In an Edmonton Oilers news and rumors update, the team has made it to the Stanley Cup Final and insiders are making their predictions. Spoiler… most believe the Oilers are underdogs. Meanwhile, a viral video of fans getting too close to Connor McDavid is getting a lot of attention, as are comments made by Sportsnet analyst and former Oiler Luke Gazdic about the Vancouver Canucks. Finally, there is an update on the injury status of Evander Kane.
Oilers Make the Stanley Cup Final
Edmonton is going to the Stanley Cup Final! They’ll be taking on the Florida Panthers and will be considered underdogs in the series. The series will start on Saturday, June 8 in Florida and Edmonton will look to get a solid start against a team that is skilled, physical, and motivated to make good after last season’s failure to capture the Cup.
The matchups in this series are intriguing. McDavid and Aleksander Barkov will be watched closely. Two of the NHL’s top goal scorers in Sam Reinhart and Zach Hyman will be a storyline. The goaltending battle between Stuart Skinner and Sergei Bobrovsky will be fascinating, and Kane versus Matthew Tkachuk should be quite the narrative.
This should be a hard-fought series, but I’ll go with the Oilers in seven games.
McDavid Fans Get Too Close
A video of a fan encounter with McDavid has gone viral and given fans the creeps. Questions about why people would invade his personal space and that of his finance Lauren Kyle are everywhere, with former Oilers and enforcer Georges Laraque volunteering to be his personal bodyguard.
Related: McDavid Says Skinner Is Reason Why Oilers Are in Stanley Cup Final
The footage takes place while McDavid appears to making a beer run after their series with the Stars. The moment is being pegged as ridiculous and over the line and it certainly raises questions about boundaries and fans being overly passionate. Credit should go to McDavid and Kyle for being calm and not overreacting. They had every right to tell the fans to back off, but as uncomfortable as it probably was, they did a good job of not losing their cool.
Evander Kane Should Be Ready for Game 1 vs Panthers
One of the players who could wind up being a huge difference-maker in the Cup Final is Evander Kane. The last time Edmonton played a Tkachuk team he effectively rendered Tkachuk ineffective in their 2022 series with Calgary. If he’s healthy and ready to play, one would expect he’ll relish the opportunity to quiet one of the Panthers’ top producers.
Kane suffered an injury in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final vs. Dallas. He tried to take some shifts after an awkward hit, but didn’t play in the third period and stayed on the bench working the gates.
Knoblauch updated Evander Kane’s injury situation during a media avail on Tuesday. He said he doesn’t expect Kane to practice tomorrow but says he will skate on Friday and expects him to play Game 1 on Saturday. That’s great news for the Oilers.
Luke Gazdic Taking Heat for Comments on the Canucks
Former Oiler and now Sportsnet analyst Luke Gazdic is being criticized for the way he reacted to a series of messages from Canucks fans who flooded his social media inbox with trolling messages. Gazdic used an opportunity during an interview to call those fans and the Canucks losers and say the team got crushed by the Oilers (not true) and that they were a joke.
While it can be easy to understand Gazdic’s frustration and Canucks fans are often known for being bitter and unruly, especially when it comes to the fact they lost to the Oilers, it doesn’t speak for all Canucks fans and Gazdic likely crossed a line targeting the organization. It’s not clear if this will affect his standing on the Sportsnet panel, but he probably should have known better than it air his personal grievances and show his bias the way he did.
