B/R NHL Staff Roundtable: Will Connor McDavid Ever Win the Cup in Edmonton?

After years of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin dominating the NHL, we can officially pass the mantle of league standard-bearer to Connor McDavid.

The 24-year-old Edmonton Oilers captain has lit up the league since he was drafted first overall in 2015. He's won two Hart Trophies as the NHL's MVP, three Art Ross Trophies (given to the player with the most points) and tallied more than 100 points three times, including a ridiculous 105 in 56 games last season.

But his individual success hasn't translated to team glory for the Oilers. McDavid has only reached the postseason three times and has gone past the first round just once, in 2017.

Under pressure to get the Oilers deep into the playoffs, general manager Ken Holland opened the wallet in the offseason, signing winger Zach Hyman to a seven-year $38.5 million contract and bringing in the veteran presence of former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith as a way to lighten McDavid's load.

But will it be enough? And will we ever see the superstar succeed Edmonton? Our B/R NHL Staff debated the topic and provided their opinions.

Don't agree with their takes? Submit your comments below and sound off on the topic!    

As the resident Oilers fan on the panel, I both love and hate this question.

I'm old enough to have spent my teens and early 20s watching the run of five Cups in seven years, and I was there for Games 1 and 7 of the 2006 team's unlikely ride to the final against Carolina.

Fifteen years later, I'm almost ready to concede defeat to the Hurricanes.

But the funny thing is, it's the resemblance to the 2005-06 squad—or at least the symbolic resemblance in my head—that has me ready to answer yes to the query that's prompted this post.

Before that season, the Oilers were flawed. They brought in an MVP-caliber star in Chris Pronger and a valuable grit guy in Michael Peca and had a lot of holdovers such as Ryan Smyth, Ethan Moreau, Jason Smith and others who had spent their careers chasing Nos. 7 and 8 seeds.

But when trade season came, everything changed.

Dwayne Roloson closed up the net. Jaroslav Spacek shored up the blue line. Sergei Samsonov sped up the forward group. And though they still only qualified as a No. 8 seed, the Oilers as they were constructed in April were as good as any team in the NHL.

The top-seeded Detroit Red Wings fell to them first, followed by MVP Joe Thornton and San Jose and then by the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Final. You'll never convince me they wouldn't have won the whole thing had it not been for Roloson's knee injury in Game 1 against the Hurricanes.

Speed up to McDavid's time with the club.

Lest anyone forget, McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co. were first-round winners against the Sharks in 2017 and went up 2-0 in Round 2 with Cam Talbot in goal before losing to the Ducks in seven games for a berth in the final four. More than one observer pegged them among the favorites in 2017-18, so to suggest any connection to success is ancient history is simply inaccurate.

Specific to this year's team, it has the best player in the world. It has a second banana who's in the top 10, if not the top five. Darnell Nurse may not be a Norris Trophy winner, but he's a quality top-pair guy. And Tyson Barrie and the rest of the blue-line corps provide credible defense and quality offense.

As for the new guys, Hyman will help. Warren Foegele will help. Derek Ryan will help.

And Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi are emerging talents as well.

What will matter most to GM Ken Holland when it comes to this team is getting a goaltender.

There are always some available when the deadline approaches, and he's smart and savvy enough to find the right one. Imagining Anton Khudobin in an Edmonton sweater come playoff time suddenly makes the idea that they could win in the short term a little less ridiculous.

Had Pronger stayed, I believe he'd have won one with the Oilers.

McDavid is more impactful on a nightly basis. So yes, I do believe he lifts a Cup in Edmonton.

A few weeks ago, we asked members of the B/R hockey community who the true face of the NHL is. While there were a lot of good answers, McDavid was the overwhelming response.

So does he need to win a Stanley Cup to maintain that status? The other two "faces," Crosby and Ovechkin, have their names on the Stanley Cup. The Penguins superstar's name has been etched on it three times.

But it's a different story with McDavid. He is the best player in the world. It's debatable, but McDavid might be better than Crosby was in his prime. And we all know the Oilers' front-office turmoil has hamstrung the club since it picked him No. 1. Edmonton is on its second general manager and third head coach since then, but it appears to have righted the ship heading into the 2021-22 season.

McDavid has a solid crew of talent around him, a highly regarded head coach in Dave Tippett and a general manager in Holland who has restocked the prospect pipeline. The Oilers will once again be a playoff team, but they likely will not be the last club standing this year.

The blue-line depth drops off significantly after the top pair of Nurse and Barrie. Keith, 38, might still have something left, and Cody Ceci is fine, but the third pairing hasn't been solidified, and that's not exactly ideal considering the goaltending tandem of Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen.

This duo was actually very good last season, putting up a .911 save percentage, tied for ninth in the league. But can it continue to produce at that same level? Smith, 39, is one of the oldest goaltenders in the NHL, so it's a valid question. Koskinen was not particularly good at making high-danger saves last season (.800), at least not when you compare him to some of the league's top goalies, such as Andrei Vasilevskiy (.872).

It's impossible to have elite players at every position in the salary-cap era, but elite talent needs elite goaltending, and the Oilers do not have that. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN ranks it the 27th-best tandem in the league.

So back to the original question of whether McDavid will ever win a Cup in Edmonton. The answer is, maybe, but probably not this year. The Oilers have five seasons to figure it out before his contract expires and seemingly have the right people in place to get McDavid to the promised land. But defense and goaltending will need to be bolstered in the coming years to capitalize on having the best player in the world.

McDavid won't get a Cup in Edmonton if the Oilers fail to address their significant weaknesses over the remaining five years of his contract.

Stanley Cup champions tend to have a dependable starting goaltender, a strong No. 1 defenseman and scoring depth at right wing. The Oilers lack all three.

Goaltending is their biggest issue. Nobody would confuse the tandem of Smith and Koskinen for Stanley Cup-caliber netminders.

Smith plays well when healthy, but the 39-year-old has a long injury history. He hasn't won a playoff round since 2012, when he was with the Coyotes. He's signed through 2022-23, but age and the wear-and-tear of his lengthy career could soon catch up with him.

Koskinen has failed to prove himself as a reliable starting goalie since joining the Oilers in 2018. This is likely his last season in Edmonton, as he's scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Oilers have no one in their system ready to challenge for the starter's job and will have to turn to the trade or free-agent markets to address that issue. The cost of finding a proven postseason goaltender could prove difficult for a team with $46 million of their payroll invested in just six players through 2024-25.

Turning to the defense, the Oilers have done a decent job of shoring up their blue line in recent years.

Nurse is a solid all-around defender while Barrie generates offense from the blue line. Keith is no longer the All-Star he was during his glory days with the Blackhawks but brings a welcome measure of experience and leadership. The promising Evan Bouchard has potential as a puck-moving rearguard.

The problem, however, is none of them are elite defensemen. Nurse may be getting paid like one starting next season with his eight-year, $74 million extension, but he's not in that class yet. Meanwhile, Barrie's defensive play isn't at the same level as his offensive game. Keith, meanwhile, is past his prime, while Bouchard has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL blueliner.

Scoring depth at right wing has been an ongoing issue. Puljujarvi, 23, has been slow in developing into a reliable offensive forward. Yamamoto showed promise with 26 points in 27 games in 2019-20 but regressed to 21 points in 52 games last season.

Improved efforts by Puljujarvi and Yamamoto would address this problem. Further inconsistency on their part, however, could send management shopping for help.

The Oilers have used mostly Band-Aid solutions to address these needs. Until they find better solutions, McDavid won't win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton.

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