The Florida Panthers are the champions of this 2023-24 season, the Edmonton Oilers are not, and here’s basically what explains that.
Leon Draisaitl concluded the season with 41 goals, 65 assists and 106 points, second in Oilers scoring behind you know who. You could probably argue that the Oilers would be thinking about their parade right now if the 28-year-old German had produced at the same rate in the final. Instead, it was a rather faded Draisaitl who showed up against the Panthers, with only three assists and no goals. The stifling style of the Florida club may have something to do with it, but on several occasions, we saw the Oilers forward waste dream opportunities and miss the net on receiving shots to the left of the goalie, yet his favorite place. Among other things, he missed the net by a few centimeters in this situation during the second period of game seven, when the Oilers were trailing by just one goal. Was he hurt? Only he knows, but it doesn’t matter. If Draisaitl had been able to score the goals he usually does, the result would undoubtedly have been different.
Before the start of the final, and even more so from the moment the Panthers grabbed a 3-0 lead in the series, the most skeptical liked to point the finger at Stuart Skinner. The Oilers goaltender was, it seemed, the weak point of this club, and above all, he was going to be completely eclipsed by Sergei Bobrovsky, the goaltender opposite. But if the Oilers were able to get to a seventh game, it was partly because Skinner didn’t collapse, and partly because he was superior to Bobrovsky in games four, five and six. Prior to Game 7 of the Finals, the Oilers goaltender was 10-0 in the 2024 playoffs during Games 4-7, with a 1.50 GAA and .940 save percentage in that circumstance. . In short, he did what he was asked to do: give his club a chance.
With a 3-0 lead, then with a 3-3 tie, there are several coaches who would have pressed the red panic button, either by reshuffling the lines, or by attempting a daring change to the formation. But the Panthers coach bet on the same formula, the one that allowed his club to play until June, and in the end, it was the stifling style of the Panthers, the one that made them successful all year long, which led to this ultimate triumph. The winning goal, that of Sam Reinhart, was scored at 15:11 of the second period, which still left plenty of time for the Oilers to try to score a second time, but this second goal was never came. Among other things, thanks to the Maurice system.
It was Aleksander Barkov who finished second in the voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy, and it makes perfect sense. The Panthers forward was very good when faced with Connor McDavid (at five on five, he was the victim of a single goal against the Oilers captain), and in addition, he managed 2 goals and 3 assists during this final. We might add that Barkov won 83% of his faceoffs in Game 7, as each faceoff became more and more important.
The choice of McDavid for the Conn Smythe Trophy obviously led to some controversy, probably because the Oilers captain was shut out in the last two games. But with his 42 points, he came close to a record that we thought impossible to threaten, that of Wayne Gretzky’s 47 playoff points in the spring of 1985. We’ll leave it to others to tear their shirt on the old Twitter, and we’ll just point out that McDavid flirted with this mark, but also with that of Mario Lemieux, who collected 44 points during the 1991 playoffs. When a player threatens records like that 99 and 66, it’s probably because he plays hockey quite well.
