EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl tugged at his full playoff beard as he waited for the primary query.
Sporting a team-issued hoodie, the Edmonton Oilers celebrity stood in entrance of a video board on the base of the dressing room moments after yet one more elimination loss, this time to the eventual champion Vegas Golden Knights. This one felt totally different than the earlier knockout blows.
Over the subsequent two minutes and 40 seconds, Draisaitl tried to make sense of what had simply occurred all whereas holding again tears.
“It hurts,” he stated. “It’s robust to seek out the phrases proper now.”
It wasn’t simply that the Oilers misplaced. It was how they misplaced.
The collection was tied and the Oilers have been up by a aim previous the halfway level of the second interval of Sport 5 in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights received a two-man benefit due to a careless high-sticking penalty and scored a pair of power-play objectives. They shortly added one other one — scoring 3 times in a 1:29 span.
Sport 6, the elimination recreation, was eerily comparable. The truth is, the Oilers had a lead in each recreation of the collection, but received simply twice. They didn’t really feel like they have been crushed by a superior opponent. They felt like they beat themselves.
That’s why Draisaitl stated it felt like a “failure or a wasted season nearly.”
“I don’t assume anybody in right here desires to really feel like that once more,” he stated.
His working mate for 9 years, captain Connor McDavid, additionally chimed in, saying you generally “must undergo a few of this to win.”
After which he added: “Let’s hope it’s the final time.”
Edmonton, after rebounding from a horrific begin to this season, is once more poised to be one of many favorites within the Western Convention to advance to the Stanley Cup Last. That’s very best contemplating its two celebrity gamers had beforehand referred to as it a “Cup or bust” season.
The “bust” a part of that’s what has Oilers followers on edge.
Draisaitl, winner of the Hart and Artwork Ross trophies and the Ted Lindsay Award in 2020 and one of many best aim scorers of this period, can be coming into the ultimate 12 months of his contract. He’s eligible for an extension on July 1, however, if these talks falter, within the NHL that tends to imply a commerce for one thing now somewhat than danger shedding a participant for nothing. Such a commerce would break up among the best one-two punches in NHL historical past and would considerably alter the Oilers’ roster.
The second a part of that grand proclamation is McDavid, the most effective participant of his era and already a lock to be an inner-circle Hockey Corridor of Famer. He has two years left on his contract. If Draisaitl have been to go away, would McDavid be far behind?
That’s the reason this 12 months’s playoff look is seen as huge for one of many league’s most storied franchises, however a franchise that hasn’t sipped from the exalted Cup since 1990.
“We’re proper within the window,” says winger Zach Hyman, “so now we have to take benefit.”
Earlier within the season, that window seemed to be closing. The Oilers had misplaced to the lowly San Jose Sharks in early November, dropping their file to 2-9-1, tied with the Sharks for final place within the NHL. With the gamers reeling, that end result was the tipping level for a training change. A victory over the Kraken two nights later was immaterial.
The Oilers’ loss to San Jose in November was the low level of their season. (Kavin Mistry / NHLI through Getty Photos)
Whereas GM Ken Holland was with the workforce in Seattle, hockey operations CEO Jeff Jackson was working the telephones from Toronto. Simply three months into his job after serving as McDavid’s agent, Jackson was spearheading a dramatic transfer. He sought and obtained permission from the New York Rangers to rent their American Hockey League coach Kris Knoblauch. Jackson had a long-standing relationship with Knoblauch courting again to the Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. That’s the place Knoblauch coached a number of of his shoppers — particularly McDavid and Connor Brown.
Jay Woodcroft was fired regardless of accumulating a .643 factors proportion, the most effective of any bench boss in franchise historical past — albeit over simply 133 video games. His right-hand man, assistant coach Dave Manson, was additionally out.
And from the information convention in Edmonton introducing Knoblauch by to the subsequent morning’s participant media availabilities, there have been extra eyebrow-raising moments.
Jackson pressed Oilers legend Paul Coffey — the one that beneficial Jackson be employed within the first place — to tackle Manson’s duties working the protection. Although Coffey had by no means coached within the execs, he had relationships with some blueliners from his previous position in participant improvement — particularly, Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard — and was routinely across the workforce as an adviser to proprietor Daryl Katz. Nevertheless, Jackson actually needed to persuade Coffey, who pressured that being an assistant coach wasn’t his choice.
The following day, earlier than a house recreation towards the New York Islanders, the gamers had their flip to talk. McDavid tried to debunk narratives that he was the one calling the pictures. He referred to as Woodcroft a top-five coach after the primary spherical of the playoffs simply months earlier.
“It’s somebody all of us thought extremely of,” McDavid says now.
Draisaitl, with a hoodie pulled over his head, sounded irritated by what had transpired and gave a full-throated endorsement of Woodcroft.
Trying again on these days, Draisaitl talked concerning the dangerous vibes. “There’s quite a lot of adverse discuss and negativity typically,” he says. “It was perhaps a little bit blown out of proportion, however clearly not a superb begin by any means.”
