Music: {allcanada} McDavid, Draisaitl agree that Oilers took a step back: ‘We have to be better’

Saturday, May 2, 2026

{allcanada} McDavid, Draisaitl agree that Oilers took a step back: ‘We have to be better’

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Edmonton Oilers superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each agreed on Saturday that the organization took a step backwards in 2025-26.

The Oilers are fresh off a first-round defeat to the upstart Anaheim Ducks as Edmonton lost in six games on Thursday night.

The early exit is a disappointing end to the season for Edmonton, who made back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cups Finals the previous years before losing each time to the Florida Panthers.

Draisaitl said in his season-ending media availability Saturday afternoon that the Oilers need to be a lot better, especially with McDavid signed for only two more seasons.

“In what world do you have the best player in the world on your team and you’re not looking to win?” said Draisaitl. “I know we’re looking to win but we need to be better. We have to be better. There’s no way around it. We have to improve.

“He [McDavid]’s signed for two more years and God knows where that goes, but we have two years here right now. We have to get significantly better.”

McDavid echoed Draisaitl’s comments in his press conference, saying that everyone needs to better next season. He also expressed his disappointment after Thursday’s loss, saying that the Oilers “were an average team all year.”

“Yeah I feel the same way,” said McDavid. “It’s only a couple days ago I made those comments and I obviously feel the same as I did a couple days ago and agree with Leon. The organization has a whole has taken a step back and that starts with me, starts with Leon. We can all be better and we all need to be better.”

Draisaitl missed the final 14 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury before returning for Game 1 against the Ducks. He scored three goals with 10 points in the first round.

He admits that the amount of hockey that the Oilers have played the last few seasons may have taken its toll.

“Maybe we lost a little bit of that fire that we had the last two years,” said Draisaitl. “Because it’s been a lot of hockey, it’s been a long season. I don’t know if taking it for granted is what I would say but I do think that there’s many parts that just somehow we took a little step back.”

However, McDavid, who played through a foot/ankle fracture in the playoffs, says the team may have taken for granted their past success coming into this season.

“Maybe we did take it for granted,” said McDavid. “You take it for granted sometimes how hard it is to be a great team and how hard it is just to get into the playoffs and how hard it is to win in the playoffs and how you need to put everything into it. And I think this year everybody just took a little bit for granted, like it would just happen. But things just don’t happen.”

McDavid scored 48 goals with 138 points in 82 games for his sixth career Art Ross Trophy and is one of the three nominees for the Ted Lindsay Award, alongside San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov.

The 29-year-old inked a two-year, $25 million contract extension on Oct. 6 as he was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He made it clear on Saturday what his focus is for the foreseeable future.

“I want to win and I want to win here in Edmonton,” said McDavid.