Originally posted on Daily Faceoff
VANCOUVER — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wiped the sweat from his brow and rolled his eyes a little bit. He knew where this was going.
It’s the rite of every spring, the hokey question about whether an entire hockey-mad nation should hop aboard the bandwagon to support Canada’s last team standing – and suddenly choke back allegiances to the Flames, Canucks, Canadiens or Maple Leafs for the sake of the country’s 30-year Stanley Cup drought.
You know, because no one can seem to agree on anything in 2024, but we should in the name of Lord Stanley of Preston.
Except that these Edmonton Oilers, now the last hope of preventing that skid from sliding to 31 years after their cheek-clenching 3-2 win in Game 7 over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, present a strong case to temporarily abdicate your fealty. They are built different.
The Oilers are truly Canada’s Team. No team in the salary cap era has made it to the NHL’s Final Four with more Canadian-born players on their roster than the 16 in Edmonton’s 20-man lineup this season, according to roster data compiled by Daily Faceoff. For perspective, that’s more Canadians on Edmonton’s side than the entire Eastern Conference Final combined (13) between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers. The Vancouver Canucks had two Canadian-born players (Carson Soucy, Phil DiGiuseppe) in the lineup in Game 7, plus American-born Canadian citizen Tyler Myers.
It’s an even wilder statistic when considering proud German Leon Draisaitl played his junior hockey in Prince Albert and Kelowna, while American Derek Ryan starred in USports hockey for the Univ. of Alberta Golden Bears. That’s 18 out of 20 players trained in Canada, pure as the snow in Jasper, Alberta.
“We’re proud to be a Canadian team,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It’s nice to represent Canada in that sense. Hopefully some of these other provinces and cities will be rooting for us. So much work left, but it’s great to be here.”
For a few hairy minutes, it wasn’t quite clear which Canadian club was going to prevail in this one-anthem Game 7. The Canucks were a blocked J.T. Miller shot in the slot away from erasing their second three-goal deficit of the series, almost evaporating a near-flawless first 52 minutes by the Oilers.
More than 15 minutes after the handshakes concluded, Oilers GM Ken Holland said his heart rate had not yet returned to resting. It took a timeout from coach Kris Knoblauch and some reinforcing words from Darnell Nurse to settle Edmonton enough to hang on.
“You know, it’s never easy to win,” Holland said, exhaling a sigh of relief.
There was not one thing easy about Round 2 for the favored Oilers. They choked away a three-goal lead in Game 1, swapped out starting goalie Stuart Skinner after he exited Game 3 with a .793 save percentage for the series, their historic power play went uncharacteristically cold for two games, and they never led once in the best-of-seven.
Many will point to the Dallas Stars as the superior team in the Western Conference Final because of their tougher path to the third round. But that will mean also glossing over the fact that the Stars also had their own shaky moments, down 0-2 to Vegas on home ice in the first round, while nearly blowing three-goal leads in consecutive games to open the next round against Colorado. Most contenders wobble at some point in the eight-week gauntlet. The best ones show composure, which is what Edmonton did in Games 6 and 7, putting together their best games of the series when there was no margin for error.
“I think we’ve been talking through the regular season about how we handled adversity,” Knoblauch said. “Through the regular season, the stressors or the things that arise to kind of throw you off the rails in the regular season, it isn’t that big of a thing … We saw some of those things happen through the series. The composure on the bench, the focus from our players was just next guy up, win your next shift and not get caught up in what could happen.”
The Canucks, even without leading scorer Brock Boeser (blood clot) and Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko (knee injury), were like a bad motel cockroach. They were impossible to kill. Vancouver finished 7-4 against Edmonton this season, but the Oilers won the only four that mattered. Six of the seven games this series were one-goal affairs. Vancouver came within a bounce or two of the Conference Final despite a negative goal differential in the playoffs and only one game with 30 or more shots. They had some circus-like wins because they never quit, and they almost pulled off the biggest Houdini heist of all on a night when they were badly outplayed from the puck drop.
“I just love this team, man,” Miller said. “I just love that we don’t give up ever. Hard fought game, hard fought series. I tip my cap to the Oilers, they came out hard. They just won some more battles. They executed better and got off to a better start.”
It was a season that wildly exceeded league-wide expectations. President Jim Rutherford said the Canucks could be a playoff team “if everything goes right,” and they nearly knocked off a bonafide contender. Rick Tocchet talked all season about making the Canucks’ crest mean something again. Mission accomplished.
“They put respect back in this city and this jersey, let’s face it,” Tocchet said. “A year and a half ago, it was ‘this guy can’t play’ and ‘this guy is that.’ I told them tonight before the game, they put respect back in that jersey and this city. Fans have got something to be proud of, and it’s all because of the players.”
Once again, the Oilers’ stars shone brightest, proof that Edmonton’s ceiling was just higher than Vancouver’s. The Oilers are the first team in NHL history to have three different 20-point scorers through the first two rounds of the playoffs: Leon Draisaitl (24), Connor McDavid (21) and Evan Bouchard (20). Think about that for a moment. That includes the Hall of Fame-laden Oilers of the 80s and every dynasty team in the highest-scoring eras.
“They’ve showed up ever since I’ve gotten here,” Holland said. “They’re competitive. They’re driven. They compete in the playoffs when it’s hard. They lead by example. The guys dug in. You know, they’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but I thought we had all hands on deck here the last two games and didn’t have any passengers.”
Holland’s squad will now square off with a Stars team engineered by close friend Jim Nill. The names of Holland and Nill are etched together side by each on the Stanley Cup four times from their time as Detroit Red Wings executives. Leading up to Game 1 on Thursday in Dallas, there will be no shortage of comparisons in roster construction and drafting, with the Stars crushing it of late, producing a team with two first lines, a mix of young and veteran talent, the depth of eight 20-goal scorers and a key trade deadline acquisition in Chris Tanev.
“It’s another stiff challenge,” Holland said. “There’s 32 teams that started in September. There’s only four left. We’re one of them. We were down 3-2, the guys dug in and I’m just happy to be part of the Final Four. We know that we’re meeting a tremendous hockey team.”
And yes, Holland and Nill have also worked together as part of Hockey Canada management teams. Holland said it is more coincidence than anything that Oil Country is home to the most Canadian-heavy roster, it was not a conscious effort by his management team to acquire as many Canadians as possible – even though some American-born GMs such as Chris Drury clearly target more stars and stripes.
“The players we tried to add just happened to have a Canadian passport,” Holland said. “You’re looking for greasy, gritty players that can help you win. You make the deals and come playoff time, those are the guys you need.”
Nugent-Hopkins pointed out that Edmonton has nine players from Ontario alone, joking that he’d like to see “more Dub guys” from the WHL. But the team’s only French Canadian says the makeup or nationality of the team doesn’t matter.
“Honestly, not really for me because I just want to win,” Vinny Desharnais said. “Whether I’m from Alaska or Quebec, I just want to win, I want to win that trophy, that Stanley Cup. It’s great, I mean Canadian fans are great. They’re the best fans, they’re more engaged. It’s going to be electric for the third round at Rogers Place, we’re so excited.”
They should be. The Oilers are halfway to Stanley for the second time in three springs. Last time, they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. This feels different. Whether the country climbs aboard the bandwagon this time is anyone’s guess, but it means something to these Oilers to be Canada’s last team standing for the third year in a row.
“It does because we get to continue playing, and that’s all that matters,” McDavid said. “There’s some great Canadian teams. It’s a nice feather in the cap, but it’s not what we’re after.”
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Originally posted on Daily Faceoff
Published: 5 months ago
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