A first-round exit at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks has a way of making people question everything, and after an entire season spent talking about unfinished business and another opportunity to chase the Stanley Cup, the disappointment surrounding Edmonton's early departure has naturally led to uncomfortable conversations about where the organization goes from here.
Those conversations almost inevitably circle back to the team everyone else in the league is chasing.
The Florida Panthers of last season have become the gold standard for most fans, and it's easy to understand why many around Oil Country have reached the same conclusion.
Get bigger.
Get meaner.
Find the next Sam Bennett.
Build the roster in Florida's image and hope the results follow.
It's an understandable reaction, particularly after an early playoff exit, because losing has a funny way of making whatever those who have bested you are doing look like the only acceptable answer.
But building a Stanley Cup winner has never been about copying someone else's homework.
And while there are certainly lessons to be learned from what Paul Maurice and Bill Zito have assembled in Sunrise, there is also a danger in becoming so consumed with chasing the Panthers that the Oilers forget what made them contenders in the first place.
For all the talk about Florida's abrasiveness and their willingness to make life miserable on opposing stars, this is still a team whose identity is rooted in good players making great plays, with Aleksander Barkov controlling games, Sam Reinhart filling nets, Gustav Forsling transporting pucks and Matthew Tkachuk providing far more than simply agitation.
The Panthers didn't wake up one morning and decide to become bullies. They added layers.
For all the frustration surrounding an early exit, Edmonton's foundation has been built differently. They've built around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl while players like Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman have found success through timing and an ability to complement the stars around them.
Those are strengths worth preserving.
After all, there are different ways to build a winning team, and recent history offers plenty of examples, whether it's Colorado overwhelming teams with pace and transition, Vegas using depth and size to wear opponents down over the course of a series, or Tampa Bay relying on experience and structure while talent carried the biggest moments.
Florida has found a formula that works for them. That doesn't mean everyone else should abandon their own.
The challenge facing Stan Bowman this summer is finding ways to make the Oilers harder to play against without sacrificing the speed and skill that have defined the McDavid era. While nobody in Edmonton is arguing against becoming more difficult around the edges, there is a difference between making adjustments and attempting a complete personality transplant.
Perhaps that means adding another physical defenceman who can help clear the front of the net and ease some of the burden on Mattias Ekholm. Perhaps it means finding a third-line centre who treats every faceoff like a personal insult and can drag opponents into ugly hockey when the game calls for it. Maybe the answer lies in uncovering another winger who can kill penalties, retrieve pucks and make himself thoroughly unpopular over the course of a seven-game series.
Those players rarely dominate free agency headlines, but winning teams are often strengthened by the moves that don't generate much excitement in July.
And maybe the Oilers have already begun moving in that direction.
Vasily Podkolzin showed throughout the season that there is value in players who are willing to finish checks, win battles and create space for the others without demanding the spotlight themselves.
There are pieces to work with here.
Which is why the temptation to tear everything apart after one disappointing spring should probably be resisted.
History is filled with talented teams that became so obsessed with chasing the latest champion that they abandoned their own identity in the process, only to discover that trying to become someone else often leaves you further away from the prize you were chasing.
The Ducks may have ended Edmonton's season months earlier than anyone expected, but one painful playoff loss doesn't erase the progress this organization has made over the last several years, nor should it convince anyone that speed and skill have suddenly gone out of style.
Stan Bowman doesn't need to recreate the Florida Panthers.
He simply needs to understand why they're successful, borrow the lessons that make sense, and continue shaping a roster that can complement the unique gifts already sitting at the top of his lineup.
Because Florida has shown the league one path to a Stanley Cup.
The Oilers just have to make sure that, in trying to follow it, they don't lose sight of the road that brought them this far.