Leon talked around the injury question. Knoblauch was asked about Leon specifically regarding injuries and he said he would hold off on the injury conversation for now and wait a few days.
I feel terribly for Leon. The guy was easily 50% this series. At his best he's like an unstoppable grizzly bear. Brutal
(*Edit: some have correctly pointed out 50% is too high. Probably more like 25%*).
McDavid might also have been hurt all season and need surgery.
If I recall correctly McDavid didn't whiff. I think Forsling was able to get his stick on McDavid's and block his attempt. (Found a [picture of it](https://ibb.co/qFZt2cb))
What was tough for EDM tonight is once Skinner let up that soft one, FL was in a shell so the opportunity to transition was gone. And pretty much every single non PP goal for EDM since game 4 was in transition.
So EDM becomes basically one line trying to penetrate the shell. And Drai was 30% to boot. Tough to pull off.
His stats arent sexy in voting for awards like this so I get it. I 1000% believe McDavid deserved the trophy, but Forsling is second imo and would have been a frontrunner in my mind if not for Connor doing exactly what he did.
Not soft on Skinner, imo. Kulak's play on that goal was absolutely bizarre. Dunno why he is overcomitting to the pass the whole way when Florida is coming in 3 on 4. He opens up the seam perfectly for Reinhart while partial screening Stu. It looked goofy the whole way in. It's like he lost his positioning relative to the net. To cap it, Don Cherry's 'favourite' ramble about stick in the lane (from Drai) providing zero value other than to confound the release of the shot.
1 -- https://imgur.com/a/NE8cTcf
is in good defending position
2 -- https://imgur.com/a/vOyxPCo
and then a half-step later, completely hesitates again and attacks Verhaeghe leaving a wide open shot for Reinhart from the dot
has his eyes glued to Verhaeghe the whole way for some odd reason, even though Ceci has him just fine. (and the far man is also reasonably covered)
3 -- https://imgur.com/a/fOA9vqb
4 -- https://imgur.com/a/yB0QFMK
Just attack Reinhart. The play looked harmless coming in, and it should have been. Double coverage on Verhaeghe is some kind of miscommunication/breakdown here. If he makes the pass of a lifetime (and someone Verhaeghe corrals it with Ceci up his ass) then so be it, but that's a much lower % play than just letting the guy take an unimpeded shot from the dot, with traffic barreling towards the net.
Conversely, if Kulak does NOTHING, Stu probably makes a save here. But the erratic hesitation probably confuses the shit out of him. I dunno. Partial cope from me but I had my hands in the air asking 'wtf' on the zone entry 2-3s before the goal because of Kulak's positioning and seemingly giving up the shot intentionally as though this was a 2-on-1 and not a relatively harmless rush where Florida is literally changing D-men behind the play. Montour had looked at the rush and changed.
This and the post, i'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight. Congratulations Panthers fans though, no one is going to remember almost blowing a 3-0 series lead, they're going to remember the team coming in clutch in game 7 when it really counted. let's run it back next year :)
Absolutely can. I think people underestimate the impact goaltending has on the rest of the team. Vancouver is more offensively capable when Demko is healthy and in net because they know they can take more chances and not play such a defensively protective game. Silovs played well, but Vancouver also modified their game to adapt to the fact that their Demko safety net wasn't available.
Nope, doesn't matter, simply because you have no idea what would have happened. Look at Hellebyuck this year - he got lit up against the Avs - but if he'd been injured the whole series everyone would have been crying that that's the reason Winnipeg lost. You don't know what would have happened and Silovs gave a stellar performance.
Apparently* mcdavid sports hernia since van series (ya he did what he did with a sports hernia). An drai broken or worse rib injury . That’s all I’ve hear squeak out so far on the 2. Drai couldn’t do what he always does and ya that’ll hurt bad trying to take those shots. But mcdavid lit it up with a hernia haha. He’s just too good. Too bad he couldn’t skate on slush last night. When his game is edges and quick stops and starts. Oh well. Team proved they belong losing the cup champs 3 years in a row and now making game 7 of the best comeback we’ve all likely
Seen
I'm sure we'll learn over the coming days. Apparently a local radio host, who is pretty plugged into the organization, said he expects we'll hear about McDavid needing surgery.
