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
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
32 minutes ago
- USA Today
The Panthers are punking the Oilers off the ice in every way
The Panthers are punking the Oilers off the ice in every way I don't have too many sophisticated takes on hockey, but I do know a good brawl when I see one. And, boy, the Florida Panthers can brawl with the best of them. Seeing every man on the ice break out in a fight during Game 3 of the Panthers-Oilers Stanley Cup Final game was insane. What we witnessed last night was a good, old-fashioned slobber knocker, led by Jonah Gadjovich, who got into it with the Oilers' Darnell Nurse. I cannot imagine swinging at someone for a full two minutes while rotating in a circle the entire time on the ice. It's like a merry-go-round, but every time you circle around, you get punched in the face. That probably sucks. Very entertaining to watch for us at home, though! This brawl was out of control. It's not lost on me that something like this can only happen in hockey. There's not another sport in the world where dudes would spontaneously break out in a fight. It's like if High School Musical turned into Fight Club on ice. The best part is the referee just calmly standing there watching Nurse and Gadjovich sock each other until they can't anymore. Words cannot describe how incredibly stupid this scene looks. But I've got to admit, it was also pretty fun to watch. Those two looked like they had a blast. Well, you know, aside from their bloody lips. If I had to pick a winner in this fight (lol) I'd say it's Florida? Seemed like all five players won their separate fights. And, in all seriousness, this is Florida's preferred style of play. The team is skilled, yes. But the Panthers are also extremely physical. They do whatever it takes to bully you into submission. The team imposes its will on opponents like no other in the NHL. Not only did we see that on the ice with these brawls, but we also saw it on the scoreboard. The Panthers won 6-1 and have a 2-1 series lead. Sorry, Oilers fans. Your team is in trouble. Kelsey Plum has had enough Speaking of officials who are just standing by and doing nothing, Kelsey Plum lambasted WNBA officials on Monday night after the Sparks' OT loss to the Valkyries. She used some, uh, strong words to complain about not getting calls when driving to the rim. WARNING: There is some NSFW language in this video Our Meg Hall thinks Plum has a point. "To Plum's point, if her assertion that she drives into the paint more than any other player is true, her number of free throw attempts for the season would seemingly support that. However, on face value, they don't. Her 56 shot attempts are only the fifth most in the league, with Breanna Stewart (65), Satou Sabally (71) and teammate Dearica Hamby (72) all ahead of her. Washington Mystics guard Brittney Sykes leads the WNBA in free throws attempted with 96." Regardless of if she has a point or not, she'll be seeing that fine in the mail soon. RIP TNT Sports? Does anyone know what David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery are doing these days? Because it certainly doesn't seem like anyone in their building does. News broke on Monday that Warner is splitting itself into two companies: One half will be called Streaming and Studios and will focus primarily on the brand's TV and movie studio productions, DC Studios and HBO Max. The other half will be Global Networks, which will work on the brand's legacy cable networks (like the Discovery Channel!), TNT Sports and digital products. With this split, we're looking at the entirety of TNT Sports being licensed elsewhere, potentially, because Zaslav says sports haven't been a major boon for the company's streaming platform. Now, within the last year, not only has this company's major relationship with the NBA ended, but it also appears that TNT Sports may be on a path to decline altogether. It's future is uncertain. TNT Sports will exist, but we don't know where or how. And, honestly, that sucks. For years, TNT's sports platform has been a staple in the sports viewing zeitgeist. From the NBA and NHL to March Madness, Major League Baseball, and now the French Open, TNT's sports business has consistently delivered strong offerings. To see it reduced to a line item on a spreadsheet like this is pretty sad. Quick hits: U.S. Open picks ... Denzel Clarke is unreal ... and more — Here's Charles Curtis with nine potential U.S. Open winners for you to choose from. — Mary Clarke has more on Denzel Clarke's unreal home run robbery from Monday. What a play. — We're in "Best shape of his life" season in the NFL, starting with Marvin Harrison Jr. Tyler Nettuno has more. — Cory Woodroof gives you five potential landing spots for Jaire Alexander, including the Super Bowl champs! — Here's Prince Grimes on Coco Gauff's dismissal of Aryna Sabalenka's disrespectful comments after their match. — Meg Hall put together WNBA power rankings for us. The Aces are, uh, not looking great these days. That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace. -Sykes ✌️ This was For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here.


Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk's talks Game 3 chaos: 'If you have to take a punch in the face, take it'
Matthew Tkachuk is no stranger to fighting on the main stage. In arguably the biggest hockey game in years, Tkachuk, as a member of Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off, dropped the gloves against Team Canada right at the opening faceoff. Late Monday night, he found himself in yet another brouhaha, this one involving just about everyone on the ice for his Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, both of which have other players involved in those USA-Canada fights. As Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final got out of hand (the Panthers walloped Edmonton, 6-1, to take a 2-1 series lead), things got chippy, and the Panthers knew it would likely get worse. Tkachuk, who has found himself in similar situations before, saw the writing on the wall and wanted his team prepared. "We talked about it in the third. If you have to take a punch in the face, take a punch in the face. If you have to take a cross-check, take a cross-check. Spear, slash in the face, whatever the case is, you've got to take it," Tkachuk said after the contest. At one point, Tkachuk took a share of punches to the face from Jake Walman - all while he was being held by John Klinberg. The game was already 5-1 in favor of Florida when things were getting more aggressive on the ice. It reached a different level when Edmonton forward Trent Federic started to pick on Sam Bennett (who fought Tkachuk's brother in that 4 Nations game) to the point where he cross-checked him down to the ice, and Bennett retaliated with some punches as he got on top of Federic. That initial fight led every player on the ice to find a partner to duel with, and the referees simply let the brawl play itself out. The Oilers' Darnell Nurse and the Panthers' Jonah Gadjovich clutched each other's sweaters and were throwing haymakers, while Florida's A.J. Greer dueled with Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm. After the fights fizzled out, Nurse, Godjovich, Bennett, Federic, Greer and Ekholm were all called for game misconducts and sent off the ice for the remainder of the game. However, with nearly half of the third period still to play, the tension between these two teams vying for the Lord Stanley's Cup did not stop. It mainly came from the Oilers, as Evander Kane was sent off the ice for the night after slashing Carter Verhaeghe in the face while he was down on the ice. More penalties would be had as the clock kept ticking down, and at that point, both teams were just hoping no one would get hurt with much of this series left to play. Even at the final buzzer, Oilers star Corey Perry started jousting with multiple Panthers players, as fans started throwing debris onto the ice. It was truly a statement win for the reigning champs, who have all types of momentum heading into Game 4 on Thursday night. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

an hour ago
Oilers unravel in Game 3 against the Panthers and now are chasing the Stanley Cup Final
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Falling behind early, parading to the penalty box and losing grip of their composure, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves in an all-too-familiar position: trailing the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. Not much went right for them in Game 3 on Monday night, a 6-1 blowout loss that put them down 2-1 in the series after taking the opener at home. Many of their 85 penalty minutes, the most by a team in the final in nearly four decades, came in garbage time, but there is far more concern about the mistakes that piled up to put them in a hole. 'We didn't play very well,' said Evander Kane, who was whistled for two of his three minor penalties in a miserable first period and got a misconduct late. "That's evident. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We can definitely be a lot better.' Stuart Skinner got pulled after allowing five goals on 23 shots, but captain Connor McDavid acknowledged, 'I don't know how much we're going to put on Stu.' The play in front of him was disjointed and disconnected, at 5 on 5, on the power play and on the penalty kill. If not for Skinner, the score could have gotten out of hand much earlier because the Western Conference champions had their worst showing since perhaps the first couple of games of the playoffs. 'It was a weird game,' McDavid said. 'Obviously it wasn't our best — not our best at all. I don't think our best has shown up all series long. But it's coming. We'll shift the focus to finding a way to get a win in Game 4.' Even with an extra day off before Game 4 on Thursday night, coach Kris Knoblauch scheduled practice for his team Tuesday afternoon. There is much to discuss and work on. 'Collectively, goaltender, defense, all our forwards, we all have to be better,' Knoblauch said. "They played a heck of a game, and we're going to have to raise ours.' Being more disciplined is a good place to start. After giving up a goal to Brad Marchand 56 seconds in, Edmonton took four minor penalties in the first period. The dam eventually broke on a power-play goal that made it too tough a deficit to overcome. 'Almost half the period you're killing, so it's not a good way to get into your game,' McDavid said. "Never got to our game.' The Oilers' play was almost indistinguishable from how they've looked for much of this run, getting balanced scoring and star performances from McDavid and Draisaitl. Ill-timed defensive breakdowns proved costly, and guys lost their cool — like Jake Walman squirting water at Panthers players on their bench from his place on the visiting side. 'I obviously did that for a reason,' Walman said, reluctant to explain why. 'It's just gamesmanship, I guess.' By the time brawls ensued in the third period, the game was out of hand. Players downplayed the margin of defeat, quick to try to spin their thoughts forward to what they need to do to tie the final. 'We know what we're going to be up against,' Skinner said. 'It doesn't change how we're going to respond again. We've got two days to come back and I think there's some things that we're going to have to change.' That could mean lineup changes and certainly some major adjustments by Knoblauch and his staff. The Oilers also need to be better prepared to play in Game 4, perhaps channeling the pain from back-to-back losses. 'Losing in the playoffs, whether it's in round 1 Game 1 or the Stanley Cup Final, it's never a good feeling, but we've been here before," Kane said. "We've been down in series before, and we've had tough losses. It will sting right now and we'll flush it tomorrow and get ready for Thursday.'