April 20, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg

Connor McDavid doesn’t usually give us a lot in his interviews. It’s clear that he was media trained at a young age as the spotlight shone brightly on him as a teenage hockey prodigy.

We got a rare opportunity to peer deeper into his mind when he wrote his “Dear Canada” piece for the Payer’s Tribune right before the Olympics. It was an honest piece where he opened up, including sharing the story about his bachelor party trip to the Bahamas where he and his friends ended up mostly reminiscing about the 2024 Stanley Cup Final that McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers had just lost in devastating fashion.

Shortly before diving into that story, McDavid commented on the slow start that he and the Oilers had this season:

“…I remember the pain of losing, and how at times it felt so much worse than the joy of winning. And if I’m honest, I still struggle with that. It’s something I’ve tried to work on a lot these past few seasons. When we lose a game, whether it’s game one of 82 or game 3 of a playoff series, it’s a big deal here. Like I said, I welcome that pressure. But as a player, as a leader, I can’t get too high or too low. And so how do you have fun in an environment like that? I don’t have that answer right now. Sometimes the regular season feels like a grind. I think you’ve seen it in our play this year, in my play. I’m not always proud of that, but I want to be honest here.”

A lot of fans expect professional athletes to be at their best every single night because they get paid handsomely to perform at the highest level. That’s the expectation from ownership, management, and the athletes themselves as well. But we have to remember that athletes are human beings. 

We as Oilers fans have watched our team get as close to winning the Stanley Cup without winning it twice in a row. We don’t need to relive those losses here now, but we all remember the pain of the disappointment. We rode the emotional rollercoaster that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs all the way to the bitter end twice, and came away empty handed both times. Those scars don’t truly go away.

Fans get emotionally invested in their team’s outcomes, but the players’ investment is tenfold compared to ours. The scars are deeper for the athletes than for the fans.

My experience this season as a fan hasn’t felt the same as it has in previous seasons. I’ve felt the excitement of my team’s playoff drought ending like Buffalo Sabres fans are feeling right now. I’ve felt the joy of seeing my team win a playoff round. I’ve danced in the streets after seeing my team clinch a Stanley Cup berth. I’ve flown across the continent to watch my team lose in a winner take all championship deciding game. So forgive me if I don’t jump off my couch and release celebratory screams for 1-0 goals on random Tuesday nights in the regular season the way I used to anymore. Those games just aren’t the same.

I can empathize with McDavid’s statement about the regular season feeling like a grind. I can understand not getting pumped up for a road game in Columbus on a Thursday night in November after having played on the game’s grandest stage. I expect McDavid and the Oilers to give a solid effort every game, but I don’t expect them to be anything other than human.

Another April is upon us. Another 82-game grind of a regular season is in the books, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway.

“The regular season has become a little bit monotonous for this group and I think you see that through the day-to-day, but this is what we get excited for.” said McDavid on the eve of Game 1 of the Oilers’ first round series against the upstart Anaheim Ducks.

McDavid also spoke about how the playoffs are a different game than the regular season because of all the momentum swings. As he stated, he and the Oilers know what to expect in terms of the playoff atmosphere and the playoff pace. They’ve played in a lot of big games. The only thing these Oilers haven’t done is win the whole thing.

We’ll see if the Oilers can flip the switch and find the game that kept them playing into June the past two seasons or not.

The Oilers finished the regular season with 93 points, which was an eight-point decrease from last season. They never put it into high gear at any point. These Oilers were only able to put together two winning streaks of three or more games, the first of which didn’t occur until late January.

They enter these playoffs with ten new players that weren’t with the team during the playoffs last season, including a whole new goaltending tandem. Four of those players have no prior NHL playoff experience. Matt Savoie and Colton Dach appear to be a part of the Game 1 lineup, while Josh Samanski and Spencer Stastney will have to patiently wait their turn.

Game 1 starter Connor Ingram only has three playoff games under his belt. Tristan Jarry only has eight. Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson, who were acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks along with Dach at the trade deadline, have only played in the playoffs once. That was in the COVID bubble at Rogers Place in 2020. They haven’t felt the atmosphere that they will feel on Monday night.

The Oilers will need all hands on deck if they want to win it all this time around. Mattias Janmark is done for the season, but the Oilers being as close to full health as possible aside from that will help the Oilers’ cause. Leon Drasaitl (knee) and Jason Dickinson (ankle) appear to be ready to go for Game 1. I’m not certain that they will be at 100%, but few are at this time of year.

The 2025-26 Oilers aren’t as experienced or as talented on paper as the previous two iterations of the Oilers were, but McDavid fully believes in this group. “I feel good about each and every group we go in with, honestly. This group is no different.” the Oilers captain said. “It really feels like it’s anybody’s year.”

The Pacific Division ended up being a “pillow fight”, as McDavid so eloquently described it recently, this season. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, but there’s a path to the Western Conference Final for the Oilers if they can take down the fledgling Ducks and the winner of the Vegas Golden Knights versus the Utah Mammoth, both of whom the Oilers have enjoyed recent regular season success against. 

Anyone emerging from the Pacific quarter of the bracket is likely to run into a behemoth of an opponent coming out of the Central Division; but that’s a long way from now, and whoever comes out of the Pacific will have two rounds worth of playoff hockey under their belts.

And of course, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will be watching it all unfold from the beach this spring after an injury plagued season.

Anything can happen.

I wouldn’t call the Oilers favourites this year, but they have the pieces needed to get the job done. They’ve got McDavid coming off another Art Ross Trophy win and the second most prolific offensive season of his career. He’s also sufficiently motivated after coming up short the last two seasons and once again in Milano. Evan Bouchard led the league in scoring by defencemen and is firmly in the Norris Trophy conversation, and we’ve seen what he can do in the playoffs. Oh yeah, they have that Draisaitl guy too.

The core pieces of this team are operating at peak levels. It’s about whether or not the new surrounding pieces will be able to elevate their games alongside the superstars and provide the support needed to get to the top.

The opponent will have a say as well. The Oilers seem to struggle against fast, young teams like the Ducks. It’s entirely possible that a young, hungry Ducks team pounces on a tired Oilers team that has played a lot of hockey in the last few seasons. 

Anything can happen.

That’s part of what makes playoff hockey so exciting. The excitement, the atmosphere in the buildings, and the momentum swings add up to some incredible theater. It all gets started for the Oilers tonight at Rogers Place.