back out—and the difference is massive. More home games mean more practice time. More practice time means better execution. Better execution means wins. The formula isn't complicated.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch has emphasized all season that his team needs practice time to implement their systems properly. On the road, with video sessions and brief walk-throughs serving as the primary teaching tools, the Oilers were essentially trying to learn mid-flight. It's manageable for veteran players who know the systems, but for younger guys trying to establish themselves, it's not so easy.

Now, with a more balanced schedule ahead and consistent practice time finally available, the Oilers are starting to look like the team everyone expected them to be. The systems are cleaner. The special teams are sharper. The confidence is building. And perhaps most encouraging, they're doing it without needing to make excuses about their schedule anymore—though let's be real, those excuses were pretty legitimate.

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The early schedule might have been punishing, but it showed what this group is made of: they survived it. They went through the grinder, dealt with the losses, built the relationships, and now, things get easier. There are benefits of practice time, home ice, and a schedule that doesn't require constant flights ahead.

Sometimes the path to success isn't about grand strategy or dramatic changes. Sometimes it's about the basics: getting proper rest, having time to practice, and playing in front of your home crowd. For the Oilers, those fundamentals have made all the difference. And with a schedule that actually resembles normal NHL life coming up, they won't have to keep explaining why sleeping in hotels for two months straight might have affected their performance. They can just play hockey.

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