Tensions are always high heading into Game 7, but this one feels different for the Edmonton Oilers.
There’s no way around it as they prepare for Monday’s winner-take-all matchup of their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks. This is the biggest game of the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl era.
Never has the outcome of a single contest had the ability to change the narrative around this franchise or potentially alter its course in the nine seasons that Nos. 97 and 29 have played together.
Beat the Canucks and the Oilers will advance to their second Western Conference final in three years. The Oilers, already the best team in the regular season from the moment Kris Knoblauch was hired on November 12 with a .703 points percentage, would deserve top marks for reaching another Final Four.
They won’t be favorites against the Dallas Stars, who are skilled and deep at every position and have the best goaltending if Jake Oettinger is at his best.
But the Oilers are much better than when they faced the Colorado Avalanche in the league semifinal two years ago. They were happy to be there in 2022. Having managed Calgary in a Battle of Alberta series, they were happy to finally break through.
The Oilers were outplayed.
“We felt like losing to Colorado was a big step forward for our group,” McDavid told The Athletic before the playoffs. “We lost to a better team that was in their way.”
Added winger Zach Hyman: “We thought we probably should have won a couple of games, but they were better.”
That is not the case and it would not be his way of thinking this time. The Oilers might be the underdogs, but they would have a real shot at making the Stanley Cup Final. There’s no reason to believe they couldn’t give the Stars a hard-fought series.
They wouldn’t just be knocking on the door; They would be chopping it up with an axe.
They won’t even get that chance if they lose on Monday.
If that happens, the Oilers will have worked all season to overcome a terrible start only to end up right where they were when last season ended. Only now it will look much worse.
Oilers players were devastated to lose to the Vegas Golden Knights. They thought they had given that series away.
“It feels like there’s no progress or maybe even a step back just from losing a close series,” McDavid said. “There is no shame in losing to a team like Las Vegas. We felt like we were better than what we showed in that series. “That’s what’s disappointing.”
They will regret even more being eliminated by the Canucks, a team they were heavily favored to beat, especially the way they lost Games 1 and 5.
A loss would leave the Oilers in a possible state of transition, especially since Draisaitl, the other half of an unreal one-two punch with McDavid, is a year away from being eligible for free agency.
Admittedly, the Oilers should remain competitive in the short term in what looks like a disappointing Pacific Division. But your path to improvement is not obvious.
The Oilers are the oldest team in the NHL, even if they can get younger by saying goodbye to outstanding UFAs like 39-year-old Corey Perry and 34-year-old Sam Gagner.
When looking at the roster, it’s hard to find more than a couple of players with growth potential. A few years of disappointing drafting have left their prospect pipeline among the worst in the NHL. Draft picks are also scarce, a result of the addition of veterans in recent years.
Cap space is limited: just under $11 million with a 13-man roster, according to PuckPedia, especially with Connor Brown’s $3.225 million games-played bonus bill coming due. There are ways to make room, such as buying out Jack Campbell and trading Brett Kulak so Philip Broberg can be a regular. But any desire to see Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane and their big contracts moved must be tempered because they both have no-movement clauses.
But the biggest wild card is Draisaitl, who is eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1 and is expected to be offered one by the Oilers.
Leon Draisaitl will become a free agent during the 2025 offseason. (Codie McLachlan//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
These have been his best playoffs so far with 23 points in 11 games. That’s saying something considering his remarkable production (100 points in 60 contests) throughout his career.
What will you think about the team’s direction if the Oilers fall again in the second round? Of course, McDavid’s contract also ends a year later.
So clearly Monday night is important to this organization. The importance of the result cannot be underestimated.
Only one other result of a playoff contest has even come close to having this kind of swing. That was Game 7 of Round 1 against the Los Angeles Kings.
The 2022 playoffs represented the fourth trip to the playoffs for the McDavid-led Oilers.
The first, in 2017, meant the Oilers got their feet wet even though winning a round and taking the next series to seven games was a nice feather in their cap.
They lost in the qualifying round to Chicago in 2020. The Oilers came through that season and the bubble playoffs were the strangest, fakest postseason ever.
They were swept by Winnipeg in the first round of the North Division the following season. Oddly enough, they were probably the best team in that series. They were referees and goalkeepers. They lost a game when Josh Archibald committed a selfish penalty.
But there were no more excuses in 2022. Dave Tippett was fired after a nasty midseason faint and the Oilers took off after Jay Woodcroft replaced him. However, Woodcroft did not have a contract for the next season and a first-round exit was no longer acceptable.
Whether Woodcroft returned or not, there would have been major changes had the Oilers not won Game 7. Instead, McDavid recorded a goal and an assist in 27:23 as part of one of the best games of his NHL career. given what was in the game. line.
There was a lot at stake then. They are huge now.
The Oilers are two years more experienced and two years more advanced. McDavid and Draisaitl are still McDavid and Draisaitl. But just think about some of the key updates. Hyman is better. Evan Bouchard is better. Mattias Ekholm is better than Duncan Keith at the respective stages of their careers. Warren Foegele hasn’t shown it yet in the playoffs, but he had a career season of his own.
The Oilers should be prepared to compete for a Stanley Cup. They can’t let this opportunity slip through their fingers. A win on Monday will keep them on that path and give them their best chance at ultimate supremacy in the McDavid era.
A loss creates a lot of uncertainty about the Oilers’ future. The most surprising thing is that it will be questioned whether they have reached their peak with McDavid and Draisaitl at the helm.
So don’t feel bad about grinding and biting your nails on Monday night, Oilers fans.
(Top photo: Derek Cain//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.