McDavid, Draisaitl feel Oilers’ ‘time is now’ in quest for Stanley Cup

The Oilers took a significant step last season by reaching the Western Conference Final for the first time since their run to the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. But there is no button McDavid and Draisaitl can push to fast forward back to that point so they can apply what they learned and get past it.

“There really is nothing in this league that happens for free, and you do have to build it back up,” McDavid said. “There’s no carryover from season to season. Every year starts fresh and we’ve got to build it back up to where we were last year and beyond that.”

McDavid, Edmonton’s captain, speaks from experience.

The Oilers appeared poised to be Stanley Cup contenders after losing to the Anaheim Ducks in seven games in the 2017 Western Conference Second Round, but they failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs the next two seasons. A disappointing loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers was followed by a four-game sweep against the Winnipeg Jets in the 2021 Stanley Cup First Round.

There were lessons in those losses, though, and more in their series victories against the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames last postseason that preceded the Oilers being swept by the Colorado Avalanche, the eventual Stanley Cup champion, in the conference final.

“I think success goes a long way,” Draisaitl said. “When you’re always losing in the first round or you don’t even make the playoffs, it seems like you’re so far away from it. Now you’re in the top four, one of the four best teams in the League, and you’re like, ‘OK, we’re there. We’re right there.’

“I think we got better this offseason too. I think our time is now.”

McDavid and Draisaitl have been through it all together, often as linemates, since McDavid arrived as the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft after Edmonton selected Draisaitl with the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Although forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, and defenseman Darnell Nurse, the No. 7 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, have longer tenures and also are important parts of the core, there is no mistaking that McDavid and Draisaitl are the faces of the Oilers and the inexorable forces behind their push for Edmonton’s first NHL championship since 1990.

“I think both are driven by team success and they’re pushing every single day to be the best they can be and to set a standard for our team to help move the needle forward here in Edmonton,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “For me, I’m lucky because I get a front-row seat to all the things that happen behind the scenes and all the work that gets put in. They’re two great young men, two really good hockey leaders, and they’re pushing each and every day.”

Video: Leon Draisaitl at No. 5 on NHL Network’s countdown

They push each other as well.

McDavid has won the Hart Trophy voted as most valuable player in the NHL twice (2017, 2021) and is a three-time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award, given annually to the most outstanding player in the NHL voted by members of the NHL Players’ Association (2017, 2018, 2021). The 25-year-old also won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in regular-season points for the fourth time last season (2017, 2018, 2021), when he had an NHL career-high 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) in 80 games.

Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and the Art Ross Trophy in 2019-20, when he led the NHL with 110 points (43 goals, 67 assists) in 71 games. The 26-year-old was fourth in the League last season with 110 points in 80 regular-season games and second in goals with an NHL career-high 55 (behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs with 60 goals).

McDavid does everything fast, from his skating with and without the puck to his stickhandling. Although Draisaitl also is a swift skater and one of the best goal scorers in the NHL, he excels at slowing the game down and setting up his linemates.

“I think we just complement each other so well,” Draisaitl said. “First of all, we are really good friends. We love spending time together. But on ice, our games just mesh so well. I like to slow the game down and he’s flying through the middle. We obviously have a certain skill level that we’re fortunate to have that we can make these little plays, we can find each other.

“He knows what I want to do and I know what he wants to do. Put that together and you get a decent package.”

The difference last season was McDavid and Draisaitl further elevated their play during the playoffs. McDavid led the postseason with 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in 16 games and Draisaitl was second with 32 points (seven points, 25 assists) in 16 games. McDavid (2.06) and Draisaitl (2.00) were the first players to average more than 2.00 points per game in the playoffs (minimum 10 games played) since Mario Lemieux had 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 15 games (2.27 per game) while helping the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 1992.

Getting that taste of success before falling short against the Avalanche only made McDavid and Draisaitl hungrier.

Video: Connor McDavid at No. 1 on NHL Network’s countdown

“I think we learned a lot from that Winnipeg series [in 2021],” McDavid said. “Even though we got swept, I think it was still an experience that everyone walked away from just realizing that there’s a whole other level that you have to get to in the playoffs and it was a good lesson for us to go through. Something that you don’t necessarily want to go through, but there are definitely steps to winning and it feels like we’re going through those steps.”

That the Avalanche went through similar steps, losing in the second round of the playoffs for three consecutive seasons before breaking through last season, provides further reassurance. It also helps that Edmonton has bolstered its supporting cast around McDavid and Draisaitl, adding forward Evander Kane midway through last season and signing him to a four-year, $20.5 million contract ($5.125 million average annual value) July 13, and strengthening its goaltending by signing goalie Jack Campbell to a five-year, $25 million contract ($5 million AAV) the same day.

But ultimately, the Oilers will go as far as McDavid and Draisaitl carry them. They take pride in having led the Oilers through this journey together.

They just can’t wait to reach the end.

“It’s definitely been a process, for sure, and something that obviously both of us as well as Darnell and ‘Nuge’ and the whole leadership team have been through, a lot of learning experiences and a lot of different failures and stuff like that,” McDavid said. “So it’s kind of all part of it. We’re just enjoying that part of it and we’re learning and trying to be as good as possible.”

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen and NHL.com independent correspondent Derek Van Diest contributed to this story.