Oilers Named Early 2025 Stanley Cup Favorite

The Oilers were named the early favorite to win the 2025 Stanley Cup.

Jun 24, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) controls the puck as Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe (23) reaches to defend during the first period in game seven of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Panthers are just a month and a half removed from their Stanley Cup victory, but that isn't stopping anyone from looking forward to the upcoming season. The Panthers are an excellent choice to be the early favorite to win the Cup in 2025, but according to NHL reporter Sara Civian the real favorites are the Edmonton Oilers.

Civian recently released her early rankings of the top 12 NHL contenders going into next season. She gave props to the current champs and some other likely contenders like the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dallas Stars, but they all ranked below the Oilers.

"Making it to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in devastating fashion, coming back and winning it all? So hot right now," she wrote. "In all seriousness, it's almost more difficult to do what the Oilers did and almost come back from the brink of elimination, than to win the Cup itself."

The Oilers had a whiplashing 2023-2024 season. They began the year with a 2-9-1 record and looked in complete disarray. The team fired then head coach Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch, galvanizing the lineup and sending the Oilers on a red-hot run. At the halfway point of the season, they were 25-15-1, a staggering turn-around from the start of the season.

From there, the team rolled to 46-18-5 record to finish the season and entered the postseason as the second seed in the Pacific Division. Their first round was a five-game smoking of the Los Angeles Kings, but they were on the brink of elimination twice in their second round matchup against the Vancouver Canucks. They then went down 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars, but won three straight to earn a berth in finals.

The Oilers are certainly motivated to redeem their 2024 season's ending. After dropping the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers, they stormed back to force a game seven. While they fell short of the ultimate goal, the outlook for next season is bright.

The roster is mostly the same heading into the 2024-2025 season. If anything, they added more firepower. The team signed veteran scorer Jeff Skinner and valuable middle-six forward Viktor Arvidsson, bolstering an already potent offensive lineup.

After an entertaining 2023-2024 season, the Oilers are hoping to finish the job. They made some shrewd moves to improve their team and they will enter the year with a gigantic chip on their shoulder. The Panthers are the current champions, but as Civian points out, the Oilers are coming.

Make sure you bookmark Breakaway OnSI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more! 

• Hurricanes Expected to Re-Sign Free Agent Forward
• NHL Analyst Picks Two Sleepers to Make Playoffs
• Senators Entering Make or Break Season
• Report: Evgeny Kuznetsov's Return to Russia Hits Roadblock
• Red Wings Avoid Arbitration With Rising Forward