Our futures selection to win the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup is the Edmonton Oilers at +850 odds (FanDuel).  If you look up the term "roller coaster season" in the dictionary, you will likely find the 2023-2024 Oilers.  They opened the season with an 8-1 loss to the Canucks and you could argue that things went downhill from there.  By early November, star player Connor McDavid was on the shelf with an injury and they had sunk to 31st in the league with a 2-9-1 record which resulted in the firing of skipper Jay Woodcroft.  Woodcroft was replaced by Kris Knoblach and, after some adjustments, the Oilers completely turned things around and had a stretch of epic proportions, winning 24 of 27 games.  The turnaround would eventually take Edmonton all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals where it stormed back from a 3-0 deficit in games to almost pull off the impossible.  But the Oilers succumbed in the end in a Game 7 by a single goal.  That should be enough to ensure that the Oilers come into this season as hungry as ever.  And with a bunch of injuries seemingly behind them, the poor start of last season should not be repeated.

   

Fans may have wanted the Oilers to add a goalie in the off-season, but Knoblach and the front office seem to be happy with #1 Stuart Skinner who turned his season around late and could be ready to really break out in his age-26 season.  There are little worries about the offense which should be one of the best in the league once again, led by McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and the recently-added Jeff Skinner, who signed a free-agent contract with Edmonton in July.  With McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard all set to receive new contracts in the next couple of years, the time is now for this team to win its first title since 1990.  Take the Oilers at +850 (FanDuel) to win the Stanley Cup.  As always, good luck...Al McMordie.