EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers came within one win of the NHL summit last season and are expected to ascend to similar heights again.
As Western Conference champions who lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, the Oilers will be the hunted this season, with opponents clearly amped when they're on the bingo card.
Such was the case when the Winnipeg Jets rolled into Edmonton and put up a convincing 6-0 victory at Rogers Place on Wednesday.
"To be honest, you have to earn it every night," Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said after giving up five goals on 13 shots. "You guys (media) have been talking as well that we're going to face the best of every single team, so Winnipeg wasn't going to come out here and hope that it's going to be a skilled night. They worked, and we have to compete at the same level and even more."
Though the Oilers were unable to rise to the opening night challenge, coach Kris Knoblauch said teams gearing up to face them should prove to be a good thing, particularly when the goal is to win the Stanley Cup.
"I think it's great, I think it's good competition for us and if we're seeing everybody's best it's only going to bring out the best in us," Knoblauch said. "It's just going to help us down the long run. It'll make it a little more difficult each night to win games and move up the standings, but overall, it'll make us a better team and we want to be a better team by the end of the season."
The Chicago Blackhawks are next to see how they stack up against Edmonton (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS-D, CHSN) at Rogers Place on Saturday. It has been a steady progression for the Oilers since opening-round Stanley Cup Playoff defeats in 2020 and 2021. They've been eliminated by the Stanley Cup champions in three consecutive seasons and go into this season as one of the favorites to go all the way.
They were last season, too, but got off to a 3-9-1 start before replacing Jay Woodcroft with Knoblauch. They finished 49-27-6, getting all the way to the Final led by forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
"I think if I'm not mistaken, it was kind of similar last year too, we were media darlings to make it to the Final," forward Zach Hyman said. "We had a tough start, and I think we can learn from that. When you have success, other teams are prepared. When you have two of the best players in the world, the best player and the second-best player, nobody is coming in here, tippy toeing around. They know we have a good team, and we have to be prepared because everybody is a good team in this league."
As long as McDavid and Draisaitl are in the lineup, the Oilers will be considered formidable. The two are the catalysts for their climb up the NHL standings after a decade of futility and inability to qualify for the playoffs.
Draisaitl signed an eight-year, $112-million contract (average annual value $14 million) with Edmonton on Sept. 3 that begins next season. McDavid is expected to get an even richer contract before his current one ends after 2025-26.
"It's not going to be any different than the years prior, everyone brought their best against us and the three years before that as well," Draisaitl said. "It's not going to be anything new. There are some new challenges, but we're going to be ready."
Last season the Oilers weren't ready for the challenge before Knoblauch and assistant Paul Coffey got them back on track and they finished second in the Pacific Division. Playoff series wins against the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars put Edmonton in the Final for the first time since 2006.
Edmonton fell behind 3-0 in the best-of-7 series, battled back to force a deciding game, but fell 2-1 in Florida.
The Oilers go into this season looking to take care of unfinished business. The weight of expectation has not been this heavy in Edmonton since the Oilers won the Stanley Cup won five times in seven years (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990).
On Wednesday, they unveiled their 2023-24 Western Conference champions banner, the first earned since moving to their downtown arena in 2016.
"Maybe you guys (media) haven't had those expectations or that bar set as high for us, but that's been the bar we've set in here for the last number of years," McDavid said. "Just because the fans or the media think now the bar is set high, we've always set it high for ourselves. It's always the way it's been for his group. Even when we were a bad team, we've always expected more out of each other and ourselves and this year is no different."
Edmonton's captain understands his team will be the hunted this year but is not overly concerned about it.
"We worry about ourselves first and foremost," McDavid said. "If we play our game, we know that we're a good team and that's all we can really focus on, being our best, doing the things that we do. We can't really worry about what other teams are thinking about and what they're up to, it's about us in here and getting to our game."
