Connor McDavid says Oilers, ousted by Ducks, were ‘average’

Although the Edmonton Oilers have made back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, star center Connor McDavid admitted this season’s roster was just an “average team” after being eliminated in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks.

“It was tough. We’ve been an average team all year. An average team with high expectations. You’re going to be disappointed,” he said after the Oilers lost 5-2 in Game 6 on Thursday night.

Edmonton played for the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025, losing twice to the eventual champion Florida Panthers. But this version of the Oilers, built by general manager Stan Bowman, failed to make it out of the first round for the first time since 2021. They also posted their lowest regular season points percentage (.567) since the 2018-19 season.

Injury speculation swirled around McDavid all series, as he wasn’t his usual self against the Ducks. He had six points in six games but only scored one goal. Only two of his points were scored at even strength. In the Game 6 loss, McDavid had no points and skated to minus-3, with two giveaways and losing six of eight faceoffs.

McDavid admitted the Oilers were suffering from injuries.

“Too hurt, too soon. The first round is always tough. It’s always chaotic, and it’s tough to go through things that early, like several guys did here,” McDavid said. “That being said, it’s not an excuse either. We expected a longer journey than what we achieved. It is what it is.”

Oilers star Leon Draisaitl noted that the team’s top three centers are all playing injured.

“At the end of the day, you have to find ways to win games. Injuries? Yeah, it sucks, and it hit us at the wrong time. But at the end of the day, they were the better team,” Draisaitl said.

The quick elimination from the playoffs immediately sparked speculation from fans and media about McDavid’s future in Edmonton.

McDavid, 29, signed a two-year contract extension ($12.5 million AAV) last October, giving Edmonton at least three seasons to build a Stanley Cup winner around him. The six-time NHL scoring leader is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2028. McDavid took his time evaluating Edmonton’s competitive window before agreeing to a short-term deal to remain with the Oilers.

“I obviously said I was determined to win here, and I meant it when I said that, and two years, it makes perfect sense,” McDavid said last October. “It gives us a chance to continue to pursue what we’re pursuing here with the core guys that we have here, and we also have some money to work with.”

After eliminating the Los Angeles Kings in the first round for four straight seasons, the Oilers faced the high-scoring Ducks, who made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2018 under new coach Joel Quenneville. The Ducks took a 3-1 series lead before closing out Edmonton 4-2.

The Ducks took a 2-0 lead Thursday night just 13:43 into Game 6 thanks to a goal with a bouncing puck from Ryan Poehling and a one-timer from Chris Kreider. Defenseman Connor Murphy cut the lead to 2-1 for Edmonton, but Cutter Gauthier scored his fourth goal of the series just 1:36 later to make it 3-1 in the first period.

“They played very fast, and we weren’t very fast. They got off to a good start. We didn’t. We were chasing the game,” McDavid said. “It’s been all year. We’ve been looking for consistency all year. Obviously we didn’t find it in the playoffs.”

Troy Terry scored his third goal of the series with 37 seconds left in the second period to give the Ducks a 4-1 lead. Edmonton’s Vasily Podkolzin was credited with a goal just 1:13 into the third period to give the Oilers some life, but the Ducks closed out the game with an empty-netter from Leo Carlsson.

“That’s a real hockey team over there,” said Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.