Series Wrap: Oilers vs Stars
June 4, 2024Oilers punch their ticket to the Final with memorable victory
June 6, 2024
June 4, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg
Let me take you back to April 12, 2014. The Edmonton Oilers played a seemingly meaningless game against the Vancouver Canucks to close out another miserable losing season.
That game was far from meaningless though. It was Ryan Smyth’s last NHL game. The Oilers gave Smyth the captain’s “C” for his last game. The Oilers won the game 5-2, and Smyth did one last lap around the ice at Rexall Place after the game.
The other thing that happened that night was that the Oilers leapfrogged over the Florida Panthers to go from the second fewest points in the league to the third fewest points in the league. That changed the order of the 2014 NHL Draft Lottery. That win in Smyth’s final game gave the Panthers better odds of winning the draft lottery. Lo and behold, they won the draft lottery and the choice to draft Aaron Ekblad with the number one overall pick.
Ekblad was granted exceptional status by the CHL, which allowed him to start playing junior hockey a year earlier than normal prospects. He was an unbelievable defenceman in junior, and the fact that he is right-handed only made him more tantalizing. Unsurprisingly, he went to the Panthers with the first overall pick in the 2014 draft.
As an Oilers fan, I have no right to complain about draft lottery luck. The Oilers ended up with the third selection after all was said and done. They selected big German centre Leon Draisaitl. I remember watching Draisaitl play against Canada in the World Junior tournament as a sixteen-year old, and he was the best player on the ice for either team. I would say that pick has worked out nicely for the Oilers.
The other player the Oilers could’ve chosen with that pick was Sam Bennett, who went to the Calgary Flames with the fourth pick in that draft. Bennett played his junior hockey with the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL, which made him a safer pick than Draisaitl in the eyes of many hockey experts.
Ekblad was the second of three consecutive first overall picks that teams needed to land to justify sucking in the early 2010s. Nathan MacKinnon (2013) and Connor McDavid (2015) were the other two. It was frustrating when the whole Ekblad draft lottery situation played out as an Oilers fan, but I would say that it all worked out pretty well for the Oilers. The Oilers ended up getting Draisaitl in the 2014 draft and McDavid in the 2015 draft. They also got their franchise altering right-handed defenceman, Evan Bouchard, in the 2018 draft.
Let’s fast forward to June 2024. The Panthers and the Oilers are about to meet in the Stanley Cup Final ten years after that impactful draft. The Oilers are here for the first time since Smyth’s 2006 Oilers had their magical run to the Stanley Cup Final. Ekblad is a star for the Panthers, and Draisaitl is a star for the Oilers.
It’s crazy enough that two of the top three picks in the 2014 draft are playing leading roles on their teams in a Stanley Cup Finals matchup ten years later, but all of the top four picks from that draft are in this series! The Panthers also have Bennett and 2014 second overall pick Sam Reinhart now. Bennett has become an impactful player with the Panthers. Reinhart led the Panthers in points and goals in the regular season.
Related: Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2006
The hockey world is pretty small when you think about it. There are always storylines that involve members of the teams in the Stanley Cup Final having crossed paths with members of the other team or having spent time with the other organization in some capacity at some point. This year is no different.
Let’s start with an obvious one. McDavid was the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft. That draft was hosted in Sunrise, Florida. Let’s take it further than that though. Warren Foegele was acquired by the Oilers in exchange for 2015 fifth round pick Ethan Bear. Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola was taken by the St. Louis Blues just three picks after Bear was selected. Mikkola was a part of the trade that sent current Panthers winger Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers last season.
Speaking of former fifth round picks, Zach Hyman was drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 draft by the Panthers. Now he leads the 2024 Oilers in playoff goal scoring as he gets set to face the team that drafted him in the Stanley Cup Final.
The full trade that sent Hyman to the Toronto Maple Leafs was Hyman and a conditional 2017 seventh round pick (the condition was that the Leafs would receive the pick if Hyman did not sign in Toronto) for Greg McKegg. McKegg has played for the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, for the last two seasons.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice is looking for his first Stanley Cup win as a coach. Maurice was the fifth youngest head coach to coach a game in the NHL. He coached his first NHL game at 28 years and 281 days old. Now he’s 57 years old with almost 30 years of professional head coaching experience. He did not coach during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and he coached the lockout shortened 2012-13 season in the KHL. Aside from that, he has been a head coach in the NHL since 1995-96.
1995-96 was Maurice’s first season as a head coach in the NHL. Panthers Assistant Coach Sylvain Lefebvre and Oilers Assistant Coach Paul Coffey faced off in the 1996 Western Conference Final. Lefebvre’s Colorado Avalanche bested Coffey’s Detroit Red Wings in a six game series. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that year. They swept the Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.
Coffey found himself playing for Maurice’s Hartford Whalers the next season. It’s wild to think that Maurice coached Coffey, but the facts are what they are!
Lefebvre spent some time with the Hartford Wolfpack in the AHL in his second last NHL season in 2001-02. Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch coached the Wolfpack from the 2019-20 season until he was hired by the Oilers on November 13, 2023. Knoblauch first met Maurice at the 2015 draft in Sunrise. Knoblauch coached McDavid in junior, and was at the draft where his star player was taken first overall.
Maurice’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final was against the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 when he coached the Carolina Hurricanes. The general manager of the Red Wings at that time was none other than Oilers GM Ken Holland.
