Losing in the Stanley Cup Final sucks. To get so close after a grueling run just to come up empty is not a great feeling. And losing in Game 7, where it is a winner takes all, hurts just that much more.
Edmonton Oilers fans are going to be hurting for the next little bit, both emotionally and physically (the hangovers we have all been staving off are going to hit like a train). While the team’s mantra entering the season was “Cup or Bust,” the season should actually be looked at as a positive, rather than a “bust.”
Here are some takeaways from one heck of a season and why the Oilers and their fans shouldn’t be too worried about the future.
Resiliency
If there is one thing this team showed this year, it’s that they can come back from the dead.
Starting the season 2–9–1 and tying for last place in the league? Being 10 points out of a playoff spot come American Thanksgiving?
No problem.
The Oilers turned it around, thanks in large part to eight- and 16-game winning streaks, and finished second in the Pacific Division for the third year row, securing home ice. If you told anyone back in November that that was going to be the outcome of the season, they would have laughed right into your face.
After dispatching the Los Angeles Kings for the third season in a row, the Oilers faced more adversity in the second round. A late third period meltdown saw the Oilers go from an assured Game 1 win to being down 1–0 to the rival Vancouver Canucks. After an OT win in Game 2, they proceeded to lose Game 3 4–3, with Stuart Skinner letting in four goals on just 15 shots and being pulled. The Oilers would bench Skinner for the next game, coming away with the victory, only to lose Game 5. On the brink of elimination, Skinner was entrusted with the net again, and ended up being steady as the team won Games 6 and 7.
The third round saw the Oilers take an initial lead, but then drop two straight, again raising questions about goaltending and team defence. But, the team managed to right the ship and win three straight to head to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 18 years.
The Oilers then proceeded to lose the first three games and were on the verge of being swept, the first time a team would have been swept in the final since Detroit swept Washington in 1998. But, the Oilers went super saiyan in Game 4, trouncing the Panthers 8–1, and proceeded to win the next two games to force Game 7.
While the Oilers couldn’t pull off the reverse sweep, that isn’t anything to be ashamed of—only the New York Rangers had a sweep this post season, and the Colorado Avalanche were the only other team who were able to win four games in a row in a series.
This team showed that they can be down, but they are never out. That kind of knowledge and attitude is huge, as there will always be swings in emotion, whether it is game to game, week to week, month to month, or series to series. Being able to have this confidence can only be a positive for this team for years to come.
The cavalry is coming
Two young players whose development wasn’t coming along as fast as the team would have liked arrived in the playoffs this year.
Dylan Holloway tied for sixth on the team with five goals this postseason, and earned himself a spot on the second line wing with Leon Draisaitl, spending almost half of his playoff ice time with Draisaitl.
Holloway had the third highest goals/60 on the team, sixth in individual high danger chances for/60, and had positive advanced metrics.
But perhaps the most impressive part of Holloway’s game was the physical aspect. He lead the Oilers with 85 hits this postseason, 21 more than second place Evander Kane, and only two behind Sam Bennett for the league lead.
The other player to take a step was defenceman Philip Broberg.
Broberg has been much maligned since being drafted eighth overall in 2019, but after being inserted into the lineup in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final he solidified his spot in the top six, seeing him even moving up to the second pair with Darnell Nurse. Broberg led both teams in plus-minus during the Final at +7 and was third on the team in blocks with 15.
If both Holloway and Broberg can continue to be legitimate top-six forward and top-four defence options, that will be a big help for the team to make it back to the Final next year. Both players are RFAs this summer, but neither have arbitration rights and their small sample sizes in the playoffs should mean that their next contracts aren’t going to be prohibitive.
They can (and should) run it back
If you had asked some Oilers fans during the second round how they would feel if the Oilers “ran it back” next year (i.e. brought back the same roster), you would probably have gotten a lot of angry red faces saying “hell no” in as many different and colourful ways as possible.
But, hand in hand with the resiliency point above, after this kind of a playoff run it may actually make a lot of sense to keep as much of the roster intact as possible and not make any drastic changes.
Currently, the Oilers have just $10M in cap space, and need to sign at least six more forwards and two more defencemen. However, those are all for the bottom of the lineup positions, which means that it isn’t as impossible of a task as one might think.
Assuming the Oilers buy out Jack Campbell this summer, they would gain $3.9M in cap space, meaning they would have an average of $1.75M per remaining player. While that likely spells the end of Warren Foegele and Adam Henrique, that amount should be enough to re-sign Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Broberg, and Holloway. It also possibly leaves enough for Vinny Desharnais, although with Broberg’s emergence one has to wonder if the Oilers would rather let him walk and use that money on the forward end instead.
The fact that Skinner seemed to re-find his game goes a long way in this equation, as one area that looked like it may need a revamp was goaltending. After his performance in the Final, you have to think that you can stick with the 25-year-old goalie next year.
So the major pieces will be back and they will be hungry to get revenge. No need to take a home run swing this summer, just need to make sure the surrounding cast is up to snuff like this year’s seemed to be come playoff time.
It also doesn’t hurt that getting this close may be not just enough to have Draisaitl re-sign long term, but perhaps take a bit of a haircut to give the team some more space to build (he said hopefully while throwing 100s of coins into a wishing well).
McDavid and Draisaitl will be even hungrier
If there is one thing we know about Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, it is that they are always looking to improve, and if someone says they can’t do something, they respond with “the hell we can’t.”
While both of them had good playoffs (McDavid set two NHL records and won the Conn Smythe, for pete’s sake), they both could have been better in the Final, especially Draisaitl, who only had three assists in the seven games. And while McDavid led the series in scoring with 11 points, eight of them came in two games. Granted, those were the two games that started the comeback in the series, but just three points in the remaining five games is not up to McDavid’s usual standard.
Combine the personal with the fact that the team lost as well, and you have two highly motivated individuals going into next season.
Now they can win the Cup at home
Ok, this one is a bit of a reach in terms of positives, I’ll admit. But still, seeing how Panthers fans booed McDavid winning the Conn Smythe—even though their team had just captured the Stanley Cup—means that the celebration for the first Stanley Cup in 34 years might not have been quite as epic as it should be.
Anyone who was in and around the City of Edmonton during this run knows just how crazy the people get, and anyone lucky enough to have been in the building for any of the home games in the Final knows even more so.
Just imagine the pandemonium that would ensue when if the first time McDavid raises the Cup is in Rogers Place? I know we joke about the roof coming off, but in 2017 the floor in Ford Hall started bouncing due to the fans’ celebrations, so if they win the Cup all bets are off RE: structural integrity.
Plus, the Oilers have won four of their five Cups on home ice, with the only road one being the last, so it just makes sense that a new streak should be started at home. At least that is what I will tell myself.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