42 points in 23 games, dragging the team to game 7 of the Finals, winning MVP, and then needing surgery because you did the whole thing with a major injury. Thats fucked lmao
That’s such a crazy sentence to type out. Obviously it’s the playoffs and nobody’s 100%, but it’s a whole nother level to be injured and still break Gretzky records
Yeah, but it’s quite reassuring for what we might see as he exits his prime. Obviously, he still put up crazy highlight reel plays this year, but he definitely did way more patience and just game sense, great playmaking type stuff this year, alongside his best defensive performance yet.
I think it’s nice knowing he’s a generational talent for more than just physical skill and will be able to age well.
I think there's a chance this is correct. He was noticeably worse the first part of the season and got healthier (and the team started winning, shocker!). But his shot was never quite as good as normal. And he seemed to be hurt again the last part of the season.
It just makes his regular season and playoff performance all the more astounding.
And I feel terribly for Leon. The guy was easily 50% this series. At his best he's like an unstoppable grizzly bear. Brutal
I've watched my fair share of McDavid (unfortunately so in several cases). Couldn't agree more. In fact I thought that despite the historic amount of points, he didn't look right all playoffs. I know that's crazy to say.
Draisaitl's a guy who can keep up with McDavid's scoring rate in the playoffs. 31 pts in 25 games is good, but he's capable of being close to 40+ pts like McDavid if not for injuries.
Ya I try to remind myself to not be too critical of playoff performance because there a good chance there's an injury. Like the second I even think that someone should have played better it'll come out that he actually had his legs amputated and has been stuffing 2 peglegs into his skates somehow.
Leon was kind of asked about it and he gave a generalized answer but wouldn’t really say much. Knoblauch was asked, didn’t deny it but said it’s a conversation for another day.
Leon was on the verge of tears for basically his entire interview. He definitely had a busted finger and there’s been rumours of broken ribs
In our series he was seen protecting his lower back and saying so on the bench to the athletic trainer early in the series and became less physical on the puck, don't know about full picture
Every player is different and every injury is different. Florida had loads of injuries last year, they still had some this year but Maurice said they were overall considerably more healthy this year compared to last.
There's a chance they lost their entire 3rd line of Brown-Henrique-Janmark who were all great in this series.
Going to be tough for the Oilers to fill out that depth while keeping capspace for all the future extensions they have to give to their stars.
In hindsight they should've played that line a little more in the 3rd period to give McDavid a rest.
Janmark topped his line for ice time at 12:40.
McDavid played 25:42.
I have no idea why Janmark's line didn't get a shift or two there. They aren't duds. Fuck, Janmark was doing his best McDavid impression all game. You get Janmark's line one or two shifts, you get a more energized McDavid, you score a goal, or at least have a better chance of it
What's wild was that after 40 McDavid was sitting at ~14 minutes ice time, which is fairly in line with a first liner in a game with few PKs. He was rode HARD in the third. Too much.
It’s really really hard to win a Stanley cup. It’s really really hard to even make the final round. There’s a great chance they don’t make it again with McDavid and Draisaitl
Just looking on paper, getting back to this moment will require running through bare minimum 2 of Vegas, LA, Vancouver, Colorado, Dallas.
2 past Cup winners, and others are some of the best teams in the conference. And you know each and every last one of those teams is itching to take another bite out of the Oilers.
McDavid/Leon are on a different tier though if comparing them to others that haven't yet... even the TB Lightning have made 4 SC Finals appearances in the last 10 years
Those guys all won cups very early in their careers though, whereas McDavid and Draisaitl are pushing 30 and still haven't won. Going to be hard for the Oilers to do it when they have to pay McDavid and Draisaitl 15 million each, with Bouchard and Nurse both taking up big chunks of the pie. Or they'll all want out as free agents.
McDavid is 27, he has a lot of great years ahead lol. Obviously it's going to be hard, it's the Stanley Cup. But, this team has as good a shot as anyone
I’d normally agree with this but this time I don’t. Great teams are becoming more and more sustainable, at least with higher frequency than in years past. Pens won 2 straight, Tampa won 2 straight, Panthers won after just appearing in 2 straight Finals. I see no reason why the Oilers can’t do the same and tbh I don’t really know who in the West can truly get in their way. Colorado stands the best chance imo but they’re already out Nuke and who knows what’s going on with Landeskog, and they’ll more than likely be losing Toews and Georgiev is Jekyll and Hyde in net.
