Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers entered the playoffs with championship expectations following back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final and with the reigning champions, the Florida Panthers, out of contention from the get-go.
That track record, as well as an Oilers core led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, had Edmonton positioned as one of the strongest contenders for the title this postseason.
However, there were some signs of concern heading into the first-round matchup against the Anaheim Ducks, as the Oilers reached the playoffs with a reasonably low .567 points percentage from the regular season, its lowest since 2018-19 and the fourth-worst among teams in this year's playoffs.
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Against the Ducks, the Oilers opened the series with a win before dropping three straight, ultimately falling 4-2 after a 5-2 loss in Game 6.
Following the Oilers' elimination on Thursday, McDavid offered a direct assessment of the season and the gap between Edmonton's expectations and the team's reality.
“It was tough. We were an average team all year. An average team with high expectations. You’re going to be disappointed,” McDavid said.
McDavid also acknowledged the impact of injuries in the Oilers' brief postseason run, though he declined to use them as justification for the result.
“Too hurt, too soon. The first round is always tough. It’s always chaotic, and it’s tough to play through things so early on as many guys did in here,” McDavid said. “That being said, it’s not an excuse, either. We expected to have a longer run than we did. It is what it is.”
The Oilers struggled to find consistency throughout the series and were doomed by their precarious special-teams play. Edmonton went 4-for-14 on the power play while allowing Anaheim to convert 8 of 16 opportunities.
“They played very fast, and we weren’t very fast. They had a good start. We didn’t. We were chasing the game,” McDavid said. “We’ve been searching for consistency the whole year. Obviously, we didn’t find it in the playoffs.”
