Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch revealed that captain Connor McDavid played through a fracture in the foot and ankle area during his team’s six-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
Knoblauch, speaking on Saturday in the club’s final media availability of the season, added that forward Jason Dickinson had a similar injury, and that both battled “through a lot of pain” in the loss to the Ducks. “Obviously, it affected their play,” the coach said. “But, [we have] a lot of admiration for them for wanting to be out there, and contributing as much as they did during the playoffs.”
McDavid, who was a game-time decision for Game 5 in Edmonton before he ultimately took the ice with his teammates, also spoke on Saturday, telling reporters that “my advantage is my speed burst, you know, that quick step. I had none of that.”
McDavid, and fellow Oilers superstar forward Leon Draisaitl, also addressed the franchise’s future, expressing concerns that the organization has “taken big steps backward” considering the two-time defending Western Conference champions were eliminated in the first round.
Draisaitl spoke first and was asked if he was concerned about the direction that the Oilers were taking.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of properly winning games, and I don’t like using the terminology of taking the regular season serious because we do,” Draisaitl said. “We go into every game, and we try to do it right, we say the right things, but I think you have to in the regular season form these moments, you have to get comfortable in these moments. We didn’t do that this year, and it ended up showing in the first round here.
“But yes, I am concerned because we are not trending in the right direction. We’ve taken big steps backwards and we’ve got to get a grip of this and head back in the right direction.”
Advancing to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals while reaching the postseason for a seventh straight year has reinforced how the Oilers remain in a championship window.
Losing to the Ducks, however, also proved how windows can be complicated to navigate. This was the first time since the 2020-21 season that the Oilers failed to get out of the first round.
McDavid said after Game 6 that the Oilers were “an average team all year.”
What adds to that first-round series defeat is that the Ducks rebuild over the last few years has led to them developing a homegrown core blended with veterans that could see them carve a place and potentially challenge the power structure in an already crowded Western Conference landscape.
McDavid was informed of Draisaitl’s comments and was asked if he felt the same way as his fellow Hart Trophy winner.
“Yeah, I feel the same way … I agree with Leon that the organization as a whole has taken a step back,” McDavid said. “I think that starts with me. That starts with me. That starts with Leon. We all can be better and we all need to be better.”
Having a pair of generational talents such as Draisaitl and McDavid has come with the expectation that the Oilers could win a title someday.
Not that there haven’t previously been questions about the Oilers’ path to that elusive title. But this season has led to more of those questions being asked for various reasons.
The most notable being: How much time do the Oilers have left?
McDavid, who turns 30 in January, is in the final months of an eight-year contract worth $12.5 million annually. He signed a two-year extension in October worth $12.5 million annually to remain with the club through the end of the 2027-28 season.
His decision to remain with the Oilers for two more years further amplifies the need to win now or potentially risk losing him once he hits free agency as a 31-year-old.
“In what world do you have the best player in the world on your team and you’re not looking to win,” said Draisaitl, who is in the first season of an eight-year contract worth $14 million annually. “I know we’re looking to win, but we need to be better. We have to be better. There’s no way around it. We have to improve. He’s signed for two more years, and God knows where that goes.
“But we have two years here right now. As of right now, we have two years. We have to get significantly better.”
McDavid was asked if there was anything to the speculation that he would leave if the Oilers haven’t won a Stanley Cup or aren’t close to winning a Stanley Cup by the time his extension ends.
“I want to win and I want to win here in Edmonton,” McDavid said. “That’s my focus.”
Edmonton enters another offseason in which it appears it must find a way to build a consistent supporting cast while by striking a series of team-friendly deals.
PuckPedia projects that the Oilers, who have seven players with more than three years on their current contracts, have $16.49 million in available cap space while the Jack Campbell buyout increases from $2.3 million against their cap in 2025-26 to $2.6 million in the 2026-27 season.
That’s around the league average amount of space compared to the rest of the league, per PuckPedia’s data.
But it also comes with the understanding that they must make decisions on their eight-player unrestricted free agent class. It’s a group that includes goaltender Connor Ingram and forward Jack Roslovic, who is coming off his third 20-goal season.
Oilers general manager Stan Bowman was asked how much of a proverbial compass is the new McDavid extension for the organization and if it will impact every decision going forward.
“We’re trying to win. We’re trying to find a way to win and we’ve been doing that,” Bowman said. “Those questions are more for Connor as far as what his plans are and what his thoughts are. We’re on the same page as Connor; we want to win too. All the moves that we make are geared toward trying to win the Cup next year. We’re not building for four years from now.
“I think it lines up in the same parallel path that Connor wants to win and we want to win. That’s the way we look at it.”
