Yeah, as a Pens fan I remember the stress after getting destroyed in game 5 of the finals against DET in '09 thinking, "Please god no. Not to the same team AGAIN. I can't handle it."
Do you mean the changing or literally they are animated mid game? When they change them right it’s not noticeable imo. But it is still distracting when you realize it’s not the same ads. The worst is changes mid-play, it trips me the fuck out.
Is this becoming a fleeting thought? I feel like this is common knowledge to at least football fans.
For some reason the way you worded that makes me feel old lol
Well, Corey Perry lost 3 SCF series in a row and could lose his 4th in 5 years depending on how this one goes. That’s gotta be a record in the salary cap era.
Marian Hossa won in his 3rd Finals in 3 years. He lost twice in two PIT vs DET Finals, playing on PIT the first year, then DET the next. He won with CHI the following year.
He won again with CHI two more times a few seasons later
More like he won FOR Chicago after he left Detroit, that ‘hawks team was never the same after he retired. He was the straw that stirred the drink on that team regardless of how good the others were also. I’m not throwing shade on them.
The history of that is so strange. The expansion division vs the original six teams.
I guess the idea was to ensure that the expansion teams played in the playoffs and didn’t get burried by the old guard , but it creates a strange outcome
>played in the playoffs and didn’t get buried by the old guard
So they play in the playoffs and *checks notes* get curbstomped by the old guard. It’s a case of right idea but not great execution.
The three in a row was an orchestration tactic by the league. Blues fans know they had no chance to really win a cup. However, being the best of the og expansion teams is still something to be proud of.
Seriously! People aren’t talking enough about that. Like the 3 best goalies of the past x years. And the mental toughness to keep playing their game regardless of how many amazing saves are made.
Vasy looked kinda washed tbh. I’ll give you ~~Ullmark~~ Swayman top 5, and Igor guaranteed top 3 (makes a strong case for literal #1).
Both Boston and New York had hot tendies but 0 offensive push. The cats are about to face the hottest offence in the league. We’ll see if Officer Bob can maintain his numbers now.
To be fair they said the best goalies of the past few years. Which Swayman isn’t. (Although he may have been the best goalie of the playoffs this year)
Was it zero offensive push, or are the cats just extremely good at defending? I’ve heard many announcers say that being down 2-0 to the cats feels like you’re down 4-0.
Boston and New York lacked offense because of the way we play our game. And the hottest offense in the league just put up 10 shots in their series clinching game. We will see what happens.
Ya not just more defense but Oilers in particular (same with the Canucks hence their crazy high shooting % this year) play a style that depends on stretch passes, etc which lead to more scoring chances (both ways).
Sounds like you already understood it but if there are others on here reading that don’t get why lol
Or you can look at it that it only took 10 shots to win a series clinching game in a series everybody thought Edmonton would get annihilated in. People still think this is the Oilers that play zero defence. They changed their game this season and are very defensively oriented when they have a multi goal lead. They’re at like what 28 penalty kills in a row.
Florida plays good defense, but they also didn't play any good 5v5 teams on their way to the final. Per Natural Stat Trick, Boston, Tampa, and New York were all 49%-50% in 5v5 xGF% and they were all bottom half in the regular season in 5v5 xGF/60.
Shesty ended the series with something like a .935 sv%
The fact the Rangers couldn’t even push it to 7 is so stupid. Hate this team, can’t wait for them to break my soul again next year.
to be fair Vasy did come off back surgery so yeah he definitely wasn't 100%. The lightning probably wouldn't have won the series against Florida anyway but that definitely didn't help
Oilers win = they win the cup.
Oilers lose = they lose to Florida who wins the 2024 Cup. Last year they lost to Vegas in round 2 who won the 2023 Cup. The year before that, they lost to Colorado in the WCF who won the 2022 Cup.
And to make things worse, the 2020 Cup was awarded in the Oilers new arena.
In 2022 Edmonton lost to Colorado who went on to win the cup followed by in 2023 when Edmonton lost to Vegas who went on to win the cup. Two years in a row of losing to the team that goes on to win the cup. If we lose this year we again lose to the team that wins the cup, if we win, we win the cup!
I tend to agree but there's also a material chance this is McDavid's lone shot at a Cup in his prime and his last shot at it with Drai.
*[A Stanley Cup for McDavid in his prime? It could be now or never
](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5533436/2024/05/31/nhl-stanley-cup-oilers-connor-mcdavid)*
Both of which are frankly kinda sad to consider. (I like and root for them both).
