The Edmonton Oilers are where they have long expected themselves to be, which is playing for the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers open the best-of-seven NHL championship Saturday night against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
Edmonton makes its first Stanley Cup final appearance since 2006, when the Oilers lost in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes, and are four wins from hoisting Lord Stanley’s trophy above their heads 34 years after Edmonton’s last Cup win in 1990.
“This was always part of the plan. Always has been for this group,” captain Connor McDavid said.
The clock is ticking on the NHL’s most northern franchise to maximize in its lineup arguably the two best hockey players in the world before free agency. McDavid has two years remaining on his contract and Leon Draisaitl one when this season ends.
Edmonton’s dynamic duo has a combined 15 goals and 44 assists this post-season.
The Oilers were ousted by the eventual Stanley Cup champion the past two years — in six games in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, and in a 2022 Western Conference final sweep by the Colorado Avalanche.
“It’s been a bit of a bumpy road, whether it be off years or heartbreak in the playoffs or whatever it is,” McDavid said.
“This was always part of the plan, to be in this moment. To put ourselves in this position was always a possibility and it feels good to have done that.”
The Cup final is new territory for Kris Knoblauch in his first season as an NHL head coach, as well as the majority of the Oilers including McDavid
Corey Perry, 39, is the Oiler steeped in Cup final experience having played in four. He won in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks.
Adam Henrique (2012, New Jersey Devils), Mattias Ekholm (2017, New Jersey), Mattias Janmark (2020, Dallas) and Brett Kulak (2021, Montreal) played in it, but didn’t win it.
They face a Panthers side that has reached the Cup final a second straight year, and one that knocked off the Presidents’ Trophy winner New York Rangers in six games to take the Eastern Conference.