His teammate, blueliner Mattias Ekholm, says the choice to vary coaches was a little bit of a shock. “We did so properly the 12 months earlier than,” he says. “It was fairly fast, and so they have been out. However this can be a enterprise of profitable. If you don’t try this, the results are going to comply with.”
The Oilers’ begin was surprising not solely as a result of they entered the season as maybe the Stanley Cup favorites. It was additionally as a result of McDavid and Draisaitl raised the bar all summer season.
It began with McDavid addressing the workforce in a closed-door assembly after the playoff loss to Vegas. That is our window to win. Now we have an incredible workforce. We’ve received to snatch it.
Draisaitl received a home close to McDavid’s offseason residence in Aurora, Ont. That allowed him to coach alongside McDavid and the Oilers’ massive southern Ontario crew, which incorporates Hyman, Nurse and Bouchard.
Even enjoyable occasions had a spirit of competitors. McDavid invited his teammates to his cottage for a weekend and, as they regarded out at an island over the lake, the talk picked up. The query: How lengthy would it not take to swim there?
“We had a wager that it might in all probability take half-hour to do it,” winger Warren Foegele says. “Two weeks later, we get a video and it’s Connor swimming to the island. He does it in like 10 minutes.
“Simply seeing that work ethic and that drive, if he’s doing that, there’s no cause why we will’t work onerous within the offseason.”
McDavid referred to as everybody again to Edmonton greater than every week sooner than common for pre-training camp captain’s skates so the Oilers may get a head-start on the season.
However Ekholm, arguably their high defenseman, and Ryan McLeod, their third-line middle, sustained accidents in these casual practices and missed all of the exhibition video games. Ekholm sat out the season opener, too, an 8-1 drubbing in Vancouver. Each gamers took some time to stand up to hurry.
McDavid missed two video games early, and he and Draisaitl received off to sluggish begins offensively.
Because the workforce struggled, Woodcroft was within the early levels of implementing extra of a zone protection to imitate the reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, who allowed the fewest objectives within the league. There have been loads of kinks of their finish, and the Oilers additionally have been depressing at defending off the frenzy.
They couldn’t rating; they’d the second-worst capturing proportion at five-on-five. They didn’t get sufficient stops; they’d the worst save proportion — which led to high-priced goalie Jack Campbell being waived and demoted.
The primary day on the rink for Calvin Pickard, Campbell’s stand-in, was the morning skate of that San Jose loss.
“It sounds bizarre, however I believe it was a superb factor we misplaced that recreation,” Ekholm says. “Typically you might want to hit all-time low earlier than you may get again up.”
And whereas there have been loads of tangible causes for the sluggish begin, there may need been a lingering psychological hurdle to clear, too.
“From the beginning of the 12 months, you’re occupied with that loss from the playoffs once more,” says Hyman, who signed with the Oilers in 2021 largely to play with McDavid and Draisaitl. “You’re considering that you simply’re already going to be there. In actuality, it’s a brand new season and also you’ve received to flush the previous.”
“It was trying fairly bleak,” McDavid says. “However this group was resilient. We stick collectively. I’m not going to say it was by no means doubtful, however we knew that now we have the group to do it and that perception was there.”
Oddly sufficient, one video clip on the finish of one other lopsided loss would possibly outline the Oilers’ turnaround.
They have been down 5-1 with simply over 5 minutes to play within the second interval of a loss, their third in a row, to the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C. McDavid and Draisaitl sat subsequent to one another on the Oilers bench, each trying depressing. McDavid shook his head in frustration. That’s when Draisaitl gave him a supportive faucet on the arm and McDavid returned the gesture.
From the second of these delicate motions, the Oilers have been a special workforce.
They scored the subsequent two objectives to make a recreation of it earlier than shedding 6-3. From there, although, the discuss within the room turned.
“It took us time to say, ‘Hey, we higher seize this — this can be a new 12 months — and we have to begin taking part in the best way we have to play,’” Hyman says.
The day after American Thanksgiving, the Oilers had a recreation in Washington. Knoblauch, an analytically minded coach, needed to offer a special perspective. He broke down the rest of the season into eight-game blocks and, upon crunching the numbers, felt the Oilers would want to win 5 out of each eight video games to make the playoffs.
“That benefitted us loads,” says Foegele, who additionally performed for Knoblauch in OHL Erie. “If you break it down right into a small image the best way Knobber did there with small segments, it gave this group perception. We simply went on a roll.”
The Oilers destroyed the Capitals 5-0 in what was simply their finest efficiency to that time. “There was a way within the room that issues have been going to be OK,” McDavid says.
Oilers middle Mattias Janmark palms the puck to goalie Stuart Skinner after their 5-0 win in Washington. (Geoff Burke / USA Immediately Sports activities)
It was the primary of eight straight wins. After one other three-game shedding streak, the Oilers received their remaining two contests earlier than the Christmas break after which stored that going by upping their victory streak to 16 — one shy of an NHL file — heading into the All-Star break.
