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Are the 2024-2025 Edmonton Oilers the biggest preseason cup favourites of all time?

Need a legit top 4 RHD and probably another depth righty on D.

Will be interesting to see what happens now that Kane is on LTIR.

I’m a bit worried about our team speed, we were collectively one of the fastest teams in the NHL last season. I still think they’ll be one of the faster teams in the league but losing McLeod, Foegele, Holloway, and Broberg is a lot of size and speed out.

I actually see a lot more angst from Oilers fans compared to how the rest of the league views the team.

I still think they’re capable of winning the Cup. They’re a veteran heavy team with lots of experience, bolt on a couple big additions and they could absolutely win it this year but hoisting Lord Stanley is so difficult to achieve.
 
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Roof Daddy said:
I think it’s more a case of lazy pundits drawing easy connections (McDavid is due; Florida lost before winning it the next year), but if we’re looking at a roster, top to bottom, I think the Oil would be in the 3-5 range (and I say this being an Oilers fan).

The Rangers and Stars have the more complete teams. Trade deadline can change that and I think it’s obvious that we’ll be all in. Those teams will be as well, but we maybe have more to gain from a trade deadline upgrade than they do. But it’s a lot of ifs.

Heiskanen and Fox are better #1 D than Ekholm (I’m not putting Bouchard there).

Shesterkin and Oettinger far better than Skinner.

We get the nod at forward because of McD and Drai, but I don’t know that it’s the same degree of difference vs the D and G.
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Ekholm is underrated defensively if you're talking full on defence, not just "well Fox has fancy pants offense too".

Oilers shut Dallas so called depth down head to head in the playoffs, especially the longer that series went, Dallas wasn't able to piss a drop.

The Oilers didn't beat Dallas because they played run n' gun offense (or anyone else frankly). They shut them down to the tune of 1.75 goals per game only in the last 3 games of the series (Dallas I believe lost all three games and there's your series).
 
Roof Daddy said:
I think it’s more a case of lazy pundits drawing easy connections (McDavid is due; Florida lost before winning it the next year), but if we’re looking at a roster, top to bottom, I think the Oil would be in the 3-5 range (and I say this being an Oilers fan).

The Rangers and Stars have the more complete teams. Trade deadline can change that and I think it’s obvious that we’ll be all in. Those teams will be as well, but we maybe have more to gain from a trade deadline upgrade than they do. But it’s a lot of ifs.

Heiskanen and Fox are better #1 D than Ekholm (I’m not putting Bouchard there).

Shesterkin and Oettinger far better than Skinner.

We get the nod at forward because of McD and Drai, but I don’t know that it’s the same degree of difference vs the D and G.
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Heard this last year.... Stars were less of a challenge than the Canucks, and will be just as banged up again this year going through the Avs and another central team. As much as it pains me to admit it a Canucks team with a healthy Demko is probably our biggest threat. That or Mackinnon and Makar going Harlem Globetrotters
 
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In 1976-77, the 60-8-12 Canadiens lost just eight games in the regular season and won the Cup. In September 1977, coming off the greatest single season the league has seen a team put up, they were a bigger favorite.

They had the game's best player (Lafleur, who had just won the Hart, Art Ross, and Conn Smythe), goal scorer (Shutt won the Richard trophy with 60 goals), defense (Robinson/Lapointe/Savard), goaltender (Dryden, Vezina), and shutdown defensive player (Gainey). They had just won two straight Cups and would go on to win the next two Cups.

The Oilers have the best player in the game and maybe even the next best, but there are some real flaws there. The defense is thin and the goaltending is just not good enough. There are plenty of skeptics.
 
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JPeeper said:
Most overrated team, yes. Literally have 2.5 good players and all these moronic "hockey experts" think they're going to win. Hysterical.
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Contenders have 2-3 great players that are much better than the rest of their roster, breaking news at 11.
 
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Many picked Florida last season and they were right.

I'm not sure if it's so great to have such high expectations for a team or be an underdog but it seemed like it did work for Florida
 
Can someone post that Winnipeg Jets magazine cover please?
 
They were a game away from being swept and there were threads here about them being the worst finalist in the modern era.

Funny how quickly narratives can shift
 
It's weird that Edmonton has the best odds to win the cup when Ottawa is going to win it.
 
BigTruzz said:
Literally every article I've read it's been Oilers all across the board. I don't recall seeing one team being such an overwhelming preseason favourite. Can you?
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The Oilers of the mid 80’s were far bigger favourites. As were the Habs of the early to mid 70’s and the islanders of the early 80’s. The Leafs in the 60’s were bigger favourites too.
 
They reached such a good level last postseason that pundits understandably consider that what the Oilers are.

They've added impressive depth to their forward group, but the backend which was already unreliable imo has taken a step back.

But when you have McD, alot of things are possible. They are an easy pick but there are probably 3-5 teams that could come out of the West.

Very interested to see how Edmonton starts the season.
 
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The Lightning and Colorado have had multiple better teams predicted to contend in just the past 5-6 years. Its hard to say that they even standout in their own conference.
 
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Luigi Lemieux said:
Probably the 01-02 Wings and 03-04 Avs in my memory. Already elite teams that really loaded up.
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03-04 Avs lost Patrick Roy and had David Aebischer as their starting goalie. I don't remember them being overwhelming favorites.
 
BigTruzz said:
Literally every article I've read it's been Oilers all across the board. I don't recall seeing one team being such an overwhelming preseason favourite. Can you?
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I believe it is all just wish-casting and groupthink. The pundits and wise asses want Mcdavid to win a cup. Because it would be bad for hockey if he doesn't. Mcdavid's time is ticking.

For me the hype is unwarranted. The Oilers just aren't built on strong enough footings to be favoured like this.

Luigi Lemieux said:
Probably the 01-02 Wings and 03-04 Avs in my memory. Already elite teams that really loaded up.
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Pre cap era
 
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