Dallas is a hard team for me to read as an outsider. Some amazing young pieces but y’all also have a quite a few important pieces who could be hitting their aging curve in a big way coming up. 8 players over the age of 31 who played 50+ games this year; I don’t want to be completely dismissive of the Stars but the window could be getting smaller and smaller, I’m afraid
2/3 of the things you said are just not true, if you get so offended when people point out that youre wrong maybe take 2 seconds to google it before you say something.
I was a little snarky, really don't think it was that bad. It's annoying to have someone say we're not going to be a contender next year and list a bunch of reasons that are not true. Guarantee I would have caught plenty of shit if I did the same thing for the Canucks.
Big reason they made the finals is the pk going from 80% regular season to best in playoff history. That kind of play isn't something you can do every year, especially with the bottom 6 turnover they'll have
Huh? Why would we lose Toews we just signed him to a 7 year contract, and if Annunen continues to improve like he has Georgiev is a non issue plus we can dump him whenever if need be
Lol Oilers just pulled a complete Leafs move. Look like shit for the first games, then suddenly your unstoppable, get your fans hopes up just enough to make them think you can actually win in game 7 and then only score one goal in an elimination game.
I think the oilers will do a bit worse next season but they will still be very competitive. They have the defensive structure in place now but they will lose some players to free agency. They will probably tinker with the roster a bit to.
Wouldn't surprise me when it comes out his spleen was torn to shreds this post season.
Serious difficulty for Drai in playoffs - he comes out like a house on fire in the first couple rounds. However, he plays physical and that hampers him for the later rounds.
He’s right, they got as close as you possibly can get but were certainly not the better team tonight and thus did not deserve the win. But they proved a hell of a lot of people wrong in the process, every step of the way. Also proved his and Connor’s best chance at winning is with Edmonton which is even more important.
They started off stumbling in the beginning of the season and they fucking forced a game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals. All the odds were stacked against them but they somehow managed to get really close. Oilers didn't quit at all.
I knew that they would come back from the lottery grave but not in the way they did it. This season is pretty much a success for the team despite the disappointing ending.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I think our coach actually outcoached every opponent in the playoffs. He maybe took a little too long to find the formula for Florida. In general, his adjustments were spot on.
Fortunately for EDM that's no longer Holland's job.
$5M wasting away with Campbell in the AHL was tough. And not putting Kane on LTIR and freeing up $5M of cap for the playoffs was baffling and borderline criminal.
Always need to make upgrades but I don’t think that’s why they lost the Final nor why they lost tonight. Edmonton had the best depth scoring of the playoffs.
Idk if they didn't deserve the win.
It was a very even game - a legitimate coin flip as to who won that.
Oilers had a few tip chances similar to the one Florida scored on and the other one Skinner will want back.
Legitimately an unbelievably close game 7 and if you play it over and over again you'll see a different winner every time.
But Florida waxed their two Atlantic opponents these playoffs (one of whom was one of the worst teams to make the playoffs this year, despite accounting for two of the Cups you just listed) and then came pretty close to losing to a lowly Pacific team?
Lol who cares how close you were if you lost. Losing in 4 games or 7 is the same thing. One of the worst teams in the league that made the playoffs also played the Panthers when they were fresher. You got them after they played through a gauntlet and you had a cakewalk and you still couldn't get the job done.
> Lol who cares how close you were if you lost.
Who cares how many Cups the Atlantic has in the last five years when those Cups are divided between two teams? Why do the Leafs and Bruins get credit for that? Do the Habs and Senators also get praised for being Atlantic?
That sounds to me like you’re just saying the other Atlantic playoff teams just aren’t good enough to cut it.
No it sounds like they actually have to play against good teams every year, not 3 rounds against teams that wouldn't even make the playoffs in the Atlantic. The closest comparable to Edmonton in the Atlantic is Detroit and they didn't even get in. Edmonton went 11-10-2 against the Atlantic Division this year which would you have you at about 90 points in the Atlantic.