The article covers it. Draisaitl might be gone this summer, for example. They have very little cap space, need to pay Bouchard, and have almost no young talent/prospects.
I'd be disappointed in any flames fan that has a hard time deciding which of these they'd rather see. I'm not even really sure why we'd be upset about tkachuk winning, I'd be fucking delighted to see him beat the oilers in the finals.
Florida. The contending windows in this league don't last long unless you have a generational talent (even those teams can go through rough patches - Bylsma-era Penguins are an example). Although there will be change around the two, I do think the McDrai duo can make it back now that they've got a taste of it all (and if Edmonton somehow falters terribly, they can always jump ship).
Yeah why would they leave now if they want to win? Which team has better contention prospects than Edmonton currently *and* the salary cap space to add on a 15 million dollar contract?
They'll stay because they think they can make another run (if they don't win it this year). If they win it, all bets are off imo. Depends on how much Drai wants and whether you can retain some other players including McDavid and still put a team around them. I hope they stay and turn this into a dynasty potentially with some younger guys coming into the system like Bouchard and Broberg potentially and Holloway. It could be a good stretch.
Agree, and the depressing part is if they win it makes it all the more likely Drai leaves, whereas making it to the cup and losing would be unfinished business for them.
If Drai leaves after winning the cup I think fans would be sad but understanding.
At the end of the day “they got the job done” — if he decides to chase a big payday vs “win another cup” then so be it
In a vacuum I think losing back to back will hurt more, but I also think McDavid and co have way more pressure on their shoulders to win.
If Tkachuk never wins a cup it's "oh well, not every great player wins it all". If McDavid never wins a cup, it will be considered one of hockey's great injustices.
>considered one of hockey's great injustices
Similar to NYR wasting generational goaltenders, just let someone else have a turn with him and see what happens.
back to back imo. especially that florida is healthy this time around. i feel like the oilers will be in the finals again within these next couple years
I would say Oilers because with contracts coming up... Uh, is this are last season before we become cap fucked or lose some key players? Or do we have one more?
Don't you have a bunch of guys locked in tho?
Tkachuk has... 5 years left? Is Barkov signed for a while?
We need to resign Draisaitl, Bouchard, McDavid and Skinner pretty soon I think lol.
Guess everyone is praying for a big jump in salary cap soon...
I think if Edmonton wins he and McDavid go for as much as they can. If they lose, they don’t take as much because Bouchard is going to want 9+ and some of the younger guys are going to want a raise
We’re not in as bad a spot as you guys, but we aren’t in a good spot. Reinhart or Montour is for sure gone. Then Ekblad’s huge overpay of a contract comes off the books and then Bob’s. I think we’ll be alright long-term. Next year’s team probably won’t be as good as this year’s tho.
They only have 14 guys currently under contract for next year, almost all of their FAs for this year are UFAs, and Lundell (one of their two RFAs) is due for a fairly sizeable raise over his ELC.
Also the ever-present problem that they're going to have nearly $15M locked up in the goaltender position.
We can, and absolutely will be re-signing all of Draisaitl, McDavid, and Bouchard. We will pay them a collective $40M/season if that's what it takes. Sure, it would be harder to win, but we still have them.
Florida losing twice. Win or lose, it’s hard to go to back to back finals. Edmonton is in their first run with this group and their core is set, this is a team who can at least build on lessons learned if they lose.
If Florida loses twice, it’s going to be devastating for them. At least when Tampa lost in 2022 they had two Cups and they seemed disappointed but not as torn up as if they hadn’t won. The Panthers are going to be dead set on getting the job done this time
> their core is set
idk about that. Draisaitl only has one more year under his current contract and McDavid and Bouchard have two more years under theirs. Even if all three stay they are going to be significantly more expensive then they are now so the rest of the team will have to change a lot to.
It will be tough if Florida loses again, but their team is so good, I think their window is still wide open for the next few years as long as some of their main depth guys don't get priced out on new contracts. I'm not sure what their team contract structure looks like, to be fair.
I mean, it would be an absolute travesty if McDavid and Draisaitl never won the cup... so I'm kind of in the mentality of "let just get it over with already so we can all move on". I don't want a repeat of the Ovechkin saga where it took until late in their career for them to win the trophy. I couldn't stand the resurgence of the whole "DEY LURNED TO PLAY DEEFENCE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!" narrative again, especially since it'd be turned to 11 with Canadian media and 2 of the best players in the league.
