June 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Warren Foegele had a career year in the regular season for the Edmonton Oilers. The 28-year old got twenty goals and 21 assists for 41 points in 82 games in 2023-24. He spent a healthy chunk of his regular season playing on a line with Leon Draisaitl.

The playoffs got off to a slow start for Foegele though. He found himself demoted to the bottom six in Game 5 of the first round. He had a tough night in Game 2 of that first round series against the Los Angeles Kings where he made multiple mistakes on goals against. An empty netter in Game 1 was his only goal of the series. He added an assist in Game 2.

Foegele stayed in the bottom six through the second round against the Vancouver Canucks, and he didn’t register a point in the series. He had an egregious giveaway in the defensive zone that led directly to a goal against in Game 3. His play was simply not up to the standard that he set in the regular season.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Canucks Top Oilers in Game 3

Things got worse for Foegele in the Western Conference Final. He registered an assist in Game 2 against the Dallas Stars, his first point since Game 2 of the playoffs (an eleven-game stretch). Head Coach Kris Knoblauch decided to make Foegele a healthy scratch in Game 4, a game that Knoblauch felt was almost a “must-win”. The Oilers won Game 4. They also won Games 5 and 6 without Foegele in the lineup to clinch their spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

Foegele failed to record a point in either of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, both Oilers losses. The tides began to change for Foegele in Game 3 though. Foegele scored the first Oilers goal at home in the Stanley Cup Final since 2006. He beat Sergei Bobrovsky clean with a wrist shot on a partial breakaway early in the second period of Game 3. Then he got an assist on the Oilers’ eighth goal of Game 4 in an 8-1 drubbing of the Panthers.

He got moved up to the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman for Game 5, and he delivered another assist. Foegele won a race to a puck in the left corner of the Panthers zone, and he protected the puck as he worked his way up the wall. He deftly left the puck for McDavid, who was cutting down the left wall as Foegele was moving in the opposite direction. McDavid did McDavid things and finished off the play. Foegele was excellent on the forecheck in Game 5, which helped that line create chances.

Foegele kept the good times rolling in Game 6. He was reunited with Draisaitl for Game 6. He drove the net and presented a target for Draisaitl, and Draisaitl hit him with an amazing pass. Foegele was able to bury it to open the scoring for the Oilers for the second time in the series. He also got an assist on Ryan McLeod’s empty net goal. Once again, Foegele was excellent on the forecheck.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers push the Stanley Cup Final the distance

He may have only recorded an assist in Game 4, but perhaps Foegele’s most important play of Game 4 was his pre-game fashion choice. Foegele sported a t-shirt with a picture of the late Kobe Bryant wearing a white Oilers jersey with Wayne Gretzky’s name on it prior to Games 4 and 5. According to NHL.com, Bryant wore the jersey during the second round of the 2012 NBA playoffs to spark the Los Angeles Lakers. The image of Bryant wearing Gretzky’s jersey is an image that is overflowing with greatness. It might be a coincidence, but Foegele has been great since he decided to start wearing that shirt to games. I think I can guess what Foegele will be wearing to the rink on Monday night.

Foegele’s resurgence in the Stanley Cup Final has been huge for the Oilers. He now has five points in the last four games. Foegele was long overdue for some of the offensive production that we saw from him in the regular season, and it couldn’t possibly be coming at a better time.