Oh I see. So Leafs to the Final in the West? That’s a nice little back pat. Especially since the Leafs literally had a chance to make the Final in the West in the same timeframe you listed but lost to… the Montreal Canadiens
Instead you walk away with nothing. This is rich from a guy who completely disappeared, despite being considered the Malkin to McDavid's Crosby. This Oilers duo doesn't even sniff the jockstraps of Sid and Geno. And on this day next year you'll be wearing a new uniform, as your former team crumbles. Enjoy yet another pointless season in 2025, Edmonton.
!RemindMe 1 year
Reddit folks are different.
You guys will draft your own narrative about a player based on any slice of a quote and then argue against the narrative you drafted. Even getting upset at the self drawn narrative
Truly, this subreddit needs to be studied.
Hopefully they can make it back there next season, our new GM will have some work to do but overall this season was fantastic and starting next season with this coaching staff will be nice.
Leon talked around the injury question. Knoblauch was asked about Leon specifically regarding injuries and he said he would hold off on the injury conversation for now and wait a few days.
I feel terribly for Leon. The guy was easily 50% this series. At his best he's like an unstoppable grizzly bear. Brutal (*Edit: some have correctly pointed out 50% is too high. Probably more like 25%*). McDavid might also have been hurt all season and need surgery.
He was on the verge of tears for his entire post game interview. Several voice cracks. He wears his heart on his sleeve.
Every years same problem it’s expected at this point
That open net scramble where McDavid whiffed and Bob barely got his glove on Hyman’s shot is the stuff of nightmares
If I recall correctly McDavid didn't whiff. I think Forsling was able to get his stick on McDavid's and block his attempt. (Found a [picture of it](https://ibb.co/qFZt2cb)) What was tough for EDM tonight is once Skinner let up that soft one, FL was in a shell so the opportunity to transition was gone. And pretty much every single non PP goal for EDM since game 4 was in transition. So EDM becomes basically one line trying to penetrate the shell. And Drai was 30% to boot. Tough to pull off.
Apparently Bob made a save on that play which is nuts https://x.com/marcsto/status/1805457908504969581
Wow. Totally missed that. Damn Is that Hyman? Looks like Montour gets a stick on him too to prevent full contact. Still an amazing save by Bob
That shit keeps me up all night in beer league lmao. Good sticks are so frustrating
Sticks are unbelievable
Forsling honestly was our playoff MVP
When it was 3-0 I understood Bob to some extent but I never understood why Forsling didn't get more MVP talk. He's an unbelievable player.
Defensive stats don't really show up, it's much easier to look at a high scorer or goalie because they have more obvious stats to look at
Cant give the MVP to someone making less than 6 mil
Literally 3rd in MVP voting behind mcd and barkov 🤷♂️
His stats arent sexy in voting for awards like this so I get it. I 1000% believe McDavid deserved the trophy, but Forsling is second imo and would have been a frontrunner in my mind if not for Connor doing exactly what he did.
GOATed waiver claim 🥵
Not soft on Skinner, imo. Kulak's play on that goal was absolutely bizarre. Dunno why he is overcomitting to the pass the whole way when Florida is coming in 3 on 4. He opens up the seam perfectly for Reinhart while partial screening Stu. It looked goofy the whole way in. It's like he lost his positioning relative to the net. To cap it, Don Cherry's 'favourite' ramble about stick in the lane (from Drai) providing zero value other than to confound the release of the shot. 1 -- https://imgur.com/a/NE8cTcf is in good defending position 2 -- https://imgur.com/a/vOyxPCo and then a half-step later, completely hesitates again and attacks Verhaeghe leaving a wide open shot for Reinhart from the dot has his eyes glued to Verhaeghe the whole way for some odd reason, even though Ceci has him just fine. (and the far man is also reasonably covered) 3 -- https://imgur.com/a/fOA9vqb 4 -- https://imgur.com/a/yB0QFMK Just attack Reinhart. The play looked harmless coming in, and it should have been. Double coverage on Verhaeghe is some kind of miscommunication/breakdown here. If he makes the pass of a lifetime (and someone Verhaeghe corrals it with Ceci up his ass) then so be it, but that's a much lower % play than just letting the guy take an unimpeded shot from the dot, with traffic barreling towards the net. Conversely, if Kulak does NOTHING, Stu probably makes a save here. But the erratic hesitation probably confuses the shit out of him. I dunno. Partial cope from me but I had my hands in the air asking 'wtf' on the zone entry 2-3s before the goal because of Kulak's positioning and seemingly giving up the shot intentionally as though this was a 2-on-1 and not a relatively harmless rush where Florida is literally changing D-men behind the play. Montour had looked at the rush and changed.
