A must made poll: will the Oilers be back in the SCF next season ?

[CantHaveTkachev]

They will be contenders but will they have the same luck:

1st round - Kings (an easy matchup, decided by the Vegas loss on the last game of the season)

yup, because the Oilers are a good team

2nd round - A team without their star goalie (Canucks) and their top scorer in Game 7

the same team that swept the Oilers in the regular season, if Nuck fans didn't tell you all year
and Demko wouldn't have made a difference if the Nucks continually had like 15 shots/game

3rd round - A beatup Dallas Stars team (who beat the last 2 champions and were totally spent)

and yet, everyone around here picked the Stars to easily beat whoever got out of the Oil-Nuck series
just constantly wrong about the Oilers

Oilers were also relatively healthy compared to the other teams through the series.

huh? Drai played with broken ribs and a broken finger
McDavid with an abdominal injury all playoffs (missed the end of the reg. season)
Kane with a sport hernia
Henrique with a high ankle sprain

you have no clue

Luck also plays a huge factor, so unlikely next year. Then the year after Drai's huge contract kicks in and McDavid's the year after. Things are going to go sour quickly in Edmonton in 2 years.

the cap is going up huge over the next few years so no one knows

you'll be wrong about the Oilers as per usual

 

[AD1066]

Gotta take the field since Dallas, Vegas, and Colorado remain very good teams.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

None of those teams have McDavid, who is no stranger to performing rare feats.

No. But some of them have better depth, D and goaltending and two of them have already won a Cup.
The path to the SCF is never easy and few teams get there in back to back seasons.

 

[I am not exposed]

Not an Oilers fan.

I know.

 

[Idiot Stick]

yes
defense wins championships that was some superb defense by them along with their historic pk%

Questions are if their depth players will be better/worse and if of course whos in net. Skinner played a lot better than i expected him to, but also wasnt the reason they won as opposed to bobrovsky stealing games

big offseason for them coming up but theyll have time to really iron out the system they got into last season, well see if they have a burnout or a hunger.

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

One and done, McDavid is Caitlin Clark unless/until he leaves Edmonton.

you put this cringe in your bio too? This is the problem with letting unfunny people think they’re funny

 

[Canovin]

Vegas, Vancouver and Dallas will make it very hard for us to make the finals again. But anything is possible

 

[InfinityIggy]

I think fans really underrate the benefit of experience gained by making it all the way to the finals. Having a core that has been there and knows what it takes is a huge advantage. I think the Oilers chances of returning are quite a bit higher than they are getting credit for.

That said, Vegas, Dallas, and Colorado all have "cores" with that same experience and are still very relevant contenders.

 

[Video Nasty]

No. But some of them have better depth, D and goaltending and two of them have already won a Cup.
The path to the SCF is never easy and few teams get there in back to back seasons.

No one is saying it’s easy, but I’m pretty sure McDavid and his team are up to the task. After all, he’s tracking to be the second greatest player to ever play.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

No one is saying it’s easy, but I’m pretty sure McDavid and his team are up to the task. After all, he’s tracking to be the second greatest player to ever play.

He will never pass Gretzky, Orr and Lemieux in my books and most who understand hockey history. I’d say he has a shot at fourth but needs a cup for sure.

 

[Video Nasty]

He will never pass Gretzky, Orr and Lemieux in my books and most who understand hockey history. I’d say he has a shot at fourth but needs a cup for sure.

Assuming he plays another 10-12 fairly complete seasons, I think you’ll be surprised just how high the hockey world will rank him. It’s pretty obvious the direction it’s going. I don’t even think it will require the dust settling after retirement for people to figure it out. This is something that will happen fairly soon.

 

[WingsFan95]

Last three teams to win a SC after losing in the finals the year before:

23/24: Panthers
08/09: Pittsburgh
83/84: Edmonton

It's happened three times in 40 years. The likelihood Edmonton returns to the finals next year is low and things don't get any easier with Brown's carryover cap hit on the books.

