The Edmonton Oilers might not have won the Stanley Cup, but they still have the greatest player ever.
At least, Leon Draisaitl feels so.
On Monday night, the Oilers suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, a crushing blow to one of the more memorable playoff runs in recent memory. Down 3-0 to start the series, Edmonton stormed back to force a winner-take-all Game 7, though the comeback attempt was ultimately ill-fated.
With Draisaitl drafted third overall in 2014 and Connor McDavid joining him a year later at first overall, the pair have been mostly inseparable on and off the ice during their time in the NHL.
And Draisaitl had quite the praise for his long-term pal, even after what was surely the toughest night of his pro career to date.
“He’s the greatest player to ever play in my books. There are so many things that a lot of people don’t see that he does. He single-handedly turned our franchise around. I love sharing the ice with him. He’s a really, really special person,” Draisaitl said, as per the Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman.
McDavid became just the second skater ever — and first since Philadelphia’s Reggie Leach in 1976 — to win the Conn Smythe Trophy despite playing for the losing team. With eight goals and 34 assists in the postseason, McDavid put on a show for the ages, although he was held pointless in Edmonton’s final two games of the series.
“It sucks,” McDavid himself told the media. “We knew it was going to be a real tight game and it was going to come down to one thing here or there. We were an inch away from going ahead 2-1 right before they went ahead 2-1. It’s tough.”
For now, it’s the start of the shortest offseason in recent memory for the Oilers, but it will probably take a long time to get over last night’s loss for all involved.
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