It wasn’t the end to the season that the Edmonton Oilers had hoped for. After making back to back Stanley Cup Finals appearances, Edmonton bowed out in the first round to a young Anaheim Ducks squad that was making its return to the postseason for the first time since 2017.
Since then, it’s been a media firestorm in Alberta, as McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and more have openly questioned the direction of the team. When asked if he was concerned that the Oilers are headed in the wrong direction, Draisaitl didn’t mince words.
“Yes, I am concerned about that,” the German forward told reporters. “We’re not trending in the right direction. We’ve taken big steps backwards. We’ve got to get a grip of this and head back in the right direction.”
“In what world do you have the best player in the world on your team, and you’re not looking to win? I mean, I know we’re looking to win, but we have to be better. There’s no way around it: we have to improve. [McDavid] is signed for two more years, and God knows where that goes. But as of right now, we have two years. We have to get significantly better.”
Indeed Edmonton looked like a team that was outclassed in most areas of their series vs. the Ducks, especially along the blue line and between the pipes. It was a coming out party of sorts for defenceman Jackson LaCombe who registered 9 points (1G, 8A) through 6 games, while regularly drawing the unenviable task of trying to slow down McDavid and his line mates.
Heading into the series deciding game 6, McDavid had only been on the ice for 33 non-LaCombe minutes, vs. 51 minutes against the Ducks top defender. When all was said and done, the former number 1 draft pick still averaged a point per game for the series (1G, 5A), but by his lofty standards, that’s about as good a job of shutting his production down as one could expect.
Nevertheless, while Anaheim was praised throughout their first round matchup against the reigning Western Conference champions for their ability to negate McDavid’s impact. Now it would appear as though at least part of that success can be attributed to a nagging injury according to head coach Kris Knoblauch.
At his season ending media availability Knoblauch told reporters McDavid had been playing through a foot/ankle fracture which sapped him of his signature on ice burst. He also said that Jason Dickinson was dealing with a similar issue to close out the season as well.
“Obviously, it affected their play,” Knoblauch said in speaking with reporters. “But, [we have] a lot of admiration for them wanting to be out there, and contributing as much as they did during the playoffs.”
The loss will certainly put the team’s front office under the microscope heading into the offseason, but shouldn’t be viewed as a full blown closing of Edmonton’s window to compete. This season marked the first time since the 2020-21 campaign that the Oilers failed to get out of the first round.
That being said, reinforcing the blue line and finding a true starting goaltender need to be at the top of Bowman & Co’s to do list heading into the summer. Connor Ingram and Tristan Jarry have demonstrated that they’re perfectly capable backups at this stage of their NHL careers. But expecting them to be the last line of defence for a championship calibre team has always been a stretch.
Meanwhile Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse aren’t getting any younger, and Evan Bouchard is not without his warts defensively despite the booming shot from the point. So whether by trade or free agent signing, bringing in a true starting goaltender and top 4 defenceman are 1A/1B in some order of priority for the front office.
The silver-lining in their early exit is that McDavid will have a longer than usual offseason to get fully healthy which may not be a bad thing after two gruelling Cup runs the last two years. But make no mistake about it, he’ll be paying close attention to the team’s offseason maneuvering.
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