It was Stanley Cup Final media day down in Sunrise, Florida, as the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers prepare for game 1 tomorrow.

The Oilers hit the ice in the afternoon following the Panthers’ morning session. Everyone participated in the skate, including Evander Kane, who didn’t skate during Thursday’s practice. Head coach Kris Knoblauch made many changes to his forward and defence pairings, with Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci reuniting.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman
Evander Kane – Leon Draisaitl – Dylan Holloway
Mattias Janmark – Adam Henrique – Connor Brown
Warren Foegele – Ryan McLeod – Corey Perry

Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse – Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak – Philip Broberg

After the last couple of skates, the line rushes have indicated that Foegele’s return to the lineup is eminent. With that said, Knoblauch didn’t want to sway his hand either way. What we know is that Foegele is healthy and ready to go whenever the team needs him.

“Whether he comes in for game 1 or whatever, we will see him some time in the series,” said Knoblauch on Foegele. “What he provides us a little more offence. He had 20 goals, 40 points, this season and also another guy who adds more speed to our team. Obviously, we took him out of the lineup, which wasn’t easy for us to do after the year he had, but it’s nice to have the opportunity to put him back in.”

The two changes to the defensive pairing had Ceci go back with Nurse and Brett Kulak drop back to his more comfortable left side with Philip Broberg. However, that now pushes Broberg, a natural left shot defenceman, to the right. If it stays this way, clearly the coaching staff have a ton of confidence in Broberg, despite his age and inexperience.

As per tradition before the Stanley Cup Final, all the media and players gathered in the concourse of Amerant Bank Arena to discuss the upcoming final and everything that lead to this point.

You can probably imagine who the busiest player in the scrums was. Before Connor McDavid sat down, the crowds of media was huddled around his table waiting in anticipation for the Oilers captain to arrive. Upon arrival, McDavid stated, “I’m excited to get the madness over with.”

Leon Draisaitl expressed his excitement to be here, in the Stanley Cup Final, and how it’s important to enjoy the moment; however, he quickly mentioned after that once that puck drops for game 1 they’ll be dialled in and ready. “Over the last couple of years, there’s been disappointment,” said Draisaitl on the Oilers recent playoff runs. “Now, we are here though and we’ve given ourselves a chance to win.”

Stuart Skinner was another popular man at media day with the ups and downs of his playoff run so far. He spoke about his performances and how he’s found ways to bounce back. “Finding that reliency in myself is something that I am very proud of. It shows myself that I am stronger than maybe I think I am. It’s great especially going into where we are now. No matter what happens, we are going to have the strength to keep playing. Another notable quote from Skinner came when he said “Recently I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings and that has not helped me with how to stop the puck.”

Our own Tyler Yaremchuk was on a mission to find out how the Oilers turned there season around. Tyler asked a variety of players, including Draisaitl, the moment things changed and they all said beating the Washington Capitals 5-0 November 24th is when everything changed.