Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have not been able to get over the hump in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, despite having one of their best seasons since the days of Wayne Gretzky in 2022-23.
The captain got brutally honest on Tuesday about the expectations for his team after another postseason disappointment.
“It's Cup or bust for this group,” McDavid asserted on Tuesday, according to NHL.com's Derek Van Diest. “Just where everyone is at with their career, that's the expectation.”
The 26-year-old McDavid, along with 27-year-old Leon Draisaitl, are probably the two best hockey players in the world right now, but have been unable to take their Oilers past the Western Conference Final.
After being swept in the final four by the Colorado Avalanche last season, Edmonton bowed out in six games to their Pacific Division rival Vegas Golden Knights in the second-round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs over the weekend.
“I think it is progress, maybe it doesn't feel like it today, but I think it is progress,” McDavid continued. “I think we're a better team than we were last year.”
“We're all here to win and when you don't it's disappointing,” Draisaitl echoed. “We'll talk about it here within our group and we have to use that in a positive way and come back next season, make the changes we need to do, and it's Cup or bust.”
The Oilers won 50 games in the regular season for the first time since 1986-87, and defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the first-round for the second straight year. But they lost to a more experienced and arguably deeper Golden Knights team.
Still, Connor McDavid is optimistic about the future of his group, especially with the core expected to stay intact for at least the next two seasons.
“I think if you look at the group here, everyone is signed on for the next number of years, nobody is aging, everyone is in the prime of their career. I think we have the opportunity to knock on the door…Ultimately, it's going to be up to us to put it all together.”
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