While the Edmonton Oilers might play in one of the smaller markets in the NHL, they've always gotten plenty of attention thanks to a local passionate fan base and media. It also helps when you previously had the best player in league history, and now another one who is taking aim at the Mount Rushmore of hockey.
Which brings us to the Score, who on Friday completing their five-part series of the Top 25 biggest sports storylines in 2025. Now keep in mind this includes all of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, as well as the likes of MLS, tennis, Formula 1, WNBA and college football.
Despite this competition for attention, the Oilers manage to have connections to two of the Top 25 storylines of 2025. In fact even more impressive, these respective storylines have actually made it into the Score's Top 10.
Chasing down the Great One
The first storyline involving the Oilers comes in at number four, and relates to Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of the NHL's all-time record for goals. Of course, Oilers fans are well aware that Wayne Gretzky currently holds the record, with 894 goals.
The original thinking heading into the 2024-25 campaign, was that it might be too much to expect Ovechkin to catch Gretzky this season, with him sitting 41 behind on 853. This narrative was influenced by him 'only' scoring 31 goals last season, the second-fewest of his NHL career, only ahead of the 24 he snagged in 2020-21 when he played just 45 games.
However, when the nine-time Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner came storming out of the gates with 15 goals in 18 games, people started to wonder if he could do it this season? Unfortunately he suffered a fractured fibula in that 18th game, causing him to miss more than a month of the season.
Washington Capitals received a Christmas gift, when Ovechkin returned after the festive break, with him scoring three more goals in four games to put him on 871 all time. At the time of writing, he is now 23 short of Gretzky, with 44 regular season games remaining.
Even if the 13-time NHL All-Star doesn't catch and break Gretzky's record this season, he should break it this year, when factoring in the first part of the 2025-26 campaign. We appreciate that there will be Oilers fan who might not want the record to be broken, but as the Great One said himself, it will be good for the game.
An almost criminal Canadian drought
The other storyline involving the Oilers comes in at number nine, with the Score asking if this will be the year we finally have a Canadian Stanley Cup champion again? Certainly, it's crazy to think how long it's actually been since an NHL team North of the border took home Lord Stanley's Cup.
Canadian NHL teams dominate the history books, in respect of having won more combined Stanley Cups compared to the American teams. Chief among these is the Montreal Canadiens with 24 Cups, followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs on 13 and then the Oilers with five.
However, you have to go all the way back to the 1992-93 NHL season to find the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, when the Canadiens took it back to Montreal. Since then it's been 31 seasons without another win, which is quite simply unnacceptable.
Now yes, Canadian teams have contested the Stanley Cup in the meantime, with seven appearances. In fact five of the times have seen the Canadian team come up just short after going the full seven games, including the Oilers in 2005-06 and last season, against the Carolina Hurricanes and Flordia Panthers respectively.
So which Canadian team has the best chance of breaking the drought? The Winnipeg Jets have the best record entering Friday's slate of games, the Leafs are finally playing better defensive hockey, and overall, five of the seven Canadian teams are in a playoff spot.
However, the Oilers remain the favourites among all Canadian teams, and understandably so when considering they have two of the top 10 players in the game today and came so close just last season. Of course being favourites doesn't guarantee a single thing, but the whole of Canada is hoping the Stanley Cup drought finally ends in 2025.