Stanley Cup Final preview: Players to watch, goalie confidence levels, top trends
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Ryan S. Clark
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Kristen Shilton
From a regular-season batch of 32 teams, to a Stanley Cup playoff field of 16, and now down to two, the NHL’s champion is close to being crowned for 2024.
A year after losing in the Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers are out to finish their story and raise the Cup for the first time in franchise history.
For the Edmonton Oilers, a Stanley Cup would silence all the “yeah, but” conversations regarding superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and etch their names among the franchise greats from five prior Cup teams.
Game 1 is Saturday, June 8 (8 p.m. ET, ABC and ESPN+). Here’s everything you need to know about both teams, from key players to watch, goaltender confidence ratings, and the top trends for each team coming out of the conference finals.
Stanley Cup wins: None
How they got here: Defeated Lightning 4-1, Bruins 4-2, Rangers 4-2
Goalie confidence rating: 9 out of 10
Sergei Bobrovsky has been rock solid for the Panthers throughout these playoffs. Granted, the team’s excellent defensive play has aided Bobrovsky. But the veteran’s steady stream of quality performances gives Florida undeniable confidence Bobrovsky will be there to make the big saves.
He has earned a 12-5 record in the postseason, with a .908 save percentage and 2.20 goals-against average. The only playoff starter who has averaged fewer goals against per game than Bobrovsky was Boston’s Jeremy Swayman (and Bobrovsky ultimately won that battle when Florida sent the Bruins packing in their second-round series).
Bobrovsky had to be the Panthers’ hero during last season’s run to the Cup Final, and it wore him down in the end. This year’s workload has been more manageable, and that should set Bobrovsky up for continued success.
What the Eastern Conference finals taught us about the Panthers
Florida is the total package. The Panthers have star power, scoring depth, elite defensive habits, a top-tier goaltender and — perhaps most crucial of all — innate killer instinct.
The team was exceptional in the third period against the New York Rangers down the stretch of their series, winning the final three games by a one-goal margin. The Panthers also shut the Rangers down at 5-on-5 in that span, allowing just one even-strength goal while simultaneously rendering New York’s once-vaunted power play completely ineffective with a stifling penalty kill. And the way Florida held the Rangers’ elite scorers from producing — Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad combined for a single goal through six games — was a byproduct of the Panthers’ full-team buy-in on defense.
At the same time, Florida can be deadly off the rush while equally strong suppressing those chances from going the other way. Their ability to make New York pay for mistakes was another backbreaker for the Rangers, who couldn’t find the same opportunities to do damage. Florida rarely offers quality looks, and Bobrovsky stood tall against the most glaring breakdowns.
2:01
Panthers claw down Rangers to advance to second straight Stanley Cup Final
The Panthers take care of business against the Rangers in Game 6 to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year running.
Players who will be key to the Cup Final
One of Florida’s strengths may be its defense in a collective sense. But the Panthers’ defensemen will certainly be in the spotlight when the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman try to get rolling.
Gustav Forsling has had a brilliant postseason going up against some of the toughest opposing matchups, and he has also contributed offensively (four goals and 11 points). Brandon Montour‘s physicality and active stick breaking up rush chances has been invaluable. Florida defends well and is aggressive in holding shooters to the outside and limiting action from the slot.
That will be critical in preventing the Oilers from running wild. Aaron Ekblad should also play a key role in steadying Florida from the back end — and this year he won’t be playing in the Cup Final with a broken foot. That’s a definite improvement.
Player who needs to step up
Carter Verhaeghe was a force for Florida early in the postseason. His production has been dwindling, though. Verhaeghe popped in five goals in five games against Tampa Bay, but he has just four goals total since then. He put only two shots on net in the final two games of the conference finals and wasn’t nearly as visible for the Panthers in creating opportunities around the net (although Igor Shesterkin did make a notable save on Verhaeghe in Game 6).
All of that is to say, Verhaeghe needs to recapture his first-series form in the Cup Final. There will be a laundry list of capable scorers across the ice — and some obviously elite talents, too — and the Panthers can’t afford any passengers in their group. Verhaeghe can absolutely be a difference