The Oilers must move on quickly from their Game 7 loss
A busy off-season has already started
A comeback for the ages fell just short last night as the Edmonton Oilers lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers in a nail-biting Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. After becoming the first team in 79 years to force a deciding game in the championship series after trailing 3-0, the Oilers came agonizingly close to joining the 1942 Maple Leafs as the only clubs to complete the rally. But the reinvigorated Panthers held on to capture the first Stanley Cup in franchise history and prevent the Oilers from becoming the first Canadian team to win the Cup in 31 years.
Another big trophy did go to an Oiler though, as Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. He's the first player from the losing team to get the award in 21 years and just the second non-goalie, after Philadelphia forward Reggie Leach in 1976.
Florida fans booed the choice (they wanted Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky), but McDavid was the correct pick. He broke Wayne Gretzky's record for most assists in a post-season with 34 (in 25 games), while his 42 points were the fourth-most ever and just five shy of the Great One's record. McDavid fuelled the Oilers' comeback with an incredible eight points in Games 4 and 5, and even when he didn't get on the scoresheet (which was the case in Games 6 and 7) he was the best player on the ice and a scoring-chance machine.
WATCH l Sam Reinhart lifts Panthers over Oilers in Game 7:
Losing Game 7 of the Cup final "sucks," as McDavid said after the game, but the Oilers still have a strong core in place for another run next year.
Along with the best player in the world, they've found a good young coach in 45-year-old Kris Knoblauch, who guided the team to the league's best record from the time he took over in mid-November to the end of the season. Leon Draisaitl, despite his sub-par performance in the Cup final (no goals and just three assists in the series, plus some flubbed chances in Game 7) remains an elite second banana. 24-year-old defenceman Evan Bouchard just added to his breakthrough 82-point regular season by finishing second in the playoff scoring race and recording the most assists ever by a blue-liner in a single post-season. Zach Hyman scored a playoff-best 16 goals after potting a career-high 54 this season. In net, hometown boy Stuart Skinner settled into his role as the No. 1 goalie and gained valuable big-game experience and confidence during the final.
Having said all that, Edmonton has some interesting choices to make this off-season. Draisaitl is entering the final year of his contract at the relatively bargain price of $8.5 million US (that's $4M less than what McDavid makes and $750K less than second-pair defenceman Darnell Nurse) and is eligible for an extension starting July 1. Should the Oilers hand the 2019-20 MVP a fat new long-term deal? Or might they explore a trade if Draisaitl indicates he wants to test the waters as an unrestricted free agent next summer? Meanwhile, McDavid has two years left on his deal.
WATCH l Oilers react to Game 7 loss:
Of more immediate concern is the list of Oilers set to become unrestricted free agents on Canada Day. They include 20-goal man Warren Foegele, Game 7 scorer Mattias Janmark, trade-deadline pickups Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick, and Corey Perry, who just lost his fourth Cup final (with four different teams) in the last five years. Edmonton must also decide what to do with goalie Jack Campbell, who's been such a bust since signing a five-year, $25M free-agent deal in 2022 that he was waived and sent to the minors this season.
It's unclear who will make these decisions as veteran general manager Ken Holland's contract is about to expire and it's rumoured that he might be leaving. Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson (McDavid's former agent) could already be looking for a new GM.
There's no time to waste. The late-ending Stanley Cup final means the NHL draft is now just three days away, though Edmonton doesn't have a first-round pick after sending it to Anaheim in the Henrique/Carrick trade.
Meanwhile, with the start of free agency less than a week away, other teams are already making moves. Yesterday, Ottawa acquired 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from Boston for a late first-round pick on Friday (Ottawa still has its No. 7 overall choice), forward Mark Kastelic and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. If the Oilers want to keep up with the other contenders for next year's Cup, they'll have to move on from their Game 7 defeat fast.
In other hockey news today, the Tampa Bay Lightning's Jon Cooper was named Canada's head coach for next year's 4 Nations Face-Off tournament and the 2026 Olympics, while NHLers Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick and Shea Weber headline the new inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
