Can the Edmonton Oilers Return to the Stanley Cup Final Next Season?

Stan Bowman enters the current season as a GM who’s just got lucky. Sure, he’s known well for the three Stanley Cup titles that he brought to the Chicago Blackhawks, but he was also quite notable in bringing in six new players in the 2009-10 season – all of which combined for a total of zero points, just pure cardio and some fouls for sure. This is the nightmare that is looming for the Oilers. They are already good enough to take on the Panthers for seven games, and with the team already adding Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson to compliment their star duo in McDavid and Draisaitl, it is easy to expect that Bowman will just have to make the most of his expertise – trading for draft picks, bringing in more veteran players on an expiring deal, just not splurge on bringing in random players who would contribute nothing to the overall team success.

Speaking of the team’s top two stars, it cannot be denied that their performances in the Stanley Cup Final have been quite silent compared to the previous series we have seen from their Western Conference campaign. The Oilers have enjoyed impressive strides in their games with both McDavid and Draisaitl coming up with consistent performances that see them blaze opposing teams with their massive scoring and passing, which have made the duo quite formidable over the years. Draisaitl, for instance, dominated nothing in the Final and hardly made his presence felt aside from the two assists that he’s had in Edmonton’s Game 4 win. Other than that, the German star did not even have a single goal after having scored 10 in his first 16 playoff games. McDavid, on the other hand, would definitely love to build on the chance to establish his legacy in the game after winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the previous Final.

The Oilers didn’t really have much of an easy trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They had to defeat the Los Angeles Kings (4-1), the Vancouver Canucks (4-3), and the Dallas Stars (4-2), and that seven-game battle with the Panthers didn’t add well to make their path so easy. It is easy to say that the Oilers are now going to be the hunted for this league, and one can definitely say that they will not get the same mid-level playoff run that has seen them have a few rest days en route to the final. There are a lot of teams that are expected to make waves in the West, such as the Stars, Canucks, and even the Nashville Predators have made a lot noise in the offseason with their impressive signings – all signs point towards a tougher campaign for the Oilers heading into the next campaign – and this is going to be quite the spectacle that many fans have been waiting for.

Let’s be clear, the defending champions are definitely expected to take on the Stanley Cup Final and defend their title now more than ever, and it cannot be denied that we are going to see a lot of winning strides from the Panthers. However, it is also on the Edmonton Oilers to find their way to the top as well, and as interesting as it seems, their battle with the Panthers deserve a sequel. Since the 2020 edition, at least one of the two teams who played in the Final have made it back to the top of the league in straight years, and it seems that this is the time for both teams to have a rematch of their battle once more. Who knows, maybe the ending can turn out to be a different story or just another failed run for the Oilers.