Maurice coached Evander Kane for two seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. Maurice also coached Oilers Assistant Coach Mark Stuart for four seasons when Stuart played for the Jets from 2011-12 until 2016-17. Panthers Assistant Coach Jamie Kompon was an assistant coach for the Jets during Stuart’s last season for them.
Oilers Assistant Coach Glen Gulutzan was on the Oilers staff when Maurice’s Jets swept the Oilers in the 2021 playoffs. Panthers defenceman Dmitri Kulikov was Holland’s trade deadline acquisition for the Oilers in 2021.
Panthers Assistant Coach Tuomo Ruutu played 735 NHL games. Ruutu has an older brother that also played in the NHL. Jarko Ruutu played for the Anaheim Ducks in 2010-11. Oilers forward Corey Perry won the Hart and Rocket Richard Trophies while playing for the Ducks in 2010-11.
The younger Ruutu was traded from the Hurricanes to the New Jersey Devils at the 2014 NHL trade deadline. He played with Oilers forward Adam Henrique on that 2013-14 Devils team.
Ruutu’s Hurricanes beat Stuart’s Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. Another member of Stuart’s 2008-09 Bruins was Panthers Chief Revenue Officer Shawn Thornton. Stuart was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers before the 2011 NHL trade deadline (yes, Kane was on the 2010-11 Thrashers team). Thornton and the Bruins would go on to win the Stanley Cup that season against Special Advisor to the Panthers GM Roberto Luongo and his Canucks. Thornton also played with Perry on the Ducks. The two won a Stanley Cup together in 2007.
The man that traded for Stuart at the 2011 trade deadline was Rick Dudley, who currently works with the Panthers as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager. Dudley was the GM of the Thrashers in the 2010-11 season. The full trade was Stuart and Blake Wheeler going to the Thrashers in exchange for Rich Peverly and Boris Valabik.
Here are some more random connections between the Oilers and the Panthers:
- Matthew Tkachuk faced the Oilers in the 2022 playoffs when he was with the Calgary Flames. He was part of a blockbuster trade that sent him to Florida that summer. Bennett also has experience in the Battle of Alberta as a Flame, although he was not a part of the 2022 playoff series against the Oilers. Ryan Lomberg is another Panther that is also a former Flame. He played eleven games for them from 2017-2019. All three of these players were teammates of Brett Kulak in 2017-18 and of Derek Ryan in 2018-19.
- Panthers winger Eetu Luostarinen played eight games with Foegele on the Hurricanes in 2019-20. Panthers forward Steven Lorentz played with Foegele on the Hurricanes in the 2020-21 season.
- Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling was a member of the Hurricanes organization for part of the 2020-21 season as well. He only ever played for the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Forsling was claimed off waivers by the Panthers on January 8, 2021.
- Panthers centre Anton Lundell was drafted with the twelfth overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft. Two picks later, the Oilers selected Dylan Holloway.
- Panthers defenceman Brandon Montour played with Perry as a rookie in 2016-17. Their Ducks defeated the Oilers in Game 7 of the second round in the 2017 playoffs.
- Panthers defenceman Tobias Bjornfot was a member of the Kings organization until this season. He was in the Kings system when they played the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, but he did not suit up for any of those playoff games.
- Panthers winger and leading playoff goal scorer Carter Verhaeghe was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013. He played two games for the Toronto Marlies in the AHL in 2013-14. Sam Carrick was a member of the 2013-14 Marlies. So was McKegg.
- Panthers forward Kevin Stenlund played with Sam Gagner on the Jets in the 2022-23 season.
- Panthers forward Nick Cousins played with Gagner on the 2015-16 Philadelphia Flyers. He also played with Kulak on the Montreal Canadiens in 2019-20, and with Mattias Ekholm on the Nashville Predators from 2020-2022.
- Kane’s last year with the San Jose Sharks was the first part of the 2021-22 season while he was suspended. Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich was on that 2021-22 Sharks team.
- Speaking of Kane, he also played with Panthers winger Kyle Okposo for two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 2016-2018.
- Panthers backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz was the player that came back to the Oilers in the Cam Talbot trade in 2019.
- Paul Fenton, another Senior Advisor to the GM for the Panthers, was on the 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings. That was Wayne Gretzky’s first year on the Kings after the famous trade away from the Oilers. Fenton also played on the 1990-91 Calgary Flames, who lost to the Oilers in the first round of the 1991 playoffs.
- Luongo was the starting goaltender on the 2010 Canadian Men’s Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal in Vancouver. Holland was one of the managers involved with the 2010 Canadian Olympic team.
- Gulutzan was an Assistant Coach for the Canucks in Luongo’s last season with them.
- St. Albert’s Josh Mahura played 30 games for the Panthers in the regular season, but none in these playoffs. Edmonton’s Mike Benning (the brother of former Oiler Matt Benning) is a prospect in the Panthers system.
- Panthers Assistant Coach Myles Fee was a Video Coach with the Oilers in the 2009-10 season, and again from 2014-2016.
- If we want to go really crazy with this, I could also tell you that Panthers prospect Justin Sourdif was a part of the Edmonton Oil Kings WHL Championship team in 2022.
- Let’s get even crazier… The voice of the Oilers Jack Michaels did a segment with Panthers announcer Doug Plagens in 2008.
Researching these connections between Stanley Cup Final opponents is always interesting. There could be some that I missed, so please comment with any others that I may have missed!
The most wild thing to me about this series is the fact that ten years ago, these two teams were battling it out for draft lottery positioning. Now, they will battle for a Stanley Cup.
1 Comment
I think you got just about every storyline. I love all of the connections. It’s going to be a fun series.