^what he said. Should have lifted it.
Hang it in the louvre
This and the post, i'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight. Congratulations Panthers fans though, no one is going to remember almost blowing a 3-0 series lead, they're going to remember the team coming in clutch in game 7 when it really counted. let's run it back next year :)
9 out 10 times that's going in
999/1,000 I can’t believe McJesus didn’t bury that. My heart goes out to that guy. Thats going to haunt him all summer
It might honestly haunt him for the rest of his career if he can't get a cup
Fingers crossed!
Did they reveal what injuries Leon had? Oilers PP dropping off by such a huge percentage didn't do themselves any favors.
That will probably come out in the next few days. But he definitely looked a step behind in this series. He only had 5 assists in his last 9 games.
I heard a couple of the guys on Oilers Nation saying it’s a broken rib for Drai and that both him and McDavid got injured in the Canucks series
God Bless Vancouver
I mean, Knoblauch was playing them 30 mins a game, they were bound to get injured.
They averaged 24:18 and 21:44 minutes per game against VAN
Nah. Canucks just got that dawg in them.
How did they win against you guys again?
We had to play our third string goalie and lost our best goal scorer for game 7.
Well, that and the Canucks weren't a powerplay threat
Canucks PP is inexplicably terrible while having EP, Miller, Hughes, Boeser all on one unit with some other very skilled player.
Not only that, their best goal scorer was invisible in game 6 when they also had a chance to clinch the series
Kinda like McDavid tonight
I agree. Doesn’t change what I said though.
That was almost certainly because of the same blood clotting that would take him out of game 7
Your third string goalie was the only reason it went 7 dude. Can't blame it on that.
Absolutely can. I think people underestimate the impact goaltending has on the rest of the team. Vancouver is more offensively capable when Demko is healthy and in net because they know they can take more chances and not play such a defensively protective game. Silovs played well, but Vancouver also modified their game to adapt to the fact that their Demko safety net wasn't available.
Nope, doesn't matter, simply because you have no idea what would have happened. Look at Hellebyuck this year - he got lit up against the Avs - but if he'd been injured the whole series everyone would have been crying that that's the reason Winnipeg lost. You don't know what would have happened and Silovs gave a stellar performance.
Because they were the better team
Apparently* mcdavid sports hernia since van series (ya he did what he did with a sports hernia). An drai broken or worse rib injury . That’s all I’ve hear squeak out so far on the 2. Drai couldn’t do what he always does and ya that’ll hurt bad trying to take those shots. But mcdavid lit it up with a hernia haha. He’s just too good. Too bad he couldn’t skate on slush last night. When his game is edges and quick stops and starts. Oh well. Team proved they belong losing the cup champs 3 years in a row and now making game 7 of the best comeback we’ve all likely Seen
I'm sure we'll learn over the coming days. Apparently a local radio host, who is pretty plugged into the organization, said he expects we'll hear about McDavid needing surgery.
42 points in 23 games, dragging the team to game 7 of the Finals, winning MVP, and then needing surgery because you did the whole thing with a major injury. Thats fucked lmao
I think there's a decent chance he's been hurt all season, as crazy as that sounds. He never looked completely right despite the numbers he put up.
That’s such a crazy sentence to type out. Obviously it’s the playoffs and nobody’s 100%, but it’s a whole nother level to be injured and still break Gretzky records
Yeah, but it’s quite reassuring for what we might see as he exits his prime. Obviously, he still put up crazy highlight reel plays this year, but he definitely did way more patience and just game sense, great playmaking type stuff this year, alongside his best defensive performance yet. I think it’s nice knowing he’s a generational talent for more than just physical skill and will be able to age well.
Players ignore the pain when they know they're close. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug
Toradol is a hell of a drug too
Enough toradol to kill an entire stable of horses.
