'Worth it': Oilers' Stanley Cup veterans embrace long, gruelling road to Final

They got to the Stanley Cup final early in their careers, Adam Henrique in his rookie year and Corey Perry in his second.

Perry even won it that spring 17 years ago.

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"It doesn't feel that long ago," Henrique, today an Edmonton Oilers utility forward, told media on Tuesday of his first season in the National Hockey League, in which he scored the winning overtime goal in the 2012 Eastern Conference Final to propel his New Jersey Devils team to the championship.

They lost it in six games to the Los Angeles Kings.

Henrique said, at the time, he thought the Devils would simply get back to the playoffs the next season and "hopefully" get into the Cup final again.

Didn't happen.

"It's being a rookie and I guess not fully understanding what it takes every single year to get there," the 34-year-old said.

The Devils didn't make the post-season the remaining five years Henrique was on the team.

From left, Los Angeles Kings defenceman Rob Scuderi battles New Jersey Devils forward Adam Henrique for the puck as Kings goalie Jonathan Quick blocks his net during Game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on June 11, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)He was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2017, who were swept in the opening round of the playoffs his first season with them.

The team then went into rebuilding mode and missed the post-season in Henrique's remaining five campaigns in southern California before he was traded in February to the Oilers.

While the 39-year-old Perry will be skating in his fifth career Cup final — for a league-record five different teams — that successful 2007 Ducks Cup run has, so far, been the only title the former NHL MVP has claimed over his 18-year career.

"You never really know if you're going to get back there," said Perry, who the Oilers signed in January after the Chicago Blackhawks released him mid-season.

"Every year goes by and you're out in the first round, second round, the third round, and you say, 'OK, maybe next year, maybe next year,' and then they just keep adding up."

Nashville Predators defenceman Mattias Ekholm, right, checks Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 29, 2017, in Pittsburgh. (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)

Getting to Cup 'a learning process'

Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who has played in a Cup final once before, said observing the way the Blackhawks went about their post-season business in playoff series against them in 2015 and 2017 helped him understand what it takes to get this far, as the Oilers prepare to play the Florida Panthers on Saturday in Game 1.

"It's worth being in those moments," Ekholm said of Nashville losing to Chicago in 2015, when the Blackhawks went on to capture their third Cup in six years, followed by the Predators sweep of them in 2017 en route to the final, which they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"It just seemed like they weren't bothered by it. They were just going about their business. They just seemed unfazed by any sort of pressure ... I thought then there was a learning curve and a learning process for me just seeing that."

Forward Mattias Janmark, too, has been to the Cup final as a teammate of Perry's with the 2020 Stars.

That experience handling pressure is one of the benefits players who've been this far in the playoffs bring to teams, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.

From left, Anaheim Ducks players Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry hold up the Stanley Cup on June 6, 2007, after the Ducks won the NHL Final with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Anaheim, Calif. (Mark Avery/Associated Press)"It's good just to have those guys who have gone through it all, settling everything down and making it feel like just a regular game," Knoblauch said Tuesday to reporters.

"We just want our players to worry about playing the game ... Having those guys who've gone through it before eliminates those distractions and allows everyone to control the controllables (and) control what's important.

"What's important is just playing your game."

Perry said the potential payoff is, of course, rewarding.

"It's a lot of work to get here," he said.

"But at the end of the day, when you have that chance to lift it over your head, it's all worth it."