Reviewing the 8th Season Finale of "How We Ruined Connor McDavid's Career"

For nine years, CBS had How I Met Your Mother. Hulu currently has the sequel/spinoff series, How I Met Your Father. The NHL has topped that with a sitcom of their own, as the Edmonton Oilers are giving us the NHL's longest running sideshow: How We Ruined Connor McDavid's Career. And the eighth season finale took place on the evening of May 14, 2023 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

On that evening, the Oilers faced off against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Six of the Pacific Division Final. It was fast paced; the Oilers led 2-1 after the three combined goals were scored in the game's first three minutes. That was the score at intermission, but as we all know, the Oilers have a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Three straight goals from Jonathan Marchessault resulted in a 4-2 Knights lead after two periods, and the Oilers were completely stymied in the third period. They had their chance, they pulled Stuart Skinner for the extra attacker, but Vegas got the empty netter. That was that.

Now let me make one thing perfectly clear: I do not like the Vegas Golden Knights. But here's the thing. Oilers fans have been getting on my last nerve ever since last year. They are still salty over their Western Conference Final sweep loss to the Colorado Avalanche, and it's reached a personal note with me. I've been attacked by Oilers fans when I say that the team is ruining McDavid's career. If you ask today's Oilers fans, it's the 1980s all over again, the Oilers are the best team in the league, and Cups are inevitable. One Oilers fan actually called Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog "choke artists who finally won a Cup."

Well, Oilers fans, you don't have to worry about the Oilers losing in the Western Conference Final this year...because the Oilers won't be there!

Now let me make another thing perfectly clear: I'm a big Connor McDavid fan. This kid is scaring the shit out of the entire league, and it's just amazing. This year? Oh man! A 150+ point season, the first by a player in over a quarter-century. His name is going to be put on the Hart Trophy this year without question. In the playoffs, McDavid did his thing again: 8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points, another point/game postseason. But again, McDavid's been in the league for eight years now, and he's only made it past the second round once (2022). Even worse: you know who was drafted in the same year as McDavid? Jack Eichel. This year is Eichel's first postseason, and he now has the same number of Final Four appearances as McDavid: one.

The other half of the Dynamic Duo, Leon Draisaitl...oh man, what a postseason he had! 18 points in the 2023 playoffs, but thirteen of them were goals! Remember, this was in 12 games. So not only was Draisaitl scoring a point per game, he was scoring a goal per game! That's just monstrous! Yet that's the season that was ruined by the Oilers' incompetence. You know who else scored 13 goals in a postseason? Evander Kane. In his first year with Edmonton, Kane put up 13 goals, and led the team in that category during that run. This year: three goals, two assists, five points, 46 penalty minutes! Zach Hyman was another disappointment: had 11 goals in the 2022 playoffs, racked up 11 points in this year's playoffs--only three of them goals.

And for the second straight year, goaltending was a problem. The Oilers really thought they solved that problem when they signed Jack Campbell and got rid of Mike Smith, yet Campbell was getting blasted during the season. The team went with Stuart Skinner, who appeared to look good until he was exposed as well. It was even worse in the playoffs. Skinner went 5-6 with a 3.68 GAA and an .883 SV% in the 2023 playoffs. Ouch!

Oilers fans really pounded their chests this year. But here's where the reality check comes in. The only reason why the Oilers won over the Kings was because the officiating kept Edmonton on the Power Play, which was literally the only thing that team did right. I said this for months: this Oilers team was not good. This was not the same team from last year. This team was regressing. Yet I was basically called "crazy" by Oilers fans, who were quick to come at me when the Avalanche were ousted by the Seattle Kraken. Here's the thing. The Avs can afford to regress a bit. The Oilers can't.

Also, here's more of a reality check for Oilers fans. Next year will be Year Nine for Connor McDavid. You know what Nathan MacKinnon did in his ninth season? This:

See that thing MacKinnon's holding up? That's called the Stanley Cup. It's that very thing that the Oilers are robbing McDavid and Draisaitl of because the team shows their wanton incompetence when it counts. If the Oilers don't win the whole thing next year, then it's official: the legendary career of Connor McDavid will be an absolute failure. It'll be even worse if his draft classmate Jack Eichel wins this year. Face the facts, Oilers fans: your team is ruining McDavid. Your team is also ruining Draisaitl. If those two ever want any chance to win a Stanley Cup, they need to get the hell out of Edmonton and land on a team that actually doesn't disappear in the playoffs.

The season premiere of How We Ruined Connor McDavid's Career takes place in October 2023!

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