What is most devastating for the Oilers is a study conducted by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic among NHL executives and coaches, which revealed that only four out of 33 NHL power brokers think the Oilers will defeat the Panthers.
LeBrun questioned, “Am I surprised that most people are picking the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup Final over the Edmonton Oilers?” Not at all. In the end, they are preferred. However, I must admit that I was taken aback by how biased my survey of NHL head coaches and front-office officials was against the Panthers. I received responses from 16 team executives and 17 head coaches in total. Only four of the 33 answers predicted that the Oilers would win the Cup.
In total, out of 134 commentators and analysts identified so far by the Cult of Hockey, 101 picked the Panthers, though at the Cult of Hockey itself all three writers picked the Oilers, Bruce McCurdy and Kurt Leavins with Edmonton in seven, me with Edmonton in six.
At the Daily Faceoff, five out of eight voters, including Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor, also picked the Oilers to win.But we two were the only groups of voters who favoured Edmonton at any one publication.
According to The Athletic’s own estimate, there is a 50% likelihood that either Florida or Edmonton will win the series. This series serves as a sobering reminder that not everything can be foreseen, forecast, or planned out beforehand. We’re about to witness a matchup between the two best teams in the league following nine months of build-up, and it couldn’t get much closer. Dom Luszczyszyn, Sean Gentille, and Shayna Goldman wrote, “Now is the perfect time to relax and take it all in.”
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