Connor McDavid: ‘It’s Cup or bust’ for the Edmonton Oilers

Article content

There have been end-of-season exit interviews over the years that Connor McDavid gave through clenched teeth after the Edmonton Oilers burned off another year of his career by missing the playoffs again.

Article content

And last season, after Edmonton marched all the way to the third round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, he went into the summer as optimistic as he’s ever been about the Oilers finally being ready to realize their potential.

This year? This year is a bit of a meh. After one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, losing in the second round of the playoffs, even if it might have been to another eventual champion, is a painful step back.

So this time, after being shoved into the off-season a month too soon by the Vegas Golden Knights, McDavid and his teammates are left to strike a balance between knowing they are a good team on the rise and knowing they just let a great opportunity slip through their fingers.

Article content

Article content

“It is progress,” said the Oilers captain. “It maybe doesn’t feel like it today, but I think it is progress. We’re a better team than we were last year. We’ll have basically everybody coming back with more experiences. That’s all positive stuff.”

He’s right. The Oilers solidified their blue line with the addition of Mattias Ekholm and the subsequent spike in Evan Bouchard’s game. They improved their bottom six forwards. Stuart Skinner is a driven guy who’ll be better for what he experienced this season. They don’t look far away.

Still, getting their lights turned out in the second round makes it hard to appreciate the bright horizon right now. It’s a long, brutal road just to get to the playoffs and when they end early it kind of feels like it was all for nothing.

Article content

“It’s Cup or bust for this group,” said McDavid. “With where everyone is at in their career, that’s the expectation. So there is just that empty feeling you’re left with.

“It’s also understanding how far away it is just to be back in the very same position. We all have to train all summer long, go through training camp, play 82 regular season games just to get back to the very same spot.

“A lot of work goes into just getting to that position. And here we find ourselves a year away again.”

McDavid is now eight years into his NHL career, with three seasons left on his contract in Edmonton. He’s accomplished all there is to accomplish individually, but hasn’t come close to winning a Stanley Cup.

At 26, he says there is still time for patience — “I’m 26 years old, I have lots of great years ahead. I’m not worried about time” — but the core of this team is also getting to the point where the future is now.

Article content

“I certainly feel that way,” he said. “If you look at the group here, everyone is signed on for the next number of years. Nobody is aging. Everybody is in the prime of their career.

“We have the opportunity to knock on the door as much as we want. Ultimately it’s going to be up to us to put it all together.”

The season always ends painfully for every team that doesn’t win a Stanley Cup, but there remains a confidence in the Oilers room that their time is coming. Soon.

“Very confident, but you have to prove it and you have to show it,” said Leon Draisaitl. “We have the right pieces in place to get it done. But, we can talk all we want — at the end of the day we have to go out there and get it done and we couldn’t do that this year.”

Their 109-point regular season, and all of their spectacular regular season numbers, didn’t mean a thing when the playoffs started. That’s also a lesson they can take away from this — everything they do over 82 games next year needs to be about making themselves better in situations like Games 5 and 6 against Vegas.

Article content

“I don’t think anyone is going home and thinking about their personal stats,” said Draisaitl. “They’re thinking, man, I wish we were still playing. I want to keep playing. I want to win a Cup.

“It’s all about winning. We’ve been fortunate enough to have won personal awards — nobody cares about that. Nobody is writing about Hart Trophies, everyone is talking about how teams are moving on to the conference finals. That’s what we want to do.”

It took a long time and some lean years, but there is a foundation in Edmonton now that the organization can build on. It’s not a Stanley Cup, but it’s a start.

“Leo and I have been here our whole careers,” said McDavid. “We’ve been here through some bad years, some disappointments, and another disappointment this year. But, at the same time, I look at the culture that we’ve built here and where the organization sits today and I take a lot of pride in that.

“I think our core here has really built something from scratch, from the ground up. We all take a lot of pride in that.”

E-mail: [email protected]