Oilers ‘very motivated’ to win Stanley Cup after 2 straight Final losses

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers are out to finish the job.

Losing in the Stanley Cup Final the previous two seasons to the Florida Panthers, Edmonton still considers itself a championship contender.

Once again, it’s Stanley Cup or bust in Edmonton.

“I think for our group, individually to a man, we’re a very motivated group,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “There’s the disappointment of losing the first time, and the second time is disappointing as well, and it’s tough to get over it. But with that said, there’s a motivation within our group and you can tell that coming into camp.”

The Oilers open the season against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET, TVAS, SN).

The attitude is different this season as opposed to a year ago, when the disappointment of losing to Florida in seven games still hovered over the Oilers like a dark cloud heading into the 2024-25 season.

The second time has been easier to get over, and instead of sense of sorrow, the Oilers enter the season with renewed optimism.

They believe they can win the Stanley Cup this season but know getting back to the Final will not be easy.

“Everything has to go right,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “If you’re in the playoffs and you have injuries or if you hit a hot goaltender, there are so many factors.

“Everything has to go right, and for everything to go right, you have build and become a good, solid team and be able to win in different ways: special teams, 5-on-5 play, goaltending, all those things have to fall in place.”

The core of the Oilers roster is still together, a year older, wiser, and more experienced.

Their two superstars, forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, are in their prime, and a number of young and talented newcomers have injected enthusiasm to the group.

“I think we have a good team, we have a chance,” McDavid said. “It starts [Wednesday] night and it starts with a good regular season, and even shorter picture, it starts with having a good start to the season. That’s what we want to do. It’s something that has not been our M.O. the last couple of years and it’s something that’s important.”

Edmonton stumbled out of the gate last season at 0-3-0. The Oilers were still lamenting the loss in the Final, having battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-7 series only to lose 2-1 in Game 7.

This season, the Oilers have already turned the page after losing the Final in six games.

“Every team is different. It takes time to build a team, it takes time to create an identity,” Draisaitl said. “I think on paper our identity is going to shift a little bit, but you never really know. I like the moves that we’ve made, I like some young guys coming. They’re going to bring a lot of energy and so we’ll see.”

Gone from last season’s team are forwards Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Evander Kane, Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan. They have been replaced by Andrew Mangiapane, David Tomasek, Matt Savoie, Isaac Howard, and Curtis Lazar.

Rookies Howard and Savoie are both expected to be in the opening-night lineup for Edmonton. Howard was recalled from Bakersfield of the AHL on Tuesday.

“Each year is different. I always try to caution people not to look back at what went wrong or why didn’t you win two years ago or last year,” Oilers general manager Stan Bowman said. “This year, it’s a different team. We have different look here, we have some younger faces. That’s probably one thing I would point to that I’m excited about this year’s group, the number of younger players that are going to show improvement over the season.”

Howard was acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 8 and signed a three-year, entry-level contract on the same day. The 21-year-old won the Hobey Baker Award last season as the top player in the NCAA with Michigan State University.

Savoie, 21, was acquired in a trade with the Buffalos Sabres on July 5, 2024, and had a strong first professional season with Bakersfield of the American Hockey League prior to making the opening-day roster this season.

“I thought at times last year it was a little stale, and you can have that with older teams that kind of have one eye looking ahead to the playoffs,” McDavid said. “You can have some monotonous days, and I felt that last year. Having some new faces and some young blood and playing with new guys can be exciting.”

Defensively, the Oilers are still intact, minus John Klingberg, who was a late-season addition and played well in the playoffs.

Evan Bouchard, Nurse, Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Brett Kulak, Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher are all back, and Alec Regula made a strong impression at training camp after missing last season with a knee injury.

“I would definitely say our identity of our team you would think of Connor and Leon, and after that there’s lots of things that we’re good at,” Knoblauch said. “But after that, a big part of it, is our defense. We’ve got a group of seven or eight guys that we feel very comfortable with and can move up and down the line up, and if we lose somebody to injury, somebody can step up. But as a group we feel very comfortable with them and we feel our defense are as good as any in the NHL, if not better.”

Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard return to Edmonton as the goaltending tandem, looking to be more consistent this season.

The Oilers understand it is a long road back to the Stanley Cup Final, having already made the journey twice. They are not inclined to get too far ahead of themselves this season, taking more time to appreciate the ride.

“The playoffs are a long way away, I think our mindset is to just take it a game at a time and enjoy it, have fun,” Nurse said. “It’s a lot of fun to play this game and we’re all very fortunate to be in the position that we’re in. Just go out there and enjoy every day, know the level of work and expectation that we have to bring. That being said, it’s a long road to the end and we have to enjoy every step of it.”