And if you lost a lot of sleep because you can’t stop thinking about Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, you’re certainly not alone. Not only did the Oilers come up just one win short of hockey’s holy grail, they came up short by one stinking goal.
But, there’s always next season, right? And now, we’re into next season. Training camp opens this month.
The Oilers have a new general manager in Stan Bowman, and have added some key players, such as forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner.
What can we look forward to? After a series of mind-numbing pre-season games and arguments on radio shows about who gets to play on the fourth line, the real games begin Oct. 9, when the Oilers host the Winnipeg Jets.
The Panthers were the losing finalist in 2023, but followed up with a win in 2024. Oilers fans hope that they will be cheering on a team that repeats Florida’s feat. But, not so
fast — teams that lose the Cup final and win the next season aren’t all that common.
In fact, over the last 50 years, only three teams have followed up a Cup loss with a Cup win.
2023, Florida lost Cup final – 2024, won Cup
2022, Tampa Bay lost Cup final – 2023, lost in first round
2021, Montreal lost Cup final – has not been close to playoffs anytime since 2020, Dallas lost Cup final – 2021, missed playoffs
2019, Boston lost Cup final – 2020, lost in second round
2018, Vegas lost Cup final – 2019, lost in first round
2017, Nashville lost Cup final – 2018, lost in second round
2016, San Jose lost Cup final – 2017 lost in first round
In 2006, the Oilers lost in the Cup final (in seven games, to boot) to the Carolina Hurricanes. The next season, the Decade of Darkness began.
OK, that can’t happen again, right?
Stan Bowman is the Oilers’ new general manager. He was hired in late July, about three weeks after the NHL lifted his league-wide suspension.
Bowman was the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, when he became aware that forward Kyle Beach had been sexually assaulted by Brad Aldrich, the team’s video coach. The incident was not brought forward to authorities. Three years later, Aldrich was convicted for sexually assaulting a teen in Michigan.
After the Beach story came to light two and a half years ago, Bowman stepped down and was suspended indefinitely by the league.
The move to hire Bowman divided Oilers fans. But, Bowman has apologized personally to Beach, and they’ve been in regular contact over the past year. Bowman spoke to Beach the night before the Oilers made the GM announcement. And, Bowman has worked on developing safe environments for hockey players, including work at Trinity Western University, where Beach is an assistant coach.
Bowman has also worked with the Respect Group, which was co-founded by former NHLer and sexual-abuse survivor Sheldon Kennedy.
Bowman said not only is he committed to making the Oilers better, but to working on changing the culture of hockey.
In the 2023-24 season, Zach Hyman scored 54 goals. The Oilers had a ridiculous 94.3 per cent penalty killing rate in the playoffs.
Bowman won three Cups in Chicago, and he learned that there is very little carryover from one year to the next, even if a team keeps its core player group intact.
(This is probably why so few teams that lose the Cup final make it back to the Cup final the following season).
“It’s natural to look at last year’s team and figure that we need just that one piece. But I learned that next year’s team is going to be next year’s team. You don’t want it to be last year’s team and try to recreate what you had. You have to look into it like there are things that are going to be different, even with the same players.
“I think the natural human reaction is ‘this is where we were last year, we’re just going to pick up where we left off and go from there.’ But, my experience is that there are always some things that are even better than you thought, and some other things that don’t go the way you thought.”
So, don’t just automatically assume the penalty kill will be elite in October, or that we’re going to have another Zach attack. Maybe another player will emerge as a legitimate scoring threat.
Throw away last year.
Mattias Ekholm is an elite NHL defenceman. He’s also grooming himself for a future in the Oilers’ front office.
Well, sort of. He played a big part in convincing Arvidsson to come to Edmonton. The two are close friends.
“Our families know each other well,” said Arvidsson. “He convinced me pretty early, and that was a big part of it.”
Now, if Ekholm could only show Arvidsson how to grow a proper beard…
December 16. The Florida Panthers are in town. The rematch. But the Panthers have undergone so many changes in the off-season, they won’t feel like the same team…
Wait. Matthew Tkachuk is still there. They’ll feel like the same team.
This article appears in the September 2024 issue of Edify
