Connor McDavid Drops Honest Take on Oilers' Season After NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Exit

Connor McDavid says a Stanley Cup was too high of an expectation for the "average" 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers.

"We're searching for consistency all year. We didn't find it here in the playoffs," McDavid told reporters after the Oilers were eliminated from the playoffs with a Thursday night Game 6 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

"We were an average team all year," McDavid added. "An average team with high expectations, you're going to be disappointed."

When asked about McDavid's comment, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch answered: "We had some holes with our team, but I thought we made the most out of it."

The Ducks gained a two-goal Game 6 lead with consecutive tallies in a four-minute span of the first period on Thursday night.

The Oilers never got back within two goals of tying the score before the Ducks' Leo Carlsson iced the game with an empty netter.

McDavid answered negatively when asked if the Oilers' back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final had impacted their ability to keep up with the Ducks.

The Florida Panthers, the only other team that has played as much hockey over the past two years, missed the postseason due to injuries to multiple star players.

McDavid suffered an ankle injury in Game 2 and was at times visibly limited during the rest of the series. He finished out the first round with one goal and five assists in six games.

"The first round is always tough, it's always chaotic, and it's tough to play through things so early on, as many guys did in here," McDavid said Thursday.

TSN's Chris Johnston reported after the Oilers' 5-2 Game 6 loss the "belief is [McDavid] was severely compromised and playing through serious pain."

The Oilers will now follow up consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final with the team's first Round 1 exit since 2021.

McDavid, who took a pay cut to help the Oilers build a championship team around him, will head into his 12th NHL season without a Stanley Cup win.

Goaltending has been a weak spot for the Oilers throughout McDavid's tenure in Edmonton, and a midseason trade of Stuart Skinner didn't help the team find any consistency in net.

Connor Ingram, who started five games, and Tristan Jarry, who was in net for the Oilers' Game 4 overtime loss, finished the postseason with a combined .880 save percentage.

McDavid is signed for two more seasons at $12.5 million per year, a team-friendly deal for the NHL's best forward. The Oilers will need to start by finding a long-term answer in net in order to capitalize on that remaining contract and give McDavid another chance to play for a Cup.