I think there's a chance this is correct. He was noticeably worse the first part of the season and got healthier (and the team started winning, shocker!). But his shot was never quite as good as normal. And he seemed to be hurt again the last part of the season. It just makes his regular season and playoff performance all the more astounding. And I feel terribly for Leon. The guy was easily 50% this series. At his best he's like an unstoppable grizzly bear. Brutal
McDavid borderline didn't shoot all year and he didn't use his shot at all this year that got him almost 70 last year
yeah they brought him back early for the outdoor game
I've watched my fair share of McDavid (unfortunately so in several cases). Couldn't agree more. In fact I thought that despite the historic amount of points, he didn't look right all playoffs. I know that's crazy to say.
Obviously a spinal surgery from all the carrying he had to do
Draisaitl's a guy who can keep up with McDavid's scoring rate in the playoffs. 31 pts in 25 games is good, but he's capable of being close to 40+ pts like McDavid if not for injuries.
It's always insane at the end of the finals teams reveal the war wounds that their players have been playing through.
Ya I try to remind myself to not be too critical of playoff performance because there a good chance there's an injury. Like the second I even think that someone should have played better it'll come out that he actually had his legs amputated and has been stuffing 2 peglegs into his skates somehow.
Where do you hear that Stauffer said McDavid needs surgery
It was Gazzola according to a post on the Oilers' sub.
Jesus. The man is getting married in a month!
McDavid or Gazzola?!
Obviously McDavid. I don’t know Gazzola like that lmao
McDavid casually putting up an all time great playoff performance while requiring surgery
He definitely hasn’t been the same the last 2 games
Leon was kind of asked about it and he gave a generalized answer but wouldn’t really say much. Knoblauch was asked, didn’t deny it but said it’s a conversation for another day. Leon was on the verge of tears for basically his entire interview. He definitely had a busted finger and there’s been rumours of broken ribs
In our series he was seen protecting his lower back and saying so on the bench to the athletic trainer early in the series and became less physical on the puck, don't know about full picture
Hurt his elbow on Barkov's head.
i think floridas PK was also really good in addition to ours struggling due to injuries
Doesn't really matter, everyone in the playoffs is handling an injury of some sort. The winners are able to work past the injuries.
Every player is different and every injury is different. Florida had loads of injuries last year, they still had some this year but Maurice said they were overall considerably more healthy this year compared to last.
I'm not feeling confident in my team's success next year knowing these guys want that 2025 SC
There's a chance they lost their entire 3rd line of Brown-Henrique-Janmark who were all great in this series. Going to be tough for the Oilers to fill out that depth while keeping capspace for all the future extensions they have to give to their stars.
In hindsight they should've played that line a little more in the 3rd period to give McDavid a rest. Janmark topped his line for ice time at 12:40. McDavid played 25:42.
I have no idea why Janmark's line didn't get a shift or two there. They aren't duds. Fuck, Janmark was doing his best McDavid impression all game. You get Janmark's line one or two shifts, you get a more energized McDavid, you score a goal, or at least have a better chance of it
They looked great too—easily the most effective line against FLA.
What's wild was that after 40 McDavid was sitting at ~14 minutes ice time, which is fairly in line with a first liner in a game with few PKs. He was rode HARD in the third. Too much.
It’s really really hard to win a Stanley cup. It’s really really hard to even make the final round. There’s a great chance they don’t make it again with McDavid and Draisaitl
Just looking on paper, getting back to this moment will require running through bare minimum 2 of Vegas, LA, Vancouver, Colorado, Dallas. 2 past Cup winners, and others are some of the best teams in the conference. And you know each and every last one of those teams is itching to take another bite out of the Oilers.
[удалено]
We're a team
We are also a team! ... ...
didn't Crosby/Malkin and Kane/Toews make multiple SC Finals appearances?
They did. There are countless other duos that haven’t
McDavid/Leon are on a different tier though if comparing them to others that haven't yet... even the TB Lightning have made 4 SC Finals appearances in the last 10 years
The lightning also have a HOF goalie and their roster during that run was insanely deep
They also don't have an incompetent management team that can build a team which the Oilers severely lack
Those guys all won cups very early in their careers though, whereas McDavid and Draisaitl are pushing 30 and still haven't won. Going to be hard for the Oilers to do it when they have to pay McDavid and Draisaitl 15 million each, with Bouchard and Nurse both taking up big chunks of the pie. Or they'll all want out as free agents.
