Would the Oilers have won the cup last season if they had kept Kesselring?

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Kesselring was traded along with a 3rd for Bjugstad back in 2023 when the Oilers went all in and failed to get past the Knights. I'm wondering would the Oilers have won the cup if they had kept Kesselring and played him over Ceci/Desharnais in the 2024 playoffs? I know a single bottom 4 Dman wouldn't usually make the difference, but seeing how the Oilers lost by a single goal in game 7 of the SCF, it does make me wonder.

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[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

No.

 

[Czechboy]

No becasue they would've never figured out how to use him. However, if Klef never LTIR'd.. we might have a fun chat about that!

 

[Sasha Orlov]

They were 2 goals away, no roster changes make the outcome any different lol

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

No becasue they would've never figured out how to use him. However, if Klef never LTIR'd.. we might have a fun chat about that!

I'm sure Kesselring would have been paired with Kulak and saw good results on the bottom pairing.

They were 2 goals away, no roster changes make the outcome any different lol

If they got swept in the finals your statement makes sense, but a single player could absolutely dictate a 2 goals away difference.

 

[Crabapple]

Only if he scored 2 goals in game 7.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

nein

 

[10YearsHaveGone]

Who knows? Team made it to game 7 of the SCF so all kinds of counterfactuals can be drummed up to have the Oilers win. If Draisaitl, McDavid, Nurse, and Kane are less injured they could probably win. If Klefbom doesn't have his career cut short the Oilers may have won a cup. If Chia doesn't make a disastrous trade during the 2015 draft too.

All teams have many of these types of potential stories.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Probably not.

The reason Edmonton lost is in their losses they got stonewalled by Bobrovsky. They win the Cup if they had another top 6 forward.

 

[Canovin]

Kesselring in for Ceci? Oilers wouldn't have made it further if he didn't score those timely goals

 

[SwedishFire]

3rd åair

I'm sure Kesselring would have been paired with Kulak and saw good results on the bottom pairing.


If they got swept in the finals your statement makes sense, but a single player could absolutely dictate a 2 goals away difference.

3rd pair I think is fine, its always the Nurse pairing that is worrisome.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Oilers management and coaching would never make that call, so the point is moot.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Kesselring has become a nice player, but I don't think the Oilers would have even been using him to be honest. Broberg was higher on our depth chart, and he wasn't called upon until the finals, so I don't see how Kesselring would have been in the lineup. I don't believe they would have dressed Kesselring over Ceci either. Plus, Ceci actually scored some key goals for us that helped us get to the finals, so I don't see them suddenly pulling him out for another young guy.

 

[10YearsHaveGone]

Kesselring in for Ceci? Oilers wouldn't have made it further if he didn't score those timely goals

Mr game 7.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No, unless he was going to score 2 goals in the last game.

 

[Shanahanigans]

Draisaitl being unable to shoot and barely skate was the difference for the Oilers in the finals last year.

 

[thadd]

No becasue they would've never figured out how to use him. However, if Klef never LTIR'd.. we might have a fun chat about that!

If we could have kept either Klef of Larsson, totally different story.

If we could keep Klef, I kinda doubt Nurse gets such a huge raise.

 

[BB79]

They need Phil KesselHotdog. He'd dig TF in to those dogs

Oh, and I vote no.

 

[hangman005]

Hard to say, for all we know in a world where the Oilers keep Kesselring McDavid retires from hockey and disappears into the mountains look for bigfoot.

 

[wetcoast]

Probably not.

The reason Edmonton lost is in their losses they got stonewalled by Bobrovsky. They win the Cup if they had another top 6 forward.

Basically if Drai had been healthy.

 

[Canovin]

I think the Oilers would have won if we traded Holloway and Broberg for Buchnevich

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Would the Oilers have a dynasty if they built their defense properly instead of Kulak Barrie Nurse Ceci and whatever else they had as a top 4? And whatever the heck they were thinking with Koskinen and Campbell?

 

[NeverForget06]

Would the Oilers have a dynasty if they built their defense properly instead of Kulak Barrie Nurse Ceci and whatever else they had as a top 4? And whatever the heck they were thinking with Koskinen and Campbell?

Hmm I'm not sure you watched one second of their playoff run

Should have had a better 2nd line center than Shawn Horcoff too!!!

 

[Atomos2]

Based on google search highly likely

 

[bobholly39]

Here is how the Oilers might have won the cup last year:

1. If McDavid did even better (I know, ironic considering how great he did). If he had taken over game 7 for example with a couple of goals, they win the cup.

2. If Draisaitl did better. He simply wasn't good and didn't produce in the finals. If he takes over 1 or 2 games, they win.

3. If Bob didn't steal game 1. That realllly set the tone. Oilers deserved to win that game, and if they had, good chance the series goes off in a different way, and maybe Oilers win. So Bob's game 1 performance was instrumental.

4. If Bob didn't bounce back in game 7. He wasn't quite as good in game 7 as he had been in game 1, but still after 3 straight bad losses in games 4, 5 and 6, his game 7 performance with all that pressure was super important.

There - that's the top 4 reasons why Oilers didn't win cup.

If we were to keep listing reasons why they didn't win the cup in order of importance, I'm sure by the time we got to reason 15 or 20, having or not having Kesserling might make the list. But it's not the main reason they didn't win, nor top 5 reason nor even top 10. Having him in the lineup doesn't change Bob's game 1 performance. Nor McDavid's, nor Draisaitls' performance. Nor Bob bouncing back in game 7. Nor many other more important things.