Oilers stars believe team will contend for Stanley Cup next year and ‘beyond that’

Oilers captain Connor McDavid said there will be plenty of discussions about his future in Edmonton over the next few weeks. Nahreman Issa reports.

His long-term future with the team aside, Connor McDavid said Thursday the job – winning the Stanley Cup – isn’t yet over for the Edmonton Oilers.

The National Hockey League superstar, who’s soon eligible for contract extension with the team that drafted him 10 years ago but who was a bit coy as to whether he’d sign one after July 1, said the plan for the Oilers would be to once again scale the mountain that is the nine-month quest to win the championship.

The 28-year-old three-time NHL most-valuable player told media during final player interviews for the season at Edmonton’s Rogers Place he believes the Oilers have what it takes to return to the Cup Final a third time in a row after losing in it this year and last to the now-two-time champion Florida Panthers.

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“There’s no quit,” said McDavid, his beard trimmed down from the bushier playoff length he was sporting two days ago when the Oilers lost the decisive Game 6 to the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla.

“Guys can take their time, get healthy, go through their process, whatever that process looks like for each individual person, but ultimately, it’s on every person in that room and that organization to dust themselves off, come back and be better.”

He said this version of the Oilers can contend next season and beyond.

“The team is certainly positioned to be really good again next year – really, really good again next year – (and) beyond that.”

Fellow Oilers star Leon Draisaitl echoed McDavid, saying “the plan is to have runs like that over and over again, and hopefully, eventually the luck, or whatever you want to call it, is on our side and we win.”

“It’s (been) two years where it’s about as close as you can be,” said Draisaitl, who scored 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points to co-lead the NHL in playoff scoring with McDavid. “(There are) lots of positives you can take out of this ... I think our core group is at an age where we’ve got a lot of juice left, so hopefully we can continue to kick away at it.”

Veteran Corey Perry, who scored 10 goals in the playoffs and who’s a free agent this summer, said “there’s a lot of good hockey left in that room, and a lot of good players in that room that want to win.”

The 40-year-old said he’d like to stay with the Oilers to take another realistic shot at winning the Cup.

“That’s been my motto the whole time is I want to win,” Perry told reporters. “Hopefully, it’s here, and hopefully, we can figure something out and get something done ... because this is a good team, and there are some good things that are ahead.”

McDavid said his message to Oilers fans would be “to keep being patient and keep believing” through the emotional highs and lows.

“It’s hard on everybody, but ultimately, when that day comes, it’ll all be worth it,” he said. “These moments are tough now, and it’s tough to look to that, but when that moment comes, it’ll be worth the wait for sure.”