Oilers believed they could break up Flames in 2022 playoff series: report

The Edmonton Oilers wanted to do more than just eliminate the Calgary Flames during their second-round matchup in last year’s playoffs.

As motivating as the Battle of Alberta series was for the Oilers, they believed there was more at stake than simply sending the Flames packing for the offseason. According to a remark from Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show, they believed they could dismantle the Flames’ roster entirely with a series victory.

“When the Oilers were winning that series, that became a bit of a rallying cry for them,” Friedman said. “They knew if they won the series, they could possibly break up the Flames.”

Friedman said that a player from the Oilers told him the story at the time and reached out to him yesterday, letting him know he could bring the story up as long as he didn’t include any names.

The series didn’t start as the Oilers hoped, as they fell by a 9-6 final in Game 1. However, they stormed back to win four unanswered to punch their ticket to the Western Conference Final.

Though it took a year longer than the Oilers had hoped, there appears to be some serious validity that they did, in fact, break up the Flames. After eliminating them a year ago, the Flames had to do a significant retool with the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. They then missed the playoffs entirely and are now facing major uncertainty.

Recently, it has been reported that four players entering the final year of their respective contracts in Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, and Tyler Toffoli, are all leaning towards not re-signing in Calgary. Given how important the four are to this team’s success, there is chatter they may enter into a rebuild. With how things have developed, Flames fans can’t help but wonder what could have been had their team defeated the Oilers in last year’s playoffs.

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