Is it the Edmonton Oilers’ turn now?

– The 2025 Edmonton Oilers are an extremely deep team.

This is emphasized by Jouni Nieminen, a veteran journalist living in Edmonton.

Over the past decade, the Oilers have been known specifically as a not-so-deep offensive machine, starring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two Hart and Art Ross winners.

The situation has truly changed. The current Oilers defend with quality and pound with four offensive cylinders.

Behind the star duo, veteran forwards Connor Brown, Adam Henrique and Corey Perry have scored at least decently for their respective records.

– In the decisive games against the Dallas Stars, all the chains scored goals, Nieminen recalls.

– The Vegas Golden Knights managed to contain Edmonton’s famous power play and McDavid and Draisaitl. Still, Vegas fell in five games, as did Dallas.

GM skills

The defense has quality and diverse expertise.

– GM Stan Bowman has invested in a defense that can move the puck up quickly, just like he did in Chicago when building championship teams.

The first pair of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm are a super tandem that complements each other. Bouchard is a beautifully shaped, very attack-oriented defender, Ekholm is a solid all-around player.

– Fans get frustrated with Bouchard during the regular season, but no one remembers it when he plays a decisive role in the playoffs, Nieminen summarizes.

– Bouchard is a defenseman who always raises his level in the playoffs.

Bouchard leads the playoff scoring charts, but an even more impressive tidbit can be found in the all-time statistics. Among defensemen, only Bobby Orr, the Boston Bruins’ Norris magnet of yesteryear, can boast a higher playoff points-per-game total.

A demonstration of GM expertise can be found in the trio: John Klingberg and Jake Walman.

Klingberg shone a few years ago as the driving force behind the Dallas Stars. After a short break and a serious injury, he is playing excellent triple-double hockey by NHL standards for almost nothing.

Walman was picked up by the Oilers from the San Jose Sharks on the trade deadline. He has emerged as a key player for the team in the playoffs: 15 games, six points and a +12 power rating.

– Against Dallas, Edmonton’s defensemen were able to get pucks from the end zone and turn to get openings, Nieminen said.

– Now against a fiercely bitter Florida, this situation will change.

“Pronger’s Principle”

A repeat of last spring’s finals awaits. The Oilers will face the Florida Panthers, the reigning champions, whom Nieminen calls “the bad boys of hockey.”

– The Panthers play by Chris Pronger’s old principle: in every change and in every situation, they play so brazenly that the referees can’t possibly give a call on everyone. It’s worked great so far, Nieminen says.

– The Oilers are a physical team that can’t be beaten except with physical play, as we saw in the Dallas series. The Panthers will drive towards the goalie and target McDavid and other key players.

The Panthers’ Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Matt Tkachuk are excellent forwards who constantly play on the edge and often cross the line.

– If anyone has been offended by the outrages they have seen before, there is even worse to come – or better if they are a Panthers fan.

A year ago, the Oilers came from three wins behind to tie the series, but the Panthers took the win in game seven on home ice.

– The loss in the seventh game by one goal has been part of the Oilers’ activities all season, and it has been brought up now that last spring’s repeat happened, Nieminen knows.

– Even the footage shown in a well-known documentary of the Oilers’ mourning locker room, where Zach Hyman swears with powerful words to his team that we will be back here in a year, has surfaced.

Finns in the final series

Edmonton Oilers: Kasperi Kapanen.

Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola and assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu.

“The best place”

The Oilers started the playoffs with two losses, but once the well-oiled machine started to hum properly, the LA Kings, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars quickly went on vacation.

– There is clearly a cold calmness in the team’s activities, not the same roller coaster of emotions as a year or a few years ago, Nieminen estimates.

– The celebration at the end of the conference finals, for example, was subdued. The goal is a different kind of trophy.

Edmonton is buzzing with the Oilers’ pitcher hunt. Flags fly from car windows on game days, and people are already donning jerseys at work.

Nieminen talks about the national festival – and about something that “unifies citizens for once”.

– With each round, there are more people on the streets celebrating during and after the games. This is especially noticeable in the Ice District, which was built right next to Rogers Place, which was completed about ten years ago.

Nieminen has been following North American hockey closely since 1998. He currently works as an NHL correspondent for the Atleetti website.

– Edmonton is the best place to experience a playoff game in the entire NHL in terms of the atmosphere in the hall itself – and I’m not the only one who says so, Nieminen insists.

– The audience in Edmonton is younger, according to research, and there are more people there who bought their own expensive tickets with their own money than anywhere else in the NHL. It adds to the atmosphere.

Frustration?

The Oilers switched from the WHA to the NHL in the summer of 1979, became a dynasty in the 1980s under Wayne Gretzky, and celebrated the Stanley Cup five times: 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990.

After the dynasty years, the oil nation has not been able to celebrate, but at least two finals places have been secured before this season: 2006 and 2024.

Does Edmonton fans show frustration when it’s been 35 years since the last goal and the best player in the world can’t lead his team to the goal?

– Not really. The prairies are called Tomorrow Country. People here have an optimistic attitude towards life. The people have always encouraged and stayed positive, even though the Oilers were struggling at times and were out of the playoffs for ten years, Nieminen answers.

– Here, it is understood that this is a team game. Even though McDavid is the number one star, there is no American-style worship of one player in the same way. You win as a team, you lose as a team.

Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen are giants in Oilers history. Kurri celebrated all of the club’s Stanley Cups, Tikkanen the last four

– The ballrooms at the five-star hotel next to Rogers Place are named after players. Wayne Gretzky’s ballroom is the largest, Jari Kurri’s is the second largest, and Mark Messier’s is the third largest, Nieminen said.

– By winning the Stanley Cup, McDavid can, as it were, join these legends.

“The Real Wizard”

The big question: can the Oilers derail the Panthers, coached by Aleksander Barkov and full of rock-hard, masterful players?

No, Nieminen predicts.

– I believe Florida will win its second Stanley Cup championship with the defense-based tactics of its excellent coach Paul Maurice and a hard-hitting game that will soften the opponent as the series progresses.

In the same breath, Nieminen praises Kris Knoblauch, who took over the Oilers midway through last season and is in his first NHL head coaching position.

– Knoblauch is a true wizard when it comes to match coaching, Nieminen enthuses.

– He excels in important playoff games, shuffling the deck and switching chains more than any NHL coach I’ve seen, including Scotty Bowman – and his sometimes bold moves always seem to work out.

The first game of the final series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers will be played on Thursday at 3:05 Finnish time.

The first game of the final series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers will be played on Thursday at 3:05 Finnish time.