Best thing about the Edmonton Oilers regular season: It's finally over
The best thing about the 2024-25 regular season happened at about 10:53 p.m. on Wednesday night in San Jose.
It ended.
That's it. It's over and done with, soon to be forgotten and never spoken of again.
Because it didn't matter a lick.
Truth be told, it's a season none of the Edmonton Oilers really even wanted to play. After going all the way to an ill-fated Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last June, they just wanted to fast-forward through those 82 games and get right back to high-stakes playoff hockey.
It's 100% understandable. When you've climbed to within 100 metres of the Mount Everest summit, how much do you care about 82 hikes through the foothills before you board a plane to Nepal for another shot at the big one?
Not much.
There were some important goals that the Oilers missed this season, like finishing first, then finishing second (and home-ice advantage isn't something to be dismissed as unimportant) but all that matters is what's in front of them right now: Game 1 against the Los Angeles Kings.
The past seven months? It was the usual blend of good, bad and ugly.
Connor McDavid didn't win the scoring title, but he hit 100 points for the fifth consecutive season and eighth time in his career.
Leon Draisaitl's injury absences might cost him a Hart Trophy, but he still won the Rocket Richard goal-scoring title in a landslide despite missing 11 of the last 14 games of the season.
Evan Bouchard regressed from a superstar defenceman to being plagued by careless and costly mistakes, but he finished fifth in scoring among NHL defencemen and was third on the team in plus-minus.
Stuart Skinner had some low spots, but he fought back with more good games than bad while Calvin Pickard emerged again as a viable option in goal.
Jeff Jackson's off-season moves looked like flops at the start of the season, but Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner came on strong down the stretch.
The Oilers went on a 23-6-2 run from mid-November to mid-January, which was the best stretch of hockey in the NHL, but if you take that away they went just 25-23-3 over the remaining 51 games.
Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins dropped off significantly from last year's totals, but Corey Perry remains ageless and, don't look now, but here comes Connor Brown.
And, when we were all zoned in to see what the Oilers looked like heading into the playoffs, we didn't get a chance to see it because injuries dominated the last month of the season.
But for all that didn't go right and for all of the fear and concern, the Oilers only finished three points worse than they did last year.
And, as we all know from watching the 135-point Boston Bruins lose in the first round in 2023 or the 128-point Tampa Bay Lightning get swept in 2019, piling up gaudy regular-season point totals can't help you in a best-of-seven.
There is lots to chew on, plenty to wonder about, even some stuff to worry about.
But it just doesn't matter.
This season will be judged — along with McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Skinner, Jackson and the team as a whole — based on what happens from now on, starting with the Kings.
THE BAD ONE: The Oilers are putting on a brave face, but they're hurting, they're short-staffed and the guys who will be returning to the lineup might not be there for long, if recent comeback attempts are any indication. They're opening the first round on the road against a team that's 31-5-4 at home. They won't have Mattias Ekholm and they are planning to just flick a switch when the playoffs start against a team that has held them to one goal over the past three meetings.
In other words, Kings in 5.
Connor McDavid hits 100, Edmonton Oilers hit 101, and that's a wrap
Darnell Nurse dodges a bullet, won't be suspended for any playoff games
THE GOOD ONE: This has all been a brilliantly executed example of risk and load management. All of the guys who've been out of the lineup are fine, they just felt a slight twinge, so why risk it for meaningless games? Sitting them out was smart and, as a result, it brought the rest of their lineup to life just in time for the playoffs. They'll be at very close to full strength, rested, and with depth players who are feeling it. And, hey, if they can go 7-3 down the stretch with close to $40 million in salary in the press box, imagine what they'll look like at close to full strength.
In other words, the Kings won't know what hit them.
We won't know for sure which it's going to be until they start dropping the pucks, but now is when things start to matter.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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