Much remains the same, even though several players have changed for the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers, who are facing off again in the Western Conference final for the second straight year.
Coaches Pete DeBoer and Kris Knoblauch are still leading their teams, so the playing styles haven’t changed much. Edmonton still relies on star players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who both had 100-point seasons. Dallas continues to lean on young scorers like Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, and Jason Robertson, as well as experienced players like Tyler Seguin and team captain Jamie Benn.
“There’s a few different players playing the series obviously. But in a lot of ways, it’s very similar,” McDavid said Tuesday. “Same coach, same systems. … We haven’t changed much, they haven’t changed much.”
The same goalies from last year are starting again — Jake Oettinger for the Stars, now in their third straight Western final, and Stuart Skinner for the Oilers. Skinner had lost his starting spot earlier in these playoffs.
“There’s lots of things going to be similar,” Draisaitl said. “They know how we want to play, and we know how they want to play.”
Still, both teams have moved on from seven players who were part of last year’s series, which Edmonton won in six games.
One of the biggest changes is that Dallas now has Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund, both added through trades during the season, playing on the top line with Hintz.
Rantanen leads the NHL playoffs in scoring with 19 points (nine goals and 10 assists), just ahead of McDavid with 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and Draisaitl with 16 points (five goals, 11 assists). The Oilers now have more players helping out on offense, not just their two stars. This is their third trip to the West final in four years, after losing the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to Florida last season.
“They’ve got the two-headed monster, but just the depth like they brought in, (Trent) Frederic, (Corey) Perry, all those guys,” Oettinger said. “They’re first in the league in odd-man rushes, but now they’re also like getting to the net, getting traffic to the net. They’re not just kind of run-and-gun, which you need, the all-around game. From my perspective, I think just going to have to expect it all.”
Defenseman Cody Ceci, who came to Dallas from San Jose in a midseason trade, had been with the Oilers for the past three years. Veteran defenseman John Klingberg has played in 10 playoff games for Edmonton after playing only 11 regular-season games this year. He began his NHL career with Dallas and played there from 2015 to 2022.
Jake Oettinger blocks a shot in the Game 4Playoff scorers
With McDavid, Draisaitl, and Rantanen, this series includes three of the top playoff scorers in NHL history.
McDavid ranks third in average points per playoff game with 1.58 (40 goals, 94 assists in 85 games). Draisaitl is fifth at 1.46 (46 goals, 78 assists in 85 games). Rantanen, now in his first postseason with Dallas after seven with Colorado, is seventh at 1.28 (43 goals, 77 assists in 120 games).
Wayne Gretzky is the all-time leader with 1.84 points per game in 208 playoff games. He won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers during the 1980s. He was recently in the Stars’ locker room after their second-round win.
Goaltending
Oettinger is playing in his fourth straight postseason and has already won six playoff series. Now he’s aiming for the Stanley Cup.
“I feel like he is dialed in. I feel like he’s on a bit of a mission here,” DeBoer said. “I think coming up short two years in a row, or getting that far and then not breaking through … he’s going to do everything he can to try to get us there.”
Oettinger has a .919 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.47.
Skinner started the season as Edmonton’s main goalie but lost the job when the team fell behind 2-0 in the first round. He returned to the net as the Oilers won six straight games. He was injured in Game 2 of the second round against Vegas. After a loss in Game 3, he bounced back with two straight shutouts, including a 1-0 overtime win in the deciding Game 5.
Special teams
Last year, Dallas failed to score on any of its 14 power plays in the West final. Edmonton scored two short-handed goals and wrapped up the series with two power-play goals in Game 6.
This postseason, Dallas has performed well on special teams. They are third-best among playoff teams on both the power play (30.8%) and penalty kill (86.1%). Their power play is the top-ranked among teams that have made it past the first round. The only better penalty kills belong to Carolina and Florida.
Edmonton has a 25% success rate on power plays and a 66.7% rate on penalty kills this postseason.
