Connor McDavid and Corey Perry reveal new attitude of the Oilers this season

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Liam McCormick
September 7, 2024 (2:02 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers seem to head into every season with a mantra or team identity, and recent comments from Connor McDavid and Corey Perry sounds like they've settled on their new identity.

McDavid and Perry were both asked to reflect on last season in separate interviews, and both gave similar answers. Connor McDavid said that overtraining in the offseason led to a sluggish start, and Corey Perry echoed a similar statement. Both players stressed that you can't win the Cup in September and October, but it needs to be a training run for the real thing.

«You don't necessarily need to peak Sept. 18, but you need to peak for Oct. 9 when the first game is. This summer I took some time off the ice, rested a little bit. I was working hard off the ice, but I didn't go on the ice until August. Five great weeks on the ice, and I'm feeling good and ready to roll again.»
- Connor McDavid

Neither player is downplaying the importance of the regular season - they both acknowledge that you need to be at your best for October and actually make the playoffs. However, last year the Oilers may have placed too high expectations on themselves to start the season, and instead came out to a flat start that cost Jay Woodcroft his job. The Oilers have matured a bit more with their playoff experience, and now are going to use the regular season to train themselves for playoffs.

In reality, the Oilers are about to set upon an 82 game schedule that will be mostly meaningless to the players. They're only focused on the process of their habits, and then using their knowledge to actually achieve their goals in the spring.

This Oilers roster has the talent, experience, and motivation to go all the way an win the Stanley Cup - and that sounds like the sole goal of every player on the team this year.