Nine years ago, when the Edmonton Oilers last met the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the roles were completely reversed.

The Ducks were the grizzled veteran club led by the likes of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler. They were a team that were constantly dominant in the regular season but were starved for playoff success.

The Oilers had finally ended the Decade of Darkness, and a young Connor McDavid was taking the league by storm. Leon Draisaitl blossomed into a superstar during the series, and even though the series didn’t go the Oilers’ way, Edmonton was viewed as the team of the future in the Western Conference.

Fast forward to 2026, and it’s the Oilers who are the veteran team, fighting for another shot at a Stanley Cup while the Ducks, led by the likes of Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, are the flashy youngsters who are arriving in the playoffs for the first time in their careers.

Experience can be a funny thing.

In that series back in 2017, the Oilers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning both games on the road in Anaheim, but then lost the next three games before eventually falling in Game 7.

They were able to get out of the gates quickly, but over the course of seven games, the veteran Ducks were simply too much. They had some big comebacks,........

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