Likely Edmonton Oilers playoff opponents ranked from boring to fun
The Edmonton Oilers are almost certainly headed to the playoffs this year, and fans are itching to experience another long Stanley Cup run.
As it stands, the Oilers are sitting atop the Pacific Division and are fourth in the entire NHL, with only the Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals, and Winnipeg Jets having more points. If this sticks, it would be the best regular season finish for Edmonton since the 1980s and their first division title since 1987.
Edmonton made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season and is hoping to return there again this year. To do that, they will have to defeat their first-round opponents, which they have successfully done in the last three years.
Their opponent in those three years? The LA Kings, every time. A fourth-straight matchup is not out of the question this year, but it may be more fun to have a change of pace this season.
Here is a ranking of all of Edmonton’s potential first-round matchups ranked from the least to most fun.
6. LA Kings
Does anybody really wanna see a fourth-straight season of the Oilers-Kings battling it out in the first round of the playoffs?
Kings fans certainly don’t want to, seeing as they have been eliminated by Connor McDavid’s Oilers every time. The series has gotten shorter throughout each iteration, thankfully, going from seven games in 2022, six games in 2023, and then five games last season.
If that trend continues, that would mean an Oilers sweep is the next logical course of action this time around. That sounds like a sweet deal for Edmonton fans, but there is certainly a bit of fatigue in this matchup.
5. Minnesota Wild
With the Pacific Division up for grabs, that means a Central Division opponent is potentially on the menu for an opening-round opponent.
These two teams once played in the Northwest division between 2000 and 2013 before NHL realignment split them up. There was a healthy rivalry in those days, but never any playoff matchups. This would be the first time these two teams would meet in the postseason.
Having Kaprill Kaprisov line up against McDavid on a nightly basis would fit the bill for a superstar matchup, and a goaltending battle involving Marc-Andre Fleury in his final NHL season will surely make the headlines.
It’d be an intriguing series, but one that doesn’t quite hold the spice that the remaining four have.
4. Vegas Golden Knights
It’s shaping up to be an interesting postseason if an Oilers matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights isn’t even in the top three of the most exciting potential series.
Don’t be fooled; this would still be a very anticipated matchup, and the action would be extraordinary. The three regular-season games between Edmonton and Vegas have been must-watch TV, and there will be plenty of animosity left over from 2023’s second-round series.
This is among the team’s newest rivalries to pop up over recent years, and it’s bound to get even more heated as the fight for the Pacific Division crown continues over the next three months.
3. Calgary Flames
It seemed like an impossibility at the beginning of the season that the Calgary Flames would make the playoffs, but here we are.
The prospect of another Battle of Alberta playoff series, the second in three seasons, is enough to excite even the most casual Oilers fans. The history between the Oilers and Flames is as storied as any other NHL rivalry and would be among the premier matchups in the first round.
That is high praise, but it doesn’t quite make the top due to the lack of star power on the Flames.
2. Colorado Avalanche
If star power was an issue for a potential Battle of Alberta series, the opposite is true if the Oilers meet the Colorado Avalanche in round one.
Having Nathan Mackinnon and Cale Makar line up against McDavid and Draisaitl is what the NHL playoffs are all about. That is potentially four of the league’s top-10 scorers going toe-to-toe. Even if this were the first time these two teams met in the playoffs, they would undoubtedly be among the top.
It makes it even better that there is some recent history between these two teams. The Avs swept the Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Finals en route to a Stanley Cup victory.
1. Vancouver Canucks
It could only be the Vancouver Canucks at the top of this list.
Arguably the best series of last year’s NHL playoffs was the second-round blood-bath between the Oilers and Canucks that went to seven games. It was a matchup that had twists at every corner and top-tier drama in every single game. The fanbases hated each other more than any two fanbases ever could, and that disdain bled out onto the ice.
Vancouver has struggled this year but still boasts an impressive lineup of stars led by captain Quinn Hughes as well as Elias Pettersson and the newly-signed Jake DeBrusk. If the Canucks can sneak into the playoffs, they will be more than motivated in any series against the Oilers.