Oilers star captain McDavid says team better for bittersweet playoff experience
TORONTO — The Edmonton Oilers’ first playoff berth in more than a decade ended in heartbreak, but Connor McDavid thinks the club will be better for it.
“I think after going through the playoffs you definitely get a sense for how important it is to go through it at least once before you win,” McDavid, Edmonton’s award-hogging 20-year-old captain, said Tuesday from the annual BioSteel camp in Toronto.
“You look at most teams that have won, they’ve lost the previous year or a few years before. So you have to get that experience.”
Led by McDavid, the Oilers not only qualified for the post-season for the first time since 2006, but also nearly snatched the Pacific division from Anaheim with the finest campaign Edmonton has seen from their NHL team (103 points) in the salary cap era. What followed was a six-game triumph over the then-reigning Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks and near-upending of the Ducks in the second round.