This. I'm smelling 2nd round exit.

 

[WingsFan95]

He will never pass Gretzky, Orr and Lemieux in my books and most who understand hockey history. I’d say he has a shot at fourth but needs a cup for sure.

Recency bias is very real. Patrick Maholmes is not at all on Montana or Marino's level but hey, Taylor Swift everybody!

I think you can look at the raw metrics like Gretzky having 2 Conn Smythe and McDavid possibly having 3 and keep racking up Ross and Harts.

 

[Jericho111091]

It wouldn't be a huge surprise, but I also wouldn't feel comfortable betting on it

 

[TheSecondSeason]

The emergence of young horses like Holloway and Broberg and the departure of aging slow low impact players like Perry and Derek Ryan actually reduces Edmonton average age significantly. Add in the impact and arrival of Connor Brown, The emergence of Mattias Janmark importance on the PK. Skinner also improved significantly over the course of that run. Gaining all sorts of composure. They'll be back,

 

[Larry Hanson]

Kinda depends on who is their GM and if that person can get rid of the Campbell/Nurse contracts.
If not they have about 10M in cap space with 14 players signed.

Makes me happy to see James Neal still sucking 2M in cap space next year.

 

[wetcoast]

No chance.

They got to the SCF with the likes of Nurse & Ceci playing "D". Both cost them games outright this postseason. And they can't get rid of Nurse. Maybe Ceci too.

I don't think Skinner is good enough to outright steal a series. He's too dependent on the D in front of him limiting chances. Or outscoring opponents. He let's in the first shot too often & often can't outduel the other goalie. His poor performance led to the Vancouver series going 7. Which in turn put miles on tired bodies.

I don't see enough at the winger spot. They are missing an explosive player there.

You shouldn't need a player putting up historic numbers to get to the SCF. There should be a supporting cast who can pick up the slack.


Sans a major injury, he has some explaining to do. If he is looking for a reason they lost, he needs to look in the mirror.

I guess you missed where Drai was playing with a broken rib and had that finger issue?

Gotta take the field since Dallas, Vegas, and Colorado remain very good teams.

This is how feel and it wouldn't matter which team was in the SCF from the West this year it's a really tough conference.

 

[thaman8765678]

The Oilers had the easiest road to a cup I have ever seen and they still lost. It's hard to see them repeating the success.

You're not going to be able to face the no good Kings, a goalieless Canucks, and a team laying down for you (Stars) every year. They were basically handed the cup this year, and they blew it.

 

[Hisch13r]

I mean they'd be my favorite but I'm not taking them over the field.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Nope

 

[GreeningOil]

Kinda early. They dodged Vegas and Colorado, faced a 4th string goalie in round, 2, and faced the easier out of Vegas Colorado, and Dallas, ( the top 3 teams favorite to come out of the west)

but I feel we are underrating them though. They play a good system, and I feel they can be a threat to make it deep again next year.

They played 2 division leaders and beat the team that handled the other 2.

Your 4th string goalie sure didn’t play like a 4th string.

 

[logan5]

For the sake of the mental health of Oilers fans, I hope they don't make it. My guilty pleasure is going into opposing teams GDT, and by far Oiler fans become the most emotionally unhinged. You could say that they are the most die hard fans, but it seems to be something beyond that.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

They played 2 division leaders and beat the team that handled the other 2.

Your 4th string goalie sure didn’t play like a 4th string.

He pretty much did play like a third stringer with a save percentage around .880 for the playoffs. But he probably played better than expected given his lack of NHL experience.

 

[HarryLime]

I don't think the west is as loaded as people think. Besides Colorado, I don't see any juggernauts. And Colorado without Landy and Nichuskin sabatouging the team, has brought them down.

I'll say Edmonton is the favorite against any single team. But yeah, it's the field if we're saying them vs 15 other teams.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Gotta take the field since Dallas, Vegas, and Colorado remain very good teams.

Colorado is the only one of those teams I'd be legitimately worried about.