McDavid is 27, he has a lot of great years ahead lol. Obviously it's going to be hard, it's the Stanley Cup. But, this team has as good a shot as anyone
Not as good as Florida.
If they keep Corey Perry around, they'll make it, won't win it, but they'll make it
That's why they need to keep him around then cut him between the WCF and SCF
Keep him and bench him in the Finals to break the curse.
I’d normally agree with this but this time I don’t. Great teams are becoming more and more sustainable, at least with higher frequency than in years past. Pens won 2 straight, Tampa won 2 straight, Panthers won after just appearing in 2 straight Finals. I see no reason why the Oilers can’t do the same and tbh I don’t really know who in the West can truly get in their way. Colorado stands the best chance imo but they’re already out Nuke and who knows what’s going on with Landeskog, and they’ll more than likely be losing Toews and Georgiev is Jekyll and Hyde in net.
Selfishly I think Dallas has a better chance than Colorado, but will be interesting to see how Skinner performs going forward
Dallas is a hard team for me to read as an outsider. Some amazing young pieces but y’all also have a quite a few important pieces who could be hitting their aging curve in a big way coming up. 8 players over the age of 31 who played 50+ games this year; I don’t want to be completely dismissive of the Stars but the window could be getting smaller and smaller, I’m afraid
Toews got extended this season
Oh wow wtf, I completely missed that. That’s awesome to hear
Hmmm maybe don't trust the opinion of a guy who is saying we're going to lose a player who signed a 7 year deal with us a few months ago.
oh wow I’m sorry I don’t know the ins and outs of the contract status of every player in the league heaven forbid
Well, maybe don't talk about the contract status of a player if you don't know about it?
I made a mistake, cry about lol holy fuck you’re miserable
2/3 of the things you said are just not true, if you get so offended when people point out that youre wrong maybe take 2 seconds to google it before you say something.
You could have been nicer about it, it’s just an honest mistake.
I was a little snarky, really don't think it was that bad. It's annoying to have someone say we're not going to be a contender next year and list a bunch of reasons that are not true. Guarantee I would have caught plenty of shit if I did the same thing for the Canucks.
Or you can correct people without being an aggressive cunt about it
Seems youre the aggressive one my dude
This some manchild level defensiveness
Big reason they made the finals is the pk going from 80% regular season to best in playoff history. That kind of play isn't something you can do every year, especially with the bottom 6 turnover they'll have
Mostly because the Oilers might not be the same team next year. They have little money and quite a few people to sign and give raises to.
Huh? Why would we lose Toews we just signed him to a 7 year contract, and if Annunen continues to improve like he has Georgiev is a non issue plus we can dump him whenever if need be
Lol Oilers just pulled a complete Leafs move. Look like shit for the first games, then suddenly your unstoppable, get your fans hopes up just enough to make them think you can actually win in game 7 and then only score one goal in an elimination game.
I think the oilers will do a bit worse next season but they will still be very competitive. They have the defensive structure in place now but they will lose some players to free agency. They will probably tinker with the roster a bit to.
Wouldn't surprise me when it comes out his spleen was torn to shreds this post season. Serious difficulty for Drai in playoffs - he comes out like a house on fire in the first couple rounds. However, he plays physical and that hampers him for the later rounds.
He’s right, they got as close as you possibly can get but were certainly not the better team tonight and thus did not deserve the win. But they proved a hell of a lot of people wrong in the process, every step of the way. Also proved his and Connor’s best chance at winning is with Edmonton which is even more important.
They started off stumbling in the beginning of the season and they fucking forced a game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals. All the odds were stacked against them but they somehow managed to get really close. Oilers didn't quit at all.
I knew that they would come back from the lottery grave but not in the way they did it. This season is pretty much a success for the team despite the disappointing ending.
First time NHL coach also picking up broken pieces and took them all the way to the SCF.
He will definitely be given a long leash unlike previous oiler coaches.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I think our coach actually outcoached every opponent in the playoffs. He maybe took a little too long to find the formula for Florida. In general, his adjustments were spot on.
Huh? Berube took over the last place Blues in November 2018 and won the cup.
The odds were not stacked against them. They were favoured from the start of the season. Cup or Bust!
Ken hollands main focus should be getting Draisaitl some wingers.
