The Carolina Hurricanes are the 2026 Stanley Cup Champions, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in convincing fashion by a score of 3-0.
The Edmonton Oilers have been on the other side of that many times, having lost to the eventual Stanley Cup winners, two of the last three years. This past season however, saw the team fall backwards in a big way. All season, the club struggled mightily and at points found themselves out of the playoff picture.
The Oilers did eventually make the playoffs but were ousted in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks.
Now, looking ahead, general manager Stan Bowman needs to make big changes this summer, it is arguably the most important offseason of the Connor McDavid era in Edmonton. Looking at the Carolina Hurricanes, there are a few lessons that the Oilers can learn from them and their Stanley Cup victory.
Focus on analytics
The Oilers made some big changes to their front office recently and there seemed to be a real push to add an analytical lean to their team. This is a positive sign but there needs to be actual action taken here as well. It cannot just be empty hires that result in no real changes, they not only need to give analytics a seat at the table but actually use it and give it a voice.
Using analytics, even deeper than just shot attempts and expected goals, can be very beneficial for hockey clubs. It should be a tool that permeates different areas within the club from drafting and developing to free agent signings, to trades.
The Hurricanes did this with their general manager Eric Tulsky being the epitome of an 'analytics' GM and with Tyler Dellow -- former Oilers analytics consultant -- occupying their assistant GM role. They have a robust analytics department, despite being a low payroll team and it coats everything they do.
Make aggressive acquistions
One thing that Tulsky and the Hurricanes have done in their time, the Bowman and the Oilers could try to emulate is being aggressive in terms of player moves. Since taking over as general manager in June 2024, he has made 19 trades according to Puckpedia. This is nearly one trade a month on average, way above many managers across the entire NHL.
Last season, the Hurricanes took the hockey world by storm and went out and made a blockbuster deal to acquire Mikko Rantanen. Then when he would not re-sign, they moved him weeks later. Tulsky has shown the willingness to fix his mistakes and pivot, this is one of those instances.
As well, many teams will have their star players, put a few high end support players beside them and then try to fill out their club with role players. This is a fine strategy with teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers executing this type of structure well. Of course, all teams need some balance to their structure, allowing them to be effective in all types of situations. The Oilers, do not really have this.
The Hurricanes, despite having an embarrassment of riches of sorts with a core centred around top line centre; Sebastian Aho, they have a strong supporting cast adding players like Nikolaj Ehlers -- who was second on their team in scoring this seaosn with 71 points in 86 games -- in free agency. As well, Logan Stankoven through the aforementioned Rantanen deal as well as Taylor Hall and others.
Superb asset management
One of the things that Tulsky does very well is manage his assets. Of the previously mentioned 19 moves, 16 involved draft picks exchanging hands. Six of his 19 trades have also occured on draft day as pick swaps, moving up or down on the day of, in many cases it is Tulsky moving back and acquiring multiple lottery tickets for his one.
These moves harken back to the analytical thinking, one of the most basic concepts of analytics and the NHL draft is the idea of draft pick values. In many cases, using this idea, moving back a handful of spots can net you multiple picks that if used correctly, could result in you getting one or two players of equal or lesser value for that one.
Given Tulsky only took over two seasons ago, his drafts have yet to bare any fruit so we will have to see how those turn out but given the historical data, it is a good strategy if used in tandem with a good scouting staff, which the Hurricanes clearly have.
Scouting is everything
This brings us to the second last point in this article, scouting. The Hurricanes have done a fantastic job with their pro and amateur scouting departments. Similar to the Panthers before them, they have been able to identify players better than the vast majority of teams.
Their amateur scouting department has made homerun after homerun of the past 10-15 years, grabbing names like; Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Warren Foegele, Aho, Nicolas Roy, Alexander Nikishin, and Jackson Blake outside of the first round. Four of these players were on their roster this season.
On the pro scouting side, they have been able to identify players who can fit into their system at an elite rate. Brandon Bussi, Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Walker, K'Andre Miller, Logan Stankoven, and others have been big contributors to the Hurricanes this year that have been acquired in the past year or two.
The biggest player acquisitions in the past year have been; Isaac Howard, Andrew Mangiapane, Tristan Jarry, Connor Murphy, and Jason Dickinson. While Dickinson and Murphy were good deadline rentals, the former three all had disappointing years this past season. Even before them, Trent Frederic and Jake Walman were major 2025 deadline acquisitions who have both been underhwelming to an extent.
This is an area that the Oilers could definitely improve.
A good coach matters
Rod Brind'Amour is one of the most respected coaches in the entire league and has compiled an incredibly impressive resume in his NHL career behind the bench. He won the Jack Adams award as the coach of the year in the NHL in 2021 and is now a Stanley Cup champion.
So far in his career, he has been behind the bench for 616 games with a 378-182-56 record for a .659 points percentage. This is the highest points percentage amongst active coaches and 16th in games coached and 12th in wins.
He has been with the Hurricanes since 2010-11 as a member of the staff and since 1990-2000 as a player. He embodies what being a Hurricane is all about, winning a cup as both their captain and head coach. The respect is likely mutual and this is an aspect of the Hurricanes culture that is enormous and something that the Oilers seem to lack.
The success the Hurricanes have had with Brind'Amour should help them as they make their decision about who will be behind the bench going forward and whether he will be with them as they win their next Stanley Cup or not.
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