Three dragons slayed by the Oilers and one more to go

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The Oilers are going to the Finals

Man did it ever feel good to type that. :) Anyway, let's get to the meat and potatoes and see how the Oilers stack up against the Panthers, because that's what we're all here for.

The case for the Oilers

Florida has a bit of a funny roster - on the surface, there isn't a lot of name guys on this team. It's a very unheralded roster, so it's tempting to take them lightly, maybe even boldly proclaim that they'll be an even easier opponent than Dallas.

However, look deeper at the roster and we discover that the Panthers are not such easy pickings after all. Florida is a team built on team defence and physical play. Does this mean the Oilers should be worried about them? No, IMO it's nothing they can't handle.

After all, the LA Kings tried to play the Oilers physical and they got beat in five games. The Canucks tried to beat the Oilers with toughness and team defence - and admittedly although it came close to working, the Oilers were still victorious in seven games, and in a series where the Oilers largely beat them at their own game.

The Dallas Stars tried coming at the Oilers with a combination of team defence and goaltending, and the Oilers beat them at their own game, too. Many pundits are picking the Panthers as the favourites in this series, but I predict the Oilers will make those pundits eat it due to their unique ability to beat teams any which way they need to. Heck, even the press here in Canada is picking Florida. Of course, that's what everyone said about Dallas too in the third round, and look how that went?

Want to try and beat the Oilers with scoring? They boast one of the deepest top six forward groups in the NHL. They also have one of the league's best offensive blueliners in Evan Bouchard, plus two capable guys bringing up the rear in Darnell Nurse and prospect Philip Broberg,

Nurse can produce offence when he's given room to work. Broberg meanwhile, is just two games into his playoff experience and has already scored a goal (short sample size to be sure, but a good omen of things to come). This means that if the bounces and momentum go the Oilers' way, they've got blueliners on every pairing that can burn you for a goal.

Want to try to check the Oilers into submission? They can beat you that way too, and expect to see a steady diet of well known pests in Corey Perry and Evander Kane if you do, not to mention some monster players in Vincent Desharnais, Mattias Ekholm, Leon Draisaitl, and more.

Team defence? The Oilers have that covered too. Although technically Florida has the lower GA in the playoffs with 39, the Oilers are not that far behind with 47. Your goaltender can steal a game for you you say? Stuart Skinner proved he has that ability as well against Dallas, and if he falters there's Calvin Pickard, who's performed very well in two playoff games so far.

Depth scoring? Admittedly the Oilers' depth scoring was largely missing in rounds one and two. However it most definitely woke up in round three, and the Oilers also have something no other playoff team has - every single guy who has suited up for the team has produced at least one point on offence. The Panthers still have two guys who have produced no offence at all - Ryan Lomberg and Dmitry Kulikov.

How about speed? The Oilers have some very speedy players - Connor McDavid is widely acknowledged as the fastest player in the league, and Draisaitl, Dylan Holloway, Warren Foegele, Zach Hyman, and many others boast the speed that fits the modern game.

Special teams? The Oilers boast the top penalty kill unit in the league amongst all playoff teams with 93.9 percent efficiency, including being perfect against the LA Kings and Dallas, only allowing a modest three power play goals against during the second round. They also boast the top power play unit in the league as well during the playoffs, with a 37.3 percent efficiency.

The case for the Panthers

That being said, Florida are hardly wilting flowers in terms of their overall game. While the Oilers currently occupy four of the top five spots in playoff scoring, take a look at who's right behind them. A formidable trio of Matthew Tkachuk (sixth with 19 points in 17 games), Carter Verhaege (eighth, 17 in 17), and Aleksander Barkov (ninth, also 17 in 17 games).

We also recently learned that Barkov was voted the Selke trophy winner for this season as the league's top defensive forward, so expect McDavid to see a steady diet of Barkov around him like white on rice. Also, while Hyman continues to lead the league in playoff scoring goals (14) with Draisaitl right behind him (10), Verheage and Sam Reinhart have nine and eight goals respectively.

Also, speaking of the penalty kill, guess who's right behind the Oilers for second in league playoff PK? That's right, Florida, at 88.2 percent. While the Panthers' PP isn't nearly as impressive as the Oilers, finishing sixth in the league with 23.3 percent is still pretty solid. They've still got guys who can burn you, so the Oilers' PK will have to be just as good, if not better than they were against Dallas.

In terms of physical play, the Panthers do top the Oilers in both hits/60 and hits overall, with 42.48 vs. 30.48 and 769 to 563. But, being first vs. third in total hits isn't what you'd call a huge gap. Florida's hits/60 rank sixth in the league while the Oilers rank 13th. To make up this gap, expect Kris Knoblauch to play Sam Carrick more than Derek Ryan at fourth line centre, since Carrick leads the team in hits/60 with 20.49 vs. 11.53 for Ryan - at least to start, and then we'll see what happens.

In respect of blocked shots the Oilers actually have an edge over Florida, and just like with hits it's at both total blocked shots and bs/60. The Oilers are actually third in the league in playoff blocked shots with 305, while the Panthers are fourth with 267. In blocked shots/60 we see the Oilers in 10th place league wide for the playoffs with 16.51, while the Panthers are in 14th place with 15.35. Let's call the physicality a wash.

