Chicago Blackhawks: Most intriguing play-in series vs OilersVincent Pariseon May 29, 2020 at 12:00 pm

Some of the best players in the world will headline this series. Edmonton has players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leading the way. Meanwhile, Chicago has Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith who are all still great and have been there for so long. With McDavid, Kane, and Draisaitl, you have three of the five or six best players in the world.

There is a scenario where McDavid is just so fast and makes the Blackhawks look old and slow. He is significantly faster than every player on the Hawks (and every player in the world for that matter). The only player who might be able to keep up with McDavid in terms of pure skating speed is Andreas Athanasiou who the Oilers acquired from Detroit at the deadline. There are going to be times where McDavid wins a puck race and nobody should get mad about it.

There could also be a scenario where the Blackhawks contain McDavid and Draisaitl just enough to squeak by them. If Corey Crawford can be elite like we know he can, especially against those two, the rest of the Oilers team isn’t loaded with talent. Combine that with a good series from Patrick Kane and you have yourselves a chance at a short series win.

It is an intriguing matchup because it is basically a youthful team with some high-end skill going up against a veteran-led team that also has some young players. It could be looked at as brains vs speed. The Oilers probably aren’t happy to have the league’s two leading scorers and were well on their way to the playoffs yet they still have to play the Hawks, but nobody asked for the coronavirus to take over. Fans of hockey in general, however, should be super excited about this matchup.