A Heaven in Alberta?

For the second time in two years, Edmonton will play Florida in the Stanley Cup finals. After falling behind 3-0 to begin last year’s series, Edmonton willed its way back to a game seven, in which Florida thwarted Connor and co. on its way to the Panthers’ first Cup. As this column is being written from a position sympathetic to the Oilers, the 2024 finals was a missed opportunity for Edmonton, an organization that saw a championship as its destiny since drafting Draisaitl and McDavid in consecutive years. All-access videos abounded in the wake of last year’s series: McDavid screaming in the dressing room about the team’s need for more desperation, and then, post-loss, Zach Hyman promising his teammates they’d be back in 2025. Hyman’s prophecy has been fulfilled. Now is the time for vengeance. 

Directed by the calm hand of media glutton Paul Maurice, the Panthers appear to be an even stronger version of the team that won last year. Seth Jones, once nearly forgotten about in Chicago, has had moments of brilliance throughout these playoffs, like during the final phase of Florida’s ruthless dispatching of Toronto. Florida also has Brad Marchand, who has now beaten the Leafs a hilarious five times in his playoff career. A human fisher on skates, Marchand has fourteen points during this playoff run, thriving more in the hardscrabble NHL playoff style than he did in the faster, cleaner version of hockey we saw at the Four Nations Face-off. Elsewhere, Florida has retained the same thoroughbreds, from the outstanding Aleksander Barkov, to the Sams (Bennett and Reinhart), Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe. Florida will punch you in the mouth – or the back of the head, as Anthony Stolarz found out before regurgitating over his bench – then it will beat you. 

But Edmonton is also a better team, even with Hyman’s injury. His stylistic shift into the playoffs’ premier basher has been remarkable, and Hyman is the sort of forward you need to confront the Panthers. Despite this loss, Edmonton is still a more physically commanding team than last year, with a healthier roster than the version which pushed Florida to its limit. Mattias Ekholm, so important during the 2024 run, is finally back, and Evander Kane is also able-bodied. Newly acquired Trent Frederic’s offensive output has been modest throughout the playoffs but he should bring some needed beef against the physical Panthers. And Connor Brown, a versatile player who missed part of the Dallas series, is slated to appear in game one. 

As important as any one of these players might be, they are all living in the universe created by McDavid and Draisaitl, who once more have been excellent through the playoffs’ three rounds. At various points in the Dallas series, McDavid looked like he had been fired from a slingshot, and we should expect the same level of desperation in his second tour of the finals. Clearly aware of the opportunity (the “legacy-defining” arguments on podcasts are tiresome but true in the grandiose world of sports hierarchy-creation), McDavid’s competitive drive will be surging on Wednesday night. 

In the post-series press conference last Thursday, McDavid looked at ease, as though he’d been here before and knew exactly what to do next (the questions aimed at successful players during these media sessions are agonizing in the degree to which fawning reporters lead players towards gracious responses by stating the answers in their question: e.g., [as McDavid is seated directly beside Draisaitl at the podium], “Leon, what kind of spark does it give the group when your captain goes end-to-end at a decisive moment to score a goal like that?”). To draw conclusions by reading a stranger’s body language may be dumb, but McDavid has learned from the Oilers’ various setbacks. These are not the eyes of an innocent: 

The one variable that seems certain is Edmonton not falling into a three game deficit. Recently, Jeff Marek discussed the fallacy that speed is what wins in the NHL playoffs, rightly pointing to Barkov and Tkachuk as slow skaters that have reached post-season superstardom. He emphasized success in tight spaces as the intangible that separates winning teams from the Toronto Maple Leafs. In McDavid, the Oilers have the most electric skater in NHL history and a more mobile defense corps than it did last year, but Edmonton’s supporting roster also has more of the hard-nosed quality required for this speed to express itself. And while the Oilers will of course need reliable goaltending from Stuart Skinner, their physicality must to fend off Florida's forecheck so the league's best forwards can fly. By making the champions question their identity – something Edmonton finally appears poised to do – the Oilers can batter Florida’s bullies. 

Prediction: In a physical, grinding series marked by lightning-fast offensive flourishes and shifts in playing style, Edmonton matches Florida’s brawn and opens enough space for its scorers to soar. Oilers in six.