On the surface, it's easy to argue that any series loss can be heartbreaking, infuriating, shocking, or all of the above. No matter if you're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender or a younger side proving your worth in the playoff landscape, one of the four options above will typically represent the post-elimination sentiment.
But for the Edmonton Oilers, it's worth adding a fifth option: none of the above.
That does make for a way-too-complex multiple choice exam question, and it's easy for fans to argue the contrary. Not only were the Florida Panthers absent from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but a weaker-on-paper Pacific Division gave the Oilers a relatively-clear path to the Western Conference Final. And with the loss to the Ducks, talk surrounding captain Connor McDavid and his future with the team is only accelerating at a faster rate.
In terms of the series loss to the Anaheim Ducks itself, there's a lot of source material for fans to argue against the fact that this series loss means nothing. For one, the Oilers scored the first goal in each of the first five games of the series; the Oilers would go on to win two of those five contests, but teams that score the first goal in the playoffs win over 70% of those games on average, a rate that is four percent higher than in the regular season. At the same time, the Oilers couldn't stop a much-faster Ducks' team when it came to goalscoring; the Ducks scored at least three goals in five of the six games in the series, with four of those contests seeing the Ducks score at least four times.
That is a similar storyline to playoffs past. When the defense and the goaltending wasn't at their peak, opponents could basically score at will; that's exactly how the Panthers upended the Oilers' strong start in last year's Stanley Cup Final and went on to win the series in six games. Even during their second-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, the Oilers' four losses saw the Golden Knights score at least four goals. Three of them saw Vegas score at least five goals, while the Oilers themselves were held to two goals or fewer three times.
That storyline once again materialized during this postseason, and it has cost the Oilers dearly. Now, the Montreal Canadiens are the lone Canadian team left to prevent the country's Stanley Cup drought from extending to 34 years.
But what about the contrary?
Like the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Oilers have played a lot of hockey over the past handful of seasons.
Prior to this postseason, the Oilers had reached the Conference Final in three of four playoff runs, making it to the Stanley Cup Final in two of them. That is similar to the Panthers and Lightning to some capacity; the Panthers played in three Stanley Cup Finals from 2023 to 2025, while the Tampa Bay Lightning did the same from 2020 to 2022.
Both teams fell off to some capacity the following season. During the first round of the 2023 playoffs, the Lightning lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. Meanwhile, the Panthers could not earn the chance to properly defend their second Stanley Cup, becoming just the fourth team in NHL history and the first since the 2014 Los Angeles Kings to miss the playoffs the season after winning the Stanley Cup.
Fatigue and injuries were a key part in the struggles of the Panthers and Lightning, and the same was present for this year's Oilers team.
And sometimes, maybe it is best that a team that goes on several deep playoff runs over the span of a few seasons doesn't do so the following year. A build up of sucessive two-month offseasons doesn't exactly bode well for players, especially if they have been dealing with injuries throughout a playoff run.
While the Oilers' regular-season results weren't the greatest, they were nonetheless good enough to secure decent postseason seeding. And this year was no exception; only a late-season winning run was enough to pull the Oilers away from an ultra-competitive playoff race and secure their seventh-consecutive postseason berth. There was even decent conversation around the possibility of the Oilers missing the playoffs.
Could the Oilers have willed their way to a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final? I guess we'll never know.
But for now, the Oilers have a much-needed opportunity to rest up and to prepare for next season. And they'll be back. This is still a team capable of making the playoffs and winning rounds, and ample rest will give the team a chance to come back stronger next season.
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