As it turns out, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can’t do it all.
The Edmonton Oilers season ended Monday night in the Western Conference Final after being unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. Artturi Lehkonen had the game-winner for the Avalanche in the 6-5 overtime loss, sending the Oilers home packing after a frustrating and unsatisfying end to their season.
There’s probably no one more disheartened at how Edmonton’s season ended than the team’s two star players, McDavid and Draisaitl. After all, the pair led the playoff field in points by a wide margin, with McDavid posting 10 goals and 33 points and Draisaitl right behind with seven goals and 32 points.
The next highest point total from a player in the playoffs? Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers with 24.
Most points in a playoff year without making it to the #StanleyCup Final:
35- Doug Gilmour (TOR, 1993)
33- Connor McDavid (@EdmontonOilers in 2022 via 10 goals & 23 assists)
33- Rick Middleton (BOS, 1983)
32- Leon Draisaitl (EDM in 2022 via 7G-25A)
32- Barry Pederson (BOS, 1983) pic.twitter.com/su1HvP2zTn— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) June 7, 2022
It’s been 32 years since the Oilers hoisted the Stanley Cup, with this trip to the Western Conference Final the first for McDavid and Draisaitl in their tenure with the team. Given how good Edmonton was for a majority of the season, there’s room for optimism with this team for the future. The Oilers finally seem to have gotten a talented supporting core around their two stars with Evander Kane and Zach Hyman, something Edmonton can build upon in the seasons to come.
And yet, McDavid and Draisaitl deserved better than what they got in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After yet another season of both McDavid and Draisaitl cresting over 100 points, the pair were the most electric players in this postseason. The Oilers were never out of it when McDavid and Draisaitl were on the ice and it showed. The two combined for just five total games out of 16 played in these playoffs where neither were able to notch a point, with the Oilers going 0-5 in those games.
Not only that, Draisaitl was clearly battling a leg injury for a good portion of these playoffs and yet still managed to put up four huge assists in the deciding Game 4 against the Avalanche.
Draisaitl finds Hyman to tie this game up 1-1 😱 pic.twitter.com/gTgFUREwdb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 7, 2022
It’s just a shame the rest of the Oilers weren’t able to rise to even a fraction of McDavid and Draisaitl’s level in the Western Conference Final. A lot of the focus will be on goaltender Mike Smith, who collapsed in key points during this series and gave up some truly awful goals this postseason. The 40-year-old goaltender had some standout moments in the playoffs, but it’s well past time for the Oilers to move on.
The problem? Smith is signed for another season in Edmonton at $2.2 million. It’s a tradable contract for sure, but it’s one that’s indicative of the process that’s still holding this team back from truly being great.
In the Oilers postgame press conference Monday night following their playoff exit, McDavid discussed the process Edmonton has gone through in recent years, which landed them in their first conference final since 2006.
“It feels like it’s steps right?” McDavid said, via NHL.com. “Every team kind of goes through it. They become a playoff team and then they get there most years and then they go on a little bit of a run and they learn that lesson and then it becomes their time to win.
“You look at a Colorado team that’s been in that situation many, many times, and obviously they’re knocking on the door right now. It’s a step in the right direction, but that’s all it is.”
That’s all it is, but it could have been so much more.