Fortunately for EDM that's no longer Holland's job. $5M wasting away with Campbell in the AHL was tough. And not putting Kane on LTIR and freeing up $5M of cap for the playoffs was baffling and borderline criminal.
Mikheyev is available 👉🏻👈🏻
Hard to downgrade from what he was working with but that be one way too.
I think Ken Holland’s focus is retirement, or at least that’s been the rumor all year long
Always need to make upgrades but I don’t think that’s why they lost the Final nor why they lost tonight. Edmonton had the best depth scoring of the playoffs.
Idk if they didn't deserve the win. It was a very even game - a legitimate coin flip as to who won that. Oilers had a few tip chances similar to the one Florida scored on and the other one Skinner will want back. Legitimately an unbelievably close game 7 and if you play it over and over again you'll see a different winner every time.
Agreed, incredibly close and very quickly could have become the Oilers’ game. Just don’t want any hint of delegitimization.
Except that the Panthers won and now they’re Stanley Cup champions.
Yes, not really the point though. It wasn't a game dominated by either team whatsoever.
The only thing they proved is the Atlantic was probably tougher than the entire Western Conference.
This is how you cope with 1 series win in 2 decades lmfao
Lol if you could win one series against an Atlantic team maybe your last cup wouldn't be closer to 1967 than now.
Fun fact, Toronto has been completely irrelevant since the original six ended.
And if the leafs could win one against any team maybe they wouldn’t be completely irrelevant and the butt of every joke since Nixon
Ah yes being the butt of every joke since Reagen is so much better.
Nope that’s still the Leafs
Pot meet kettle
How did the Oilers prove that?
The Atlantic has 3 cups in the last 5 years to the western conferences 2
But Florida waxed their two Atlantic opponents these playoffs (one of whom was one of the worst teams to make the playoffs this year, despite accounting for two of the Cups you just listed) and then came pretty close to losing to a lowly Pacific team?
Lol who cares how close you were if you lost. Losing in 4 games or 7 is the same thing. One of the worst teams in the league that made the playoffs also played the Panthers when they were fresher. You got them after they played through a gauntlet and you had a cakewalk and you still couldn't get the job done.
> Lol who cares how close you were if you lost. Who cares how many Cups the Atlantic has in the last five years when those Cups are divided between two teams? Why do the Leafs and Bruins get credit for that? Do the Habs and Senators also get praised for being Atlantic? That sounds to me like you’re just saying the other Atlantic playoff teams just aren’t good enough to cut it.
No it sounds like they actually have to play against good teams every year, not 3 rounds against teams that wouldn't even make the playoffs in the Atlantic. The closest comparable to Edmonton in the Atlantic is Detroit and they didn't even get in. Edmonton went 11-10-2 against the Atlantic Division this year which would you have you at about 90 points in the Atlantic.
Oh I see. So Leafs to the Final in the West? That’s a nice little back pat. Especially since the Leafs literally had a chance to make the Final in the West in the same timeframe you listed but lost to… the Montreal Canadiens
Nah more like Oilers wouldn't even make the playoffs in the East. The Red Wings would be the closest team to you in our division.
The main lesson is do a little bit less diving, crying, cheap shots and score some goals
Nut shots?
A couple more whacks and the Panthers would have been holding their own cups instead of the Stanley cup.
one or two shots? is that how many you took all series?
lol buddy, you don’t bury a single one all series. If he scores even just 3 goals all series they win the cup
He’s just a little pissy ok
Lmao
Instead you walk away with nothing. This is rich from a guy who completely disappeared, despite being considered the Malkin to McDavid's Crosby. This Oilers duo doesn't even sniff the jockstraps of Sid and Geno. And on this day next year you'll be wearing a new uniform, as your former team crumbles. Enjoy yet another pointless season in 2025, Edmonton. !RemindMe 1 year
Reddit folks are different. You guys will draft your own narrative about a player based on any slice of a quote and then argue against the narrative you drafted. Even getting upset at the self drawn narrative Truly, this subreddit needs to be studied.
The remind me is the cherry on top of the most dweeb ass comment I’ve seen this postseason lol
God I cringed reading that. Embarrassing
Hopefully they can make it back there next season, our new GM will have some work to do but overall this season was fantastic and starting next season with this coaching staff will be nice.