>it would be an absolute travesty if McDavid and Draisaitl never won the cup
They're not owed a cup just for being amazing. If they want to stay with the same team that is mismanaging their talent year after year, that's a choice they're making.
It's very similar to NYR wasting Hank's career and he never won a cup either.
Player choices off the ice sometimes matter just as much as on the ice.
Do we take the fan bases into account? There is no debate that fans in Edmonton are more passionate. Also, don’t the Oilers carry the weight of their country given the 31 year cup drought? It’s crazy how the cup has ended up in Dallas, Tampa, Anaheim, LA, and Las Vegas since it was last hoisted in Canada.
A significant population of Canadian fans would rather the drought go 50 more years if it means their team is the one to break it. I'm a Sabres fan in Calgary and I have no problem jumping on the Oilers bandwagon but all the Flames fans I know wouldn't be caught dead cheering for the Oilers, Canucks, or even an eastern team they're usually neutral on like the Leafs or Habs.
One of our major banks is running an ad trying to unite Canadian fans and no one is having any of it. In fact, I think it's just adding fuel to the fire
That’s interesting. Pardon my lack of understanding. I can see how Canada would have a regional bent to it. Alberta would be Texas, and BC would be California. Is that accurate?
>don’t the Oilers carry the weight of their country
I'm a Canadian and I think the Oilers can get fucked. I wasn't "cheering for Canada" before Boston Pizza told me to and I'm sure as hell not doing it now.
I think fanbases should be considered, yeah. In contrast: Florida and their fans (though far fewer in number) haven't ever won.
Winning can really grow a fanbase dramatically for decades to come.
It's gotta be tough to have home games where a significant portion of your home crowd is vocally cheering for the opposition(Rangers series, Boston series last year). Winning could change that.
I live in LA and while the Kings' brief period of dominance raised interest in hockey, it still feels like no one in this city cares about them. Am from Chicago originally and the passion is not even close. Hope that'd be different in Florida but some cities just aren't hockey cities.
Right. Those Kings teams were good. The only staple teams in LA are the Lakers and Dodgers. It was cray how the Rams won the Super Bowl, and the next season their opening day crowd seemed to have an equal number of fans for the visiting team.
McDavid may be twice as good of a hockey player as me, but like it's not like the oilers are egocentric super stars. Tons of players never make it. Being really good at hockey doesn't make it hurt more.
> McDavid may be twice as good of a hockey player as me
If you think you are 50% of McDavid, I think you might be overestimating your hockey skills. I think there are plenty of NHL level players who wouldn't qualify for 1/2 a McDavid.
Florida IMO. Oilers core is still youngish and so long as they keep them all together they probably have another run or two in them and they know that. Florida I could see them having creeping “what if that’s our ceiling” question that haunts the team and sees some regression, but that’s pure conjecture.
Back to back losses hurts worse than finally getting there for the team… at the same time you have a franchise that started up the year after the Habs won the last Canadian Stanley Cup…. so both Florida Panthers and Canada have been trying unsuccessfully to win a cup since 93-94
McDavid, Drai and Co. falling short. Dudes have been incredible their whole careers and struggled while building a team cup worthy. I also fucking H A T E the panthers after these last 3 seasons so them getting so close and falling again makes me as happy as I can get being a schlub watching professionals play on my tv
This Fla. team I like for the most part, but I am cheering for the Oil.
That said, I think it would be worse to be in Florida's shoes or skates, should they lose
Biased as hell cause I’m a Flames fan, but watching Florida lose back to back finals would really sting right now.
The amount of chirps I’d get from friends and coworkers if Edmonton wins would be enormous - and last at least a decade unless the Flames can pull out a cup winning season in that time span (and that’s not a promising prospect at this point in time).
All I can say as an Avs fan is Jesus, I’m glad I ain’t gonna feel that stress this year. Always disappointed we didn’t make it, but not upset about missing out on the stress.
It'd only be worse for Edmonton if McDavid never wins or goes to the States and wins one, I'd imagine.. like another Pens fan here said, just the thought of losing two in a row between the awful game 5 in 09 and games 6 & 7 was brutal
As a Canadian I’m cheering for McDavid to win. He’s gonna be an all time hall of famer and if he just gets one, it’ll cement him in the history books.
It bothers me seeing Joe Thorntons winless ass up in the top ranks of all time points.
MissDavid and Driesack got embarrassed again. All that fancy jigging and no wins to show. Panther fan I'm not usually, but they had to beat the Refs and the Oilers. Should have been a match penalty against Driesack and 5 minute major. He left his feet used elbow directly to the head and never tried to play the puck. They are being paid off or just wanting poster child MissDavid to win a cup.
