EDMONTON – It takes a team to win.
Throughout an 82-game schedule, a lot of things can happen.
For the Edmonton Oilers, a lot of things did happen. Leon Draisaitl torched the league with his goal-scoring prowess, earning the first Rocket Richard trophy of his career.
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Connor McDavid had a great year. The highlights for him were hitting 1000 career points and earning Team Canada their first Gold in the 4 Nations Faceoff.
However, the real MVP for the Oilers this season wasn’t either of their superstars: it was the Bakersfield Condors.
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With the high volume of injuries the Oilers have sustained this season, they have had a constant stream of recalls and demotions. Often, the top players from the Condors would be coming up, putting strain and stress on their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
Matt Savoie, Drake Caggulia, and Cam Dineen all finished in the top five of scoring for the Condors. That trio has been recalled more than a handful of times each over the 2024-25 season.
Josh Brown and Noah Philp were two other key cogs in the Condors' machine who were called upon to fill in a depleted Oilers lineup. But losing players to recalls wasn’t the only thing ailing the Condors this season.
Oilers Continue On With Demotion Carousel
The Edmonton Oilers made a late-night demotion.
They faced their own adversity and poor injury luck.
Before their April 11th game, they were without Dineen, Caggulia, Philp, Derek Ryan, Cameron Wright, Travis Dermott, Matvey Petrov, Phil Kemp, Lane Pederson, Roby Jarventie, Seth Griffith, Connor Clattenburg, and newcomer Damien Carfagna. That’s 13 players missing, and the Condors had another three who were uncertain to play that night.
Miraculously, the Condors finished their season, narrowly missing the playoffs. They lost out to the Tucson Roadrunners, who they were tied with in points, but the Roadrunners had more wins and won the final playoff spot.
To have the AHL team battle through that many injuries and missing players, and constantly be at the beck and call of the NHL team, is why they are the Oilers' MVP this season.
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