MANALAPAN, Florida — A year ago, Jeff Jackson sat down for an interview at the NHL Board of Governors meeting and put on a brave face.
He insisted he saw plenty of positive signs that his Edmonton Oilers had turned the corner after a start from hell to their season that forced a coaching change. He maintained a calm tone as he explained his reasons for optimism in the face of many skeptics.
And he was certainly proven right. Six months later, his team came within one win of a Stanley Cup championship.
This week, the Oilers’ CEO and president of hockey sat down again with The Athletic, definitely in a less charged atmosphere. Sure, once again the Oilers started off slow this season, but they’ve found their sea legs.
From the top of the organization down, it does feel like there’s barely been a moment to breathe since the Florida Panthers edged them out for the Cup on June 24.
“Obviously going to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final is a great experience and a credit to our team and our players and coaches,” Jackson said. “You get all the way to that point and you lose, it’s disappointing. Probably more so than if you were maybe beaten out earlier. But it is what it is. We had to get right back on the horse, get to the draft and take care of that. Free agency hit the next day. It was a whirlwind, including getting a new GM (Stan Bowman) and getting Leon (Draisaitl) signed. The summer went quick and all of a sudden we’re at camp.”
And once the puck dropped for this season, the Oil tank was not quite back yet at 100 percent.
“As a team, we had a bit of a disappointing start, but I was talking to (Panthers GM) Bill Zito about it last night at dinner here, the hangover effect is real,” Jackson said. “It’s a psychological thing, and it’s a daunting task to be a player to say, ‘OK, I’ve got 82 of these games then I’ve got another two months of 20, 25 games to get all the way there.’ And we didn’t win last year.
“But I think our guys have come around in the last two, three weeks. We’re playing a lot better. We’re playing really well as a team. The new guys that have come in have settled in.”
That includes forwards Vasily Podkolzin, Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, and blueliners Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher and Travis Dermott.
The offer-sheet losses of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to St. Louis are well-documented, though.
But in Podkolzin and Emberson, essentially the replacements to those offer-sheet losses, the Oilers feel they have players who have improved as the season has gone.
“We’re extremely happy with both of those guys,” Jackson said. “Podzy is a really good player, and we were fortunate to be able to acquire him. Rick Pracey (Oilers director of amateur scouting) was a big fan of his in his draft year, and so we got Podzy. It’s worked out really well. Leon loves playing with him. He prolongs possession in the offensive zone, he works hard every day and he’s going to get better and better.”
Jackson also noted that after a slow start, Skinner seems to be finding his game.
“We had some turnover, but we’re happy with the new guys, and they’ve fit in really well,” Jackson said.
Still, a blue-line upgrade or tweak feels like a need for the Oilers ahead of the March 7 trade deadline. Or at least that’s what I think, and so do many other onlookers, given the blue-line losses in the offseason that also included Vincent Desharnais and Cody Ceci.
“That’s a natural thing for people to look at, and just like every team in the league, we’re going to try to make improvements if we think we need to,” Jackson said. “But I think our D has played extremely well. We have no issues with the way our D has played.
“Right now, it’s not that we’re not paying attention (to the D market) and looking around the league for opportunities, but we’re really happy with our D and how they’ve played. They haven’t hurt us in any games at all.”
What’s been bizarre this season is how the NHL’s most dangerous power play from the past few years struggled out of the gates. No one saw that coming.
“You and I talked a year ago at the Board of Governors meeting and I said then that I was feeling good about our team and I wasn’t worried; I feel the same way about our team now and our power play,” Jackson said. “How can you doubt that group? Lately, they’ve started to click and find a different rhythm on the ice.
“Everybody in the league does such a good job of pre-scouting and sort of like zeroing in on what you need to do to stop teams from scoring. So teams have done a good job. Power plays have ebbs and flows sometimes. You go through cold periods. But I think ours is finding its groove.”
Team Canada recently named its 4 Nations roster, and McDavid was the only Oiler on it. Teammates Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were passed over. Those snubs stung some Oilers fans, to be sure.
“I don’t really look at it as a snub because there’s so many good players, really on all four teams, but in particular in Canada and the U.S.,” Jackson said. “So when the managers and coaches put together the team, their philosophy about how they want it to look is unique each time. So whatever reasons they didn’t take our guys is because they had a corresponding reason to put someone else on, whether it’s someone they are familiar with on their own (NHL) team or the way that they’re playing currently or maybe it’s a niche for PK or whatever.
“Everyone has pride and wants to play in the tournament. We think those guys should have been on the team. But we’re not operating the team, and I respect those guys’ opinions and I know our players do, too.”
And who knows, perhaps via injury before February, Bouchard or Hyman still finds his way onto the team. They certainly remain candidates for Milan and the Olympics in 14 months.
Speaking of McDavid, the clock is ticking toward his contract expiry in 19 months.
The Oilers can extend No. 97 on July 1. They just went through this with Draisaitl last summer, and there are some tells in how that went down, particularly that it didn’t happen right away on July 1 but still got done.
The Oilers sure hope it’s a similar pattern, meaning it ends with an extension for McDavid as well.
“Connor has the rest of this year and then another year,” Jackson said. “We’re not getting into contract discussions at all at this point. I have a good relationship with Connor that goes way back (as his former agent). We have a good relationship with Judd Moldaver, who is his agent now. And when it’s time and appropriate, we will sit down and start chatting. But that’s not now. And it probably won’t be until the end of the season, to be honest.
“Because Connor is laser-focused on the season.”
The tricky part is reading too much into Draisaitl having signed and trying to glean what that means for McDavid. They’re close pals, to be sure, but still two different mega-brands having to make their own decisions.
“You said it, he’s his own man, and he will make his own decisions, and he’s not necessarily bound by what Leon did,” Jackson agreed. “But I think those two guys love playing with each other, and we’re confident we’ll get Connor done when the time comes.”
And finally, Jackson had a chance to catch up with Ken Holland this week at the Board of Governors meeting, his former GM now a consultant with NHL hockey operations. Holland and the Oilers agreed to a mutual parting of ways after the Hockey Hall of Famer’s five-year contract expired in June.
“When our season ended and Kenny and I met, we had a great chat and I expressed how I felt about working with him,” Jackson said. “And he did the same. There’s a lot of mutual respect.”
Said Holland on Tuesday: “Jeff came in (summer of 2023), and I thought we had a good relationship. He did his thing, I did my thing. … I’m rooting for them. On a personal level, watching what those players did on an everyday basis and getting to know them, it was a fabulous five years.
“Now I’m onto my next adventure, whatever that may be.”
Holland, who may yet return to help run another NHL team, made sure his Oilers exit was smooth, not making waves. That was appreciated all around.
“He’s a Hall of Fame general manager and a great human being and lots of fun to work with,” Jackson said. “And same with Stan now. We have a very good relationship. We are very much aligned on a lot of philosophical stuff with respect to how we want to run the organization. It has been seamless, to be honest, because Kenny left the team in a good spot on the ice and Stan came in and has been doing a great job.”
(Top photo of Jeff Jackson and Connor McDavid: Perry Nelson / USA Today)