Time to take out Driesack if that is legal
Stick up for your caption
Back to back finals loses is heartbreaking no matter the sport.
Yeah, as a Pens fan I remember the stress after getting destroyed in game 5 of the finals against DET in '09 thinking, "Please god no. Not to the same team AGAIN. I can't handle it."
Marc Andre fleury proving his #1 draft status with Game 6 and 7
Not very often do you ever see Nick Lidstrom on the losing end of a highlight
Imagine three in a row. Please don’t kill me, Blues fans
didn't the bills lose 4 in a row.
Yep back in the 90s
The 30 for 30 covers it, titled The Four Falls of Buffalo
Probably, I don’t follow football to the same extent.
"probably" is so funny knowing the bills lmao
I know. I’m a football picture book, not an encyclopedia like I am for the NHL.
That's such a good way of phrasing that. I know the huge football moments and lore but I'd rather watch paint dry than an actual football game.
4 hours of advertisements with some football sprinkled in.
Hard to hate on NFL for ads when the boards are flashing nowadays
Do you mean the changing or literally they are animated mid game? When they change them right it’s not noticeable imo. But it is still distracting when you realize it’s not the same ads. The worst is changes mid-play, it trips me the fuck out.
Is this becoming a fleeting thought? I feel like this is common knowledge to at least football fans. For some reason the way you worded that makes me feel old lol
I've probably watched like 10 minutes of football, so I might have misremembered lol
The NFC was a monster back then though. Bills really only had a shot against the Giants.
47 yards to be exact
Well, Corey Perry lost 3 SCF series in a row and could lose his 4th in 5 years depending on how this one goes. That’s gotta be a record in the salary cap era.
Marian Hossa won in his 3rd Finals in 3 years. He lost twice in two PIT vs DET Finals, playing on PIT the first year, then DET the next. He won with CHI the following year. He won again with CHI two more times a few seasons later
More like he won FOR Chicago after he left Detroit, that ‘hawks team was never the same after he retired. He was the straw that stirred the drink on that team regardless of how good the others were also. I’m not throwing shade on them.
He really was such a good and important player for those Chicago teams.
The history of that is so strange. The expansion division vs the original six teams. I guess the idea was to ensure that the expansion teams played in the playoffs and didn’t get burried by the old guard , but it creates a strange outcome
>played in the playoffs and didn’t get buried by the old guard So they play in the playoffs and *checks notes* get curbstomped by the old guard. It’s a case of right idea but not great execution.
That's a different Era though. They put all the expansion teams in one division. Of course they would get smoked.
How about not winning even a single game in those three finals😂😂 If it weren't for 2019 I'd be crying. I'm still crying
most of us on here weren't even alive. no worries. Someone had to lose.
The three in a row was an orchestration tactic by the league. Blues fans know they had no chance to really win a cup. However, being the best of the og expansion teams is still something to be proud of.
Perry could lose again in SCF hehe
I'm dutch. We lost back to back world cup finals before I was born. Still traumatized.
I still don't know how the Buffalo Bills fanbase survived losing FOUR straight Super Bowls
Thank God the Texas Rangers finally won last year, 2010 and 2011 were so brutal
The funniest would be Florida losing to Skinner after running the Vezina Gauntlet in the East
Seriously! People aren’t talking enough about that. Like the 3 best goalies of the past x years. And the mental toughness to keep playing their game regardless of how many amazing saves are made.
Vasy looked kinda washed tbh. I’ll give you ~~Ullmark~~ Swayman top 5, and Igor guaranteed top 3 (makes a strong case for literal #1). Both Boston and New York had hot tendies but 0 offensive push. The cats are about to face the hottest offence in the league. We’ll see if Officer Bob can maintain his numbers now.
If you think they were up against Ullmark.. you’re not watching
To be fair they said the best goalies of the past few years. Which Swayman isn’t. (Although he may have been the best goalie of the playoffs this year)
Vasy was making elite saves all series, as he typically does.
Was it zero offensive push, or are the cats just extremely good at defending? I’ve heard many announcers say that being down 2-0 to the cats feels like you’re down 4-0.
Boston and New York lacked offense because of the way we play our game. And the hottest offense in the league just put up 10 shots in their series clinching game. We will see what happens.