Before declaring Bobrovsky the winner of the goaltending duel just because he has more experience than Skinner, it's important to remember the Oilers have outscored Thatcher Demko and Jake Oettinger, two of the league's elite goalies, on their way to the final two. The Panthers' scoring prowess is further illustrated by the fact they've punched through the league's best duo in Swayman/Ullmark in Boston and another elite goalie in Igor Shesterkin in New York. So let's call the goalies a wash too. Bobrovsky may have more experience, but Skinner is getting hot at the right time.

So, ultimately, when you look at how the teams fare on paper they're actually quite comparable. It's easy to see why both these teams are in the finals and took home the conference champ banners for their respective sides of the continent.

Florida has the edge in experience as they were just here last year in 2023, losing to Vegas in the process. This will be the Oilers' first Cup final in the McDrai duo era.

So who's going to win? If Florida wins, it'll be because they managed to stiffle the elite-level Oilers attack defensively and Bobrovsky was able to outduel Skinner. If the Oilers win, it'll be because their elite-level scoring was able to solve Bobrovsky, and Skinner outdueled him just like he outdueled Demko and Oettinger.

To me, here's what it's going to look like - no team has been able to stop McDavid and Draisaitl over the long term. And because the Panthers don't have an elite-level presence to compare to Bouchard on the back end, I believe these three players will play a pivotal role in the series and thus slightly tip it in the Oilers' favour. This will make Skinner's job easier, which means he'll be able to outduel Bobrovsky, because his skaters will be a shade better than theirs.

My winner - Oilers beat Panthers 4-3

Oilers hire Kalle Larsson as Senior Director of Player Development

As per an official team press release, the Oilers have added Kalle Larsson as Senior Director of Player Development. For the life of me I can't find any information on who the Oilers previously had or have now prior to Larsson's hiring, other than the fact that Duncan Keith is a consultant for player development for the Oilers and has been since he retired a couple of seasons ago.

It looks like Larsson's going to be heading up the player development aspect of the Oilers, with a particular focus on guys who are drafted after the first couple of rounds, where the odds of making the NHL are vastly diminished from the guys who get drafted in rounds one or two. He comes to the Oilers after having spent the past nine years in hockey operations for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL.

This latest hiring is definitely a testament to owner Darryl Katz carrrying out his promise, pledging to do everything he could to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton. The Oilers may have to contend with a salary cap in terms of players, but coaches, GMs, and everything related to off the ice hockey ops fortunately have no such cap, so they can use Katz's deep pockets to bring in as many hockey ops people as they want and need.

This approach is certainly a welcome change from previous owners. This includes Peter Pocklington, whose financial empire was crumbling just as NHL salaries were skyrocketing.

There was also the Edmonton Investors Group, who owned the Oilers at a time when they were on financial life support, living to fight another day in the NHL landscape. This was based solely on Gary Bettman's assurances that when the CBA expired in 2005, there would be a hard salary cap brought in to reign in salaries. This would in turn help keep more cash-poor teams in places like Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Columbus, Winnipeg and more actually solvent, so the NHL wouldn't revert back to an original six league due to mass foldings and bankruptcies.

Now with a modern rink and a salary cap, the Oilers are actually thriving financially as the seventh most valuable NHL franchise according to Forbes magazine, valued at $1.85 billion. If you look at the teams above the Oilers, they are all in much bigger cities in Toronto, New York (Rangers, not Islanders), Montreal, LA, Boston, and Chicago. It's also worth noting this encompasses almost all of the original six teams save for Detroit, while the LA Kings were one of the original expansion teams post-original six era.

Speaking of hires, as per The Hockey News, look who just became GM of the Minnesota Wild's farm team in Iowa. Yup, it's ex-Oiler bottom six forward Matt Hendricks.

Other Oilers news

Troy Stecher out long term with an infected ankle cyst

As per Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, Troy Stecher underwent surgery due to a cyst on his ankle getting infected. My heart goes out to Stecher and his family. Injuries are tough enough, but when they occur off the ice it's even tougher to deal with.

The Oilers were apparently aware of the problem when they traded for Stecher at the deadline, however he was able to play through it in the regular season. It's only since the playoffs started that his cyst got infected.

It's been tough for Stecher, who was acquired for defensive depth but wasn't able to get into a single playoff game prior to the injury due to the D corps largely playing well, and now this. Which means that worst case scenario his NHL career may be over prematurely, or best case scenario he'll lose a large chunk of the offseason training due to rehabbing this injury post-surgery, making it tough for him to play anywhere next season, never mind re-upping with the Oilers.

Cringey, stupid fans step over the line harassing Connor McDavid

I will never in my life understand the need for fans to be this stupid around Oiler players. Poor McDavid was just going on a beer run to presumably host his teammates for a post-conference final series win celebration, when a bunch of idiots harassed him.

One guy even inexplicably and awkwardly hugged McDavid as he was getting into his car after he and his fiance Lauren Kyle had loading up their booze to take home. Mcdavid did what he always does in these kinds of situations, he just ignored the guys and went on his business, but this kind of awkwardness from total strangers would irritate anybody.

Stupid, stupid, stupid - and I join in the chorus of X users who condemned the behavior of these three morons. Say what you will about the fans in this city, but at least the response on X shows that the people of Edmonton are for the most part respectful of the players who suit up for them, unlike the media, fans, and bloggers in other Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal.

Seriously, to anyone who reads this - when you encounter the players in public, just leave them alone. They're allowed to have a private life apart from hockey.

I used to be a food courier for Skip the Dishes and I once delivered food to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Iiro Pakarinen (on separate occasions), but not once did I ask them for an autograph, or a picture, or a selfie, or anything else. I just did my job and left them alone. Everyone else should too.