That 24-3 stretch saved their season.
“Pucks have been stepping into. We have been getting saves. We have been collectively taking part in higher as a bunch,” Foegele says.
Knoblauch put a better emphasis on rush defending after he got here aboard. He additionally tweaked the penalty kill, giving the accountability to Mark Stuart — a former NHL blueliner and a holdover from Woodcroft’s workers. The Oilers started limiting the variety of forwards that received short-handed time and put them in common pairings. Coffey inspired the defensemen to work on their breakout passes.
“If you get a brand new coach — I’ve had just a few now — you return to your roots and your particulars,” Ekholm says.
It’s inconceivable to know if the Oilers can be the place they’re at present, simply arising in need of their first division title since 1987, with Woodcroft and Manson nonetheless behind the bench. They’ve by far the most effective factors proportion within the NHL since American Thanksgiving.
“Knobber’s are available in and simply been a relaxing presence,” McDavid says. “He settled the waters. He’s calm behind the bench. He’s introduced that sense of confidence.”
It didn’t harm that McDavid and Draisaitl received again on monitor. An unimaginable scoring run after the teaching change received McDavid again within the dialog for a fourth straight scoring title and sixth of his profession earlier than a late minor damage prevented that from occurring. He turned the fourth participant in NHL historical past to file 100 assists in a season. Draisaitl surpassed the 40-goal, 100-point thresholds but once more.
“It was a tough transfer on the time,” says Hyman, who surpassed the 50-goal mark for the primary time. “However, in hindsight, the best way the season has gone with Kris’ success, it was the fitting transfer.”
With all his teammates gone after a late-season observe, Foegele sits in his stall within the vacant Oilers dressing room. He glances in any respect the nameplates of the star offensive gamers and smiles.
“I really feel that is the most effective workforce I’ve been on,” he says, scanning the room. “There’s quite a lot of management, quite a lot of video games performed.”
Then Foegele’s eyes fixate on Draisaitl’s stall.
Foegele had the most effective offensive output of his profession, hitting the 20-goal mark in a contract 12 months, whereas taking part in practically 40 % of his five-on-five minutes subsequent to Draisaitl. He credit Draisaitl for instructing him the best way to be extra affected person and search for the optimum play within the offensive zone. However he is aware of Draisaitl’s contractual standing is the elephant within the room.
“You’d be foolish not to concentrate on that. He’s a giant piece of this workforce,” Foegele says. “He’s a three-time 50-goal scorer, a five-time 100-point getter. Everybody talks about Connor and then you definately speak about (Auston) Matthews. However in all probability Leon’s title ought to be up there loads.
“He desires to win. He cares. I don’t assume you’d be capable of discover anybody like him. You need to win with among the best gamers within the league.”
Holland, the GM, is within the remaining 12 months of his contract — one thing Jackson wouldn’t handle for this story. Holland would say solely that he, Jackson and Katz will sit down to debate his standing after the season. However with due respect to the Corridor of Fame supervisor, Draisaitl’s future is probably the most urgent difficulty dealing with the franchise.
Jackson advised The Athletic in January the Oilers plan on providing Draisaitl a contract extension in July, the earliest time that may occur.
How will the playoffs influence Draisaitl’s choice to signal?
“It doesn’t actually,” he says. “I’m not in a mindset proper now the place I take into consideration these issues.”
Till he places pen to paper, this model of the Oilers as we all know it — the one with Draisaitl and McDavid main the best way — is in limbo.
“They’re among the best one-two punches the NHL has ever seen,” Jackson says. “I can see them desirous to proceed that aim of making an attempt to win Cups collectively. I’m not up at night time worrying about it. We’ll take care of it when now we have to take care of it.”
Over 28 playoff video games in 2022 and 2023, McDavid and Draisaitl have posted 53 and 50 factors, respectively. However they don’t have a championship, or perhaps a Stanley Cup Last look to indicate for it.
After all, these within the Oilers’ room really feel a heightened sense of urgency.
“We like our group. There’s little doubt about it,” McDavid says. “That’s all there may be actually to say.”
Other than Bouchard and goalie Stuart Skinner, McDavid is the youngest a part of the core. He’s 27. Draisaitl is 28. Nurse is 29. Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are 31. Evander Kane is 32. Ekholm is 33.
No marvel McDavid and Draisaitl went with “Cup or bust” proper after the Vegas loss.
“It’s the time (to win). I don’t know if I’m sticking with that slogan,” Draisaitl says. “There’s 15 different groups which might be going to make our life hell — and we’re going to attempt to do the identical factor. It’s a little bit simpler stated than completed.
“However it’s positively our window. We’re additionally conscious of how a lot work it’s going to take.”
All which means is the Oilers can’t afford to let alternatives slip away.
“All people’s of their prime or, if not, actually near it,” Ekholm says. “We all know the scenario we’re in. We all know what sort of personnel now we have in right here. All people’s been round. We’re not ready for something.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic. Photographs: Invoice Wippert / NHLI through Getty; Steph Chambers / Getty)