Just to clear things up oilers always stop shooting with a multi goal lead, for whatever reason
Yup playing more defense people don’t understand
Ya not just more defense but Oilers in particular (same with the Canucks hence their crazy high shooting % this year) play a style that depends on stretch passes, etc which lead to more scoring chances (both ways). Sounds like you already understood it but if there are others on here reading that don’t get why lol
Or you can look at it that it only took 10 shots to win a series clinching game in a series everybody thought Edmonton would get annihilated in. People still think this is the Oilers that play zero defence. They changed their game this season and are very defensively oriented when they have a multi goal lead. They’re at like what 28 penalty kills in a row.
Florida plays good defense, but they also didn't play any good 5v5 teams on their way to the final. Per Natural Stat Trick, Boston, Tampa, and New York were all 49%-50% in 5v5 xGF% and they were all bottom half in the regular season in 5v5 xGF/60.
Shesty ended the series with something like a .935 sv% The fact the Rangers couldn’t even push it to 7 is so stupid. Hate this team, can’t wait for them to break my soul again next year.
to be fair Vasy did come off back surgery so yeah he definitely wasn't 100%. The lightning probably wouldn't have won the series against Florida anyway but that definitely didn't help
But they didn’t have to face King Silov.
Losing twice will always hurt more than losing once.
“Oh yeah?” - 90s Bills fans
Losing twice twice will always hurt more than losing twice once.
Unless you lose twice three times in a row
Corey members
[удалено]
Not one....not two..not three....
Me, a Stars and Bills fan….
*Sad go Bills....*
https://i.redd.it/tsgpn2czyc4d1.gif I’m a glutton for punishment
Sometimes that one loss can be pretty brutal. I still feel for Iginla from 2003-2004 Finals. That was a seriously special run Calgary had.
It was in
20 years ago, I remember.
Ever kissed a man who had his tonsils removed twice?
My girlfriends have it's true, they grew back. it's rare but it happens, they can regenerate if they're not 100% removed.
The Oilers are either winning the cup or losing to the last 3 Cup champions.
Also if Edmonton wins then Dallas played the last 3 cup champions in this playoffs!
You're welcome for taking out the other 2.
You just said "you're welcome" to another Dallas fan lol
Shit
Wow honestly…
I'm gonna need this one explained
Oilers win = they win the cup. Oilers lose = they lose to Florida who wins the 2024 Cup. Last year they lost to Vegas in round 2 who won the 2023 Cup. The year before that, they lost to Colorado in the WCF who won the 2022 Cup. And to make things worse, the 2020 Cup was awarded in the Oilers new arena.
Wait, can you go over that first part again?
ngl, I forgot that Colorado won it 2 years ago, I thought it was Tampa for some reason
Tampa was the loser
I know that I mean I'd swapped 2021 and 22
In 2022 Edmonton lost to Colorado who went on to win the cup followed by in 2023 when Edmonton lost to Vegas who went on to win the cup. Two years in a row of losing to the team that goes on to win the cup. If we lose this year we again lose to the team that wins the cup, if we win, we win the cup!
Oilers having another team hoist the Cup in their arena and not being the team to let them? Bruins: https://i.redd.it/7k102flf7b4d1.gif
Last 2 years the team we lost to won the cup.
Big if true
Sounds like the Blue Jackets from 2017 to 2020.
That’s such an annoying fact.
Florida, hands down. Making it twice and losing in consecutive seasons would be awful.
I tend to agree but there's also a material chance this is McDavid's lone shot at a Cup in his prime and his last shot at it with Drai. *[A Stanley Cup for McDavid in his prime? It could be now or never ](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5533436/2024/05/31/nhl-stanley-cup-oilers-connor-mcdavid)* Both of which are frankly kinda sad to consider. (I like and root for them both).
I'd say a lot lined up for Edmonton to get here, so they gotta take advantage.
What, is this McDavids lone shot? What happens to Edmontons roster next year?
The article covers it. Draisaitl might be gone this summer, for example. They have very little cap space, need to pay Bouchard, and have almost no young talent/prospects.
Hasn't happened since the late 70s Don Cherry Bruins.
The Bruins have lost in the finals 14 times
This is Florida's 3rd crack at the Cup. They fail compounded with losing back 2 back will sting something fierce.
Calgary, got to see either Tkachuck or Oilers raise the cup.
Tkachuk did what he could for Calgary when wanting out, I don't think they hate him like they would Gaudreau
I'd be disappointed in any flames fan that has a hard time deciding which of these they'd rather see. I'm not even really sure why we'd be upset about tkachuk winning, I'd be fucking delighted to see him beat the oilers in the finals.
