Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers got a bold Stanley Cup Final call on Tuesday. The Toronto Maple Leafs are the other half of it.
Biz said it flat out on Spittin' Chiclets: "I honestly think that we can see an Edmonton Oilers-Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Final this year."
Whit followed with his own line: "I think he's still peaking right now." The post doesn't say who he meant, and that's where the fun starts.
Too early? Nobody has played a regular season game yet, so picking a Cup Final now is like booking the wedding band before the first date.
The Oilers at least look the part. They won again last night, 2-1 in overtime in Winnipeg, and they're 2-0-0 through the preseason.
And they did it without McDavid or Leon Draisaitl in the lineup. Viljami Marjala scored the winner, while Connor Ungar stopped all 5 shots he faced after taking over from Devon Levi.
Mike Babcock runs the bench now. Stan Bowman handed him a group built around a $14,000,000 cap hit for Draisaitl and $12,500,000 for McDavid.
Jim Hiller's Maple Leafs face the harder road to June
Toronto is where this prediction gets shaky. The Leafs have dropped both preseason games, including a 4-3 overtime loss in Montreal on Saturday.
Hiller hosts the Ottawa Senators tonight. He's still looking for his first preseason win since taking the job.
The bigger issue wears a Vegas jersey now. Mitch Marner carries a $12,000,000 cap hit with the Golden Knights, and Toronto hasn't shown yet what fills that gap.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander are Toronto's two biggest cap hits, at $13,250,000 and $11,500,000. That's a lot of weight on two sets of shoulders.
Here's my problem with the Toronto half. A new coach, a missing star and a winless preseason is too much change to bet a Cup Final on in September.
Funny thing is, Edmonton is breaking in a new coach too. Babcock and Hiller were hired six days apart this summer.
The two teams won't wait long to test the theory. They meet October 24 in Edmonton, then again November 14 in Toronto.
First, the Oilers visit Vancouver on Thursday. Then the regular season opens against those same Canucks on September 29.
As for Whit's mystery man? Oilers fans will assume it's McDavid. Try selling that in Toronto, where the only name that fits the sentence is Matthews.
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