Rig Roundtable: Playoff Edition

We took a little break from the Roundtable during the first part of this playoff run, but here’s a question to get you back into the discussion.

If the Oilers lose Wednesday in Game 7, is this season still a success or will you be disappointed in the result?

Sean Wingrave

Win or lose, this season has far exceeded my expectations. Seriously, did anyone predict the Oilers would be one victory away from being in the final-four? In addition, McDavid could win the Hart. The only way this season gets better is with a Stanley Cup.

Supernova

Success and Disappointment

Personally I never thought they would make the playoffs, in short 7 playoff wins is amazing.

Disappointing due to the fact Oilers nearly won games 5 & 6 and perhaps should have, but I will take the opportunity to blame the Flames, if they had have won a few games in the 1st round against the Ducks, we might be already looking at matchups versus the Predators.

Rex Libris

I would be disappointed because I believe the team can go further, but I would in no way consider the season as a whole a failure.

Undoubtedly, there will be those who will jump on the occasion to proclaim that the Oilers have wasted another year of McDavid’s ELC as they scan the hockey horizon for easy storylines to attract readers, but I think only the most hardened fan would consider a season that saw a team jump from finishing 29th overall to pushing the 2nd round of the playoffs to 7 games as a failure.

What makes me satisfied with the results to-date is that this team has accomplished what it has in the post-season as a result of a relatively balanced, overall team performance and not the highligh-reel heroics of a single player game after game, which is what I believe many outside observers were expecting. He has played the role of marquee decoy, leaving others to thrive in the void the opposition has thus created.

This is Connor McDavid’s team, but it is not his alone. There are many contributors and capable players on the roster and what they have accomplished has been through McDavid but not solely because of him.

So, if they lose on Wednesday am I disappointed in the season? Nope. Frustrated probably, because chances for a run at the Cup (which clearing the 2nd round essentially is) don’t come along very often and missing a chance always hurts. But the season is in no way disappointing to me as a whole.

Jonathan McLeod

If the Oilers lose game 7, I will be disappointed that they came so close to getting the the Conference Finals. However, when I look at the big picture, I’ll consider this season a very successful one. No one expected the Oilers to get even this far.

Avry Lewis-McDougall

If the Oilers fall in Game 7 this season is beyond a success! I saw them being a playoff team but winning a round surpassed my expectations, heck I’m pretty sure USA today had them finishing with sub 80 points this year, nothing to hang their heads about if the Ducks get it done.

Bret Litke

To me it will be a feeling of success no matter what. To be honest, just making the playoffs was a success, so to win a round and then force a game 7 in the second round is really something.

Of course it would sting if they lose, especially considering the questionable Anaheim goal in game 5, but the big picture is something to smile at. This entire experience has been incredible for this young team and will only do wonders for their future success. We are seeing it already in the growth of Benning and Caggiula’s game these playoffs.

No matter what happens, this has no doubt been a season to love and to remember.

Preston Hodgkinson

If the Oilers lose Wednesday’s Game 7, I personally won’t be disappointed.

Coming into this season I was expecting the Oilers to challenge for a wildcard spot, and they ended up challenging for a Division title.

They then followed that up by beating last year’s Western Conference Champions in 6 games, and taking the Ducks to Game 7, which would have been insane to know at year’s start.

Of course, the controversies that surround Games 4 and 5 will add a little salt to the wound, knowing that the Oil were so obviously robbed of a series win like that, but in the grande scheme of things this was a very good experience for the group of players we got.

Every championship team has to go through some trial and error before they get to the top, and if they lose this Wednesday it’ll be the beginning of something very special in City of Edmonton.

Sullivan Larson

In my mind, the season is a success no matter what happens the rest of the way.

As it was looking more and more likely that the Oilers would be making the playoffs this year, I tried to temper my own expectations. I told myself that just qualifying for the playoffs would be a phenomenal step, and that anything beyond that was an absolute bonus.

Here we are heading into game seven of the second round, and I still feel the same way. Sure, as you follow a playoff journey, expectations tend to creep up. However, it’s important to remind yourself that no matter what happens, this team has improved by leaps and bounds since October.

Most members of the MSM didn’t think we’d even make the playoffs, but we earned home ice and damn near won the division.

In my eyes, the first major window for the Oilers to win a Stanley Cup closes at the end of next season, when McDavid’s ELC is up. With that in mind, all of the fantastic experience this young team is accumulating in the playoffs this year will be crucial in 2017-18, when we’ll hopefully see them gear up for an honest-to-goodness Stanley Cup run.

Not that I’d complain about things happening a little ahead of schedule…

Alex Thomas

A little bit of both to be honest.

Obviously this season has been a huge success. I pegged the Oilers as an 85 point team and they blew that out of the water finishing with over 100 points. They made the post season for the first time in ten years, which I was not expecting. They won a playoff series and it was against the defending Western Conference Champions.

These are all great things and represent a huge step forward.

That said, I’ll be disappointed because Edmonton should win this series. They won games one and two on the road, they had a three goal lead in game five with three minutes left. Have the refs sucked? You bet they have, but the Oilers have had ample chances to win this series.

We can argue who the better team is, but a loss in game 7, to me, is a disappointing end to a successful season.

WheatNOil

Success.

When this season started, I thought this team, as constructed, was a playoff bubble team in the Pacific. They finished 2nd & were 17 points clear of their playoff cut line. They blew my expectation out of the water & did it without a ridiculously high PDO.

When the playoffs started, I thought a reasonable expectation was a competitive series… if they made it to 6 or 7 games & lost, that would be what I’d expect. They won in 6, were fairly even with the Sharks 5×5 and won the Special Teams battle. In other words, they not only won, they fully deserved their win.

In the second round, I expected the Ducks (now mostly healthy) to beat them in 6. We’re heading to game 7 & despite getting outplayed for most of the games, it’s taken some awfully questionable calls going against the Oilers that has kept Anaheim in it.

Even if I take a broad view & look at the franchise, I’d expect the first window to compete for the Cup is right now (years 2 & 3 of McDavid’s Entry Level Contract). I didn’t think the roster was constructed well enough to do that, but that would have been my goal if I was GM the day McDavid was drafted. I would say being in the final four is being competitive for the Cup and the Oilers are just one win from that now.

I’d call this season a success, no matter what happens Wednesday.

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