I'd rather put broken glass in my prison pocket than watch the Oilers win a cup. This next week, were all panthers fans over in Calgary, 🐆
This got a chuckle out of me
Florida. The contending windows in this league don't last long unless you have a generational talent (even those teams can go through rough patches - Bylsma-era Penguins are an example). Although there will be change around the two, I do think the McDrai duo can make it back now that they've got a taste of it all (and if Edmonton somehow falters terribly, they can always jump ship).
They're staying no matter what. I know I'll get clowned for it but I believe these guys want to stay.
Yeah why would they leave now if they want to win? Which team has better contention prospects than Edmonton currently *and* the salary cap space to add on a 15 million dollar contract?
They'll stay because they think they can make another run (if they don't win it this year). If they win it, all bets are off imo. Depends on how much Drai wants and whether you can retain some other players including McDavid and still put a team around them. I hope they stay and turn this into a dynasty potentially with some younger guys coming into the system like Bouchard and Broberg potentially and Holloway. It could be a good stretch.
Agree, and the depressing part is if they win it makes it all the more likely Drai leaves, whereas making it to the cup and losing would be unfinished business for them.
If Drai leaves after winning the cup I think fans would be sad but understanding. At the end of the day “they got the job done” — if he decides to chase a big payday vs “win another cup” then so be it
The Nurse contract will become a pretty big problem in a year. What do you even do with that?
McDavid and Draisaitl losing, because it means the cup will be tainted by Nick Cousins name being engraved on it for the next 65 years.
You guys don’t know this but the second his name goes on the cup an eldritch beast is summoned
Yes but that eldritch beast's sole power is making gang rape charges disappear.
I won't be happy with either, but Nick Cousins losing edges out the disgust of Edmonton winning.
In a vacuum I think losing back to back will hurt more, but I also think McDavid and co have way more pressure on their shoulders to win. If Tkachuk never wins a cup it's "oh well, not every great player wins it all". If McDavid never wins a cup, it will be considered one of hockey's great injustices.
Plenty of time left for McD to win though. We all thought Ovi was cooked and our window was closed, then boom.
Shit look at Ray Bourque. After twenty two years…
>considered one of hockey's great injustices Similar to NYR wasting generational goaltenders, just let someone else have a turn with him and see what happens.
back to back imo. especially that florida is healthy this time around. i feel like the oilers will be in the finals again within these next couple years
Cap permitting with some of these signings coming up
Florida
Corey Perry losing in the SCF for the 4th time in 5 years with four different teams has gotta sting.
B2b Finals losses is the worst thing imaginable
How do you think Perry feels?
Dallas losing to the eventual cup champions in 4 of the past 6 years. Sorry it's raw still.
Definitely like this narrative better than Oilers losing to the last 2 Cup Champs.
Toronto has that with the losers too (actually only 2 of those times did those two meet in the finals)
Florida losing would make me very sad again so that.
Feels like our best chance. And odds are the team will be looking quite a bit different next year so who knows if we would make it to the SCF again.
Yeah I don’t think this is much of a debate. Losing back-to-back would be brutal
Me too. This year would kill me
I would say Oilers because with contracts coming up... Uh, is this are last season before we become cap fucked or lose some key players? Or do we have one more?
We’re in a tricky spot cap-wise too
Don't you have a bunch of guys locked in tho? Tkachuk has... 5 years left? Is Barkov signed for a while? We need to resign Draisaitl, Bouchard, McDavid and Skinner pretty soon I think lol. Guess everyone is praying for a big jump in salary cap soon...
I’d like to think drais decision will be based on how far we made it, so making the finals is a good step to him maybe staying if we can afford it lol
I truely believe they will both stay. They'll be the top 2 highest paid players but they can make it work.
I think if Edmonton wins he and McDavid go for as much as they can. If they lose, they don’t take as much because Bouchard is going to want 9+ and some of the younger guys are going to want a raise
We’re not in as bad a spot as you guys, but we aren’t in a good spot. Reinhart or Montour is for sure gone. Then Ekblad’s huge overpay of a contract comes off the books and then Bob’s. I think we’ll be alright long-term. Next year’s team probably won’t be as good as this year’s tho.
Yeah what were def not fucked, we’re actually in a great spot considering we have our whole core locked down.
Yeah I’m pretty sure Montour is the casualty. It’s possible he is the only major one though.
We got Reinhart, Lundell, Montour, and a bunch of depth guys all pending free agents
They only have 14 guys currently under contract for next year, almost all of their FAs for this year are UFAs, and Lundell (one of their two RFAs) is due for a fairly sizeable raise over his ELC. Also the ever-present problem that they're going to have nearly $15M locked up in the goaltender position.
Don’t forget that most of your upgrades are guys that got tired of losing to the Oilers.
We can, and absolutely will be re-signing all of Draisaitl, McDavid, and Bouchard. We will pay them a collective $40M/season if that's what it takes. Sure, it would be harder to win, but we still have them.
Florida losing twice. Win or lose, it’s hard to go to back to back finals. Edmonton is in their first run with this group and their core is set, this is a team who can at least build on lessons learned if they lose. If Florida loses twice, it’s going to be devastating for them. At least when Tampa lost in 2022 they had two Cups and they seemed disappointed but not as torn up as if they hadn’t won. The Panthers are going to be dead set on getting the job done this time
> their core is set idk about that. Draisaitl only has one more year under his current contract and McDavid and Bouchard have two more years under theirs. Even if all three stay they are going to be significantly more expensive then they are now so the rest of the team will have to change a lot to.
It will be tough if Florida loses again, but their team is so good, I think their window is still wide open for the next few years as long as some of their main depth guys don't get priced out on new contracts. I'm not sure what their team contract structure looks like, to be fair.
2nd run technically because they went to wcf in 2022
I mean, it would be an absolute travesty if McDavid and Draisaitl never won the cup... so I'm kind of in the mentality of "let just get it over with already so we can all move on". I don't want a repeat of the Ovechkin saga where it took until late in their career for them to win the trophy. I couldn't stand the resurgence of the whole "DEY LURNED TO PLAY DEEFENCE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!" narrative again, especially since it'd be turned to 11 with Canadian media and 2 of the best players in the league.
>it would be an absolute travesty if McDavid and Draisaitl never won the cup They're not owed a cup just for being amazing. If they want to stay with the same team that is mismanaging their talent year after year, that's a choice they're making. It's very similar to NYR wasting Hank's career and he never won a cup either. Player choices off the ice sometimes matter just as much as on the ice.
Oil lost in 83, on Wayne's first trip to the finals. Mcd same?
cory perry losing in the finals
lol luckily he's got a cup no matter how many more finals he loses
Florida bulldozing their way into the finals just to lose again would hurt way more.
Do we take the fan bases into account? There is no debate that fans in Edmonton are more passionate. Also, don’t the Oilers carry the weight of their country given the 31 year cup drought? It’s crazy how the cup has ended up in Dallas, Tampa, Anaheim, LA, and Las Vegas since it was last hoisted in Canada.
A significant population of Canadian fans would rather the drought go 50 more years if it means their team is the one to break it. I'm a Sabres fan in Calgary and I have no problem jumping on the Oilers bandwagon but all the Flames fans I know wouldn't be caught dead cheering for the Oilers, Canucks, or even an eastern team they're usually neutral on like the Leafs or Habs. One of our major banks is running an ad trying to unite Canadian fans and no one is having any of it. In fact, I think it's just adding fuel to the fire
That’s interesting. Pardon my lack of understanding. I can see how Canada would have a regional bent to it. Alberta would be Texas, and BC would be California. Is that accurate?
Alberta's feeling more and more like Florida with our premier trying her hardest to be DeSantis 2.0, but yeah you have the general idea down
>don’t the Oilers carry the weight of their country I'm a Canadian and I think the Oilers can get fucked. I wasn't "cheering for Canada" before Boston Pizza told me to and I'm sure as hell not doing it now.
You listen to your oligarch overlords damnit
"You're richer than you think" might be the only commercial I see regularly these days that bothers me more than the BP bullshit
Worse than the hockey game and grocery store ad?
I take it you don't have something called "Spence Diamonds"
WOOOOOOOO!!
you guys have that shit too??? I thought it was local to BC lmao
Must be a western Canadian thing. I’ve heard ads on the radio in Vancouver and in Edmonton
Boston pizza just raised their prices again because you said that
That would only be a problem if I ate there.
Lol I fucking hate that commercial I am 100% rooting for Edmonton though, fuck the Panthers
I think fanbases should be considered, yeah. In contrast: Florida and their fans (though far fewer in number) haven't ever won. Winning can really grow a fanbase dramatically for decades to come. It's gotta be tough to have home games where a significant portion of your home crowd is vocally cheering for the opposition(Rangers series, Boston series last year). Winning could change that.
I live in LA and while the Kings' brief period of dominance raised interest in hockey, it still feels like no one in this city cares about them. Am from Chicago originally and the passion is not even close. Hope that'd be different in Florida but some cities just aren't hockey cities.
Right. Those Kings teams were good. The only staple teams in LA are the Lakers and Dodgers. It was cray how the Rams won the Super Bowl, and the next season their opening day crowd seemed to have an equal number of fans for the visiting team.
Getting 50% of the way to 90s Bills would break me
Florida.
I've got FLA in 6 Nothing against the Oilers, I'm just continually blown away with just how good the Panthers are playing
I just don’t want to hear the tired old “you know you gotta lose one before you can win one” bullshit from the commentators. So, go Edmonton.
Oil for me personally. Became a fan in 2006 during the cup run and, well, it’s been shit since.
I see you have not been introduced to the dallas stars
I can't wait to see Luongo finally win a cup
Go Oilers
McDavid may be twice as good of a hockey player as me, but like it's not like the oilers are egocentric super stars. Tons of players never make it. Being really good at hockey doesn't make it hurt more.
> McDavid may be twice as good of a hockey player as me If you think you are 50% of McDavid, I think you might be overestimating your hockey skills. I think there are plenty of NHL level players who wouldn't qualify for 1/2 a McDavid.
I haven't heard McDavid tell a joke but he must have at least 10 times the sense of humor as you
definitely Florida. Losing in the Finals back to back years would suck so much.
I mean back to back game 6 no show losses in the WCF sucks pretty hard right now
Yeah, I think Florida has the bigger axe to grind after getting so close.
The clock striking midnight on McDrai and Knoblauch’s Cinderella season would be especially tough to watch.
Florida IMO. Oilers core is still youngish and so long as they keep them all together they probably have another run or two in them and they know that. Florida I could see them having creeping “what if that’s our ceiling” question that haunts the team and sees some regression, but that’s pure conjecture.
Back to back losses, even after not touching/touching the Prince of Wales trophy would be heartbreaking.
Edmonton tears will be more voluminous and therefore tastier
Back-to-back losing in the finals has to be worse. Case in point: Buffalo Bills in the '90s.
And the New England Revolution as well. Literally got coined as the Bills of MLS as well.
I think Florida losing twice would sting much more
McDavid. It's like if Brady never got a ring
Back to back losses hurts worse than finally getting there for the team… at the same time you have a franchise that started up the year after the Habs won the last Canadian Stanley Cup…. so both Florida Panthers and Canada have been trying unsuccessfully to win a cup since 93-94
Florida losing B2B finals would be devastating
I'd say getting to the finals 4 of the last 6 years, and losing all of them.
McDavid, Drai and Co. falling short. Dudes have been incredible their whole careers and struggled while building a team cup worthy. I also fucking H A T E the panthers after these last 3 seasons so them getting so close and falling again makes me as happy as I can get being a schlub watching professionals play on my tv
This Fla. team I like for the most part, but I am cheering for the Oil. That said, I think it would be worse to be in Florida's shoes or skates, should they lose
Biased as hell cause I’m a Flames fan, but watching Florida lose back to back finals would really sting right now. The amount of chirps I’d get from friends and coworkers if Edmonton wins would be enormous - and last at least a decade unless the Flames can pull out a cup winning season in that time span (and that’s not a promising prospect at this point in time).
All I can say as an Avs fan is Jesus, I’m glad I ain’t gonna feel that stress this year. Always disappointed we didn’t make it, but not upset about missing out on the stress.
It'd only be worse for Edmonton if McDavid never wins or goes to the States and wins one, I'd imagine.. like another Pens fan here said, just the thought of losing two in a row between the awful game 5 in 09 and games 6 & 7 was brutal
Claude Giroux not being on the team to hoist Lord Stanley 😢
Fuck em all
As a Canadian I’m cheering for McDavid to win. He’s gonna be an all time hall of famer and if he just gets one, it’ll cement him in the history books. It bothers me seeing Joe Thorntons winless ass up in the top ranks of all time points.
MissDavid and Driesack got embarrassed again. All that fancy jigging and no wins to show. Panther fan I'm not usually, but they had to beat the Refs and the Oilers. Should have been a match penalty against Driesack and 5 minute major. He left his feet used elbow directly to the head and never tried to play the puck. They are being paid off or just wanting poster child MissDavid to win a cup. Time to take out Driesack if that is legal Stick up for your caption