Experience from playoffs to aid Oilers
STAR CAPTAIN MCDAVID SAYS TEAM BETTER FOR BITTERSWEET PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
The Edmonton Oilers’ first playoff berth in more than a decade ended in heartbreak, but Connor McDavid thinks the club will be better for it.
“I think after going through the playoffs you definitely get a sense for how important it is to go through it at least once before you win,” McDavid, Edmonton’s award-hogging 20-yearold captain, said Tuesday from the annual BioSteel camp in Toronto.
“You look at most teams that have won, they’ve lost the previous year or a few years before. So you have to get that experience.”
Led by McDavid, the Oilers not only qualified for the post-season for the first time since 2006, but also nearly snatched the Pacific division from Anaheim with the finest campaign Edmonton has seen from their NHL team (103 points) in the salary-cap era. What followed was a six-game triumph over the then-reigning Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks and near-upending of the Ducks in the second round.
Nick Ritchie doused Edmonton’s chances with the go-ahead goal early in the third period of Game 7.
That hearty push and the presence of McDavid, above all, has the Oilers looking like real threats to capture the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in almost three decades.
“It’s exciting, but it really doesn’t mean anything,” said McDavid of rising expectations. “It’s up to us to figure out how good we’re going to be and if we’re willing to put in all the work.”
McDavid was the only player in the league to hit 100 points last season, later winning the Hart trophy for MVP and Ted Lindsay Award as the players’ choice for top player.
The Newmarket, Ont., native signed an eightyear, US$100-million extension with the Oilers on July 3 — which won’t kick in until the 201819 campaign.
Edmonton’s off-season has also included a rich, new second contract to McDavid running mate and fellow franchise cornerstone, Leon Draisaitl (eight years, $68 million), and the acquisition of Ryan Strome from the New York Islanders.