Here's why I think we beat the Oilers in 6 - I think we're top to bottom the better team. Don't believe me, let's math it out. Here's a little comparison I put together. First, a glossary and explainer:
The skaters shown are the 25 top-performing players thus far for each team. All of the rankings below were first sorted by overall league rankings, then as compared to each other. For example, Zach Hyman was the #64 overall player in the preseason, when as compared to the other 49 contestants, made him the #8 player here. This gives a better basis for comparison category to category.
Pre-Season: player ranking according to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports (avg stats/game)
2025 Final: Final player ranking at the end of the regular season as per Yahoo! Fantasy Sports (avg stats/game)
Impact Rank: personal cocktail of stats where I give certain stats more weight than others. For instance, a short-handed goal is worth more than a regular goal.
2025 Playoffs: ranking among players in the playoffs
Player Strength: In reverse order above - ((2025 Playoffx4)+(Impact Rankx3)+(2025 Finalx2)+(Pre-Seasonx1))/10
I gave the 2025 playoffs the most weight because how someone is playing right now to me says the most about what you can expect going forward. The second most important is what their expected performance will be be in any given game, which is what Impact Rank attempts to account for. The last two were important factors to help account for potential unrealized. Robo is a good example. Strong pre-season expectations/potential, decent regular season, playoff performance lacking. His current Player Strength sits around players like Henrique and Frederic - both players he is on paper better than. If he can outperform those two, then we're gonna be in good shape. Anyway, feel free to poke holes in it - I had fun making it. i like our chances, especially given home ice.
EDM is starting somewhat hurt. They're without their top pair d-man in Ekholm and also without their normal backup in Pickard. Additionally the players they can swap in are better than what is our likely opening night bench. They have Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner and Ekholm. We have Back and Bourque and my guess is Lyubushkin slots out. He hasn't been as bad some claim. According the below, he's been better than Bichsel and Petro. Anywho.
Go Stars!!!!!!!!!