In all sports, the greatest players in the history of their respective games are measured by their championships. Michael Jordan with his six NBA Championship Trophies, Babe Ruth with seven World Series victories, Tom Brady with seven Super Bowls, and Wayne Gretzky with four Stanley Cup championships. Whether each of these players is considered the greatest in each of their sports is often debated. But to even enter the conversation, you need to have at least one championship under your belt. And that’s what Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is looking for this spring.
Related: 7 Reasons Connor McDavid Is the World’s Best Hockey Player
As fast as McDavid has raced up the list of all-time scoring leaders, you can bet that all of the accolades and trophies don’t hold a candle to winning a Stanley Cup. That’s the ultimate goal for McDavid and the Oilers this playoff season, and anything short of a Stanley Cup championship this spring will be considered a failure.
This Is the Best Oilers Team of the McDavid Era
For all of the flack that Oilers general manager Ken Holland has received, the 2023-24 version of the Oilers is the best team of his tenure. Are they good enough to win the Stanley Cup? Maybe or maybe not…but this is the strongest group of players surrounding McDavid since he was taken first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Led by fellow superstar Leon Draisaitl, this group is as deep as they’ve been since the 2006 Oilers team that made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The current roster also includes 50-goal man Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, and Stuart Skinner…the list of solid Oilers players is impressive. But are they good enough to win it all?
Most of the Greatest Names in Hockey Have All Won Championships
When you look at the greatest names in the history of the game of hockey, the majority on the list have won the Stanley Cup. You can go from Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr to Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, Martin Brodeur and Sidney Crosby. All are among the game’s greats, and all have a Stanley Cup on their resume.
When I think of Brad Park, Marcel Dionne, Jarome Iginla and Gilbert Perreault, I think of their amazing contributions to the game. I also think of their involvement with Team Canada and winning Canada Cups and Olympic gold medals but unfortunately, I can’t rank them higher than those players who’ve won a Stanley Cup. That makes me think about the fate of McDavid, surely one of the greatest players to ever lace up a pair of skates. If he’s unable to win it all, where will he rank on the list of all-time great NHLers? That’s of course a question to be answered for another time. But it feels like the time to win is now for McDavid. He’s in his prime, at the strength of his powers, will 2024 be his year?
2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Begin April 20
As the days draw closer to the Stanley Cup playoffs, McDavid will most likely field a ton of questions about what it could mean to win the Stanley Cup. I think the best answer is there are no words. If you remember the 2010 NHL TV commercial for the Stanley Cup Final called “No Words” (Maybe the greatest TV commercial ever produced by the NHL) you’ll know how McDavid will feel if he and the Oilers do win it all. Whether Holland and Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson have put together the team that will make it to the promised land remains to be seen.
The mystery of whether the Oilers have the right stuff will be answered this spring. That’s a big part of the unmatched drama of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s the best part of being a hockey fan. I promise you one thing, if McDavid does indeed make it to the top of the mountain this spring, it’ll be a celebration for the ages, not only for him, his teammates and their families but for all of the long-suffering Oilers fans who’ve waited a generation for a chance to celebrate. Let the playoffs begin.
