Oilers players starting to appreciate special Stanley Cup run and what it'll take to return to final

Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman celebrate McDavid's tying goal against the Vancouver Canucks during Game 2 on Friday, May 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The wound is still fresh, but some Edmonton Oilers players are beginning to appreciate how extraordinary their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was — and how important it'll be when they mount another attempt next season.

Zach Hyman, the Oilers forward who led all goal-scorers in the 2024 National Hockey League playoffs with 16, said Monday — three weeks after the Oilers lost the final Cup game 2-1 to the Florida Panthers — that "looking back now ... you can really appreciate it."

"I think you gain a great appreciation for how special the run was and how the whole city kind of came together," he said at his annual Zach Hyman Celebrity Classic charitable golf tournament in suburban Toronto in support of causes such as the UJA Federation and the Stollery Children's Hospital.

"We were able to battle out of the three-zero hole. It's something that we've done all year, the resiliency of the group."

• Visit our Oilers page for the latest stories, videos and more

Hyman said the feeling of losing the Cup final after coming within a couple of goals of winning hockey's holy grail was awful but that the Oilers can try to build on it for another crack at glory.

"To go all the way and to come back to the way we did and to be within a goal, you can almost taste it, and then it kind of gets ripped away, so that's a harder feeling in the moment," he said.

"Then reflecting on it, it's a better feeling than losing early and not having a chance because you couldn't go into next year with the understanding that you're right there and you know you can do it, so it's exciting from that standpoint."

The Oilers brass went straight to work retooling the lineup in the days following the Game 7 loss on June 24, with CEO Jeff Jackson and his staff — sans Ken Holland, who departed the team as his contract as general manager expired at the end of the month — signing off on several free-agent signings and trades to augment the roster and get it closer to being salary-cap compliant.

Those moves were not lost on Oilers players who spoke to media at Hyman's tournament, including superstar Connor McDavid, who said management has had "a great offseason so far.

"It's been short, it's been hurried, but I think in the small (amount of) time they've been at it, they've done great things," said McDavid, who led the NHL in playoffs scoring and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as post-season MVP.

"Keeping as many guys together as (possible) is a good thing in the salary cap era. It's tough to do that."

Connor Brown was one of those players who chose to come back as an unrestricted free agent, re-signing with Edmonton the day the market opened July 1 for a reasonable $1-million, one-year term.

"I thought it was only right for me to come back to Edmonton and try another hand at it," Brown said. Getting that close and getting as close as I did with the guys. We've got such a close group there."

Hyman said the situation in Edmonton — the desire to win coupled with the demonstrated ability to go deep into the playoffs — has put the team on the map as a free-agent target.

"I think it's also a testament to the team that guys are willing to come back on team-friendly deals and take discounts to try and win," Hyman said.

"I think they see how special it is to play in Edmonton. It's now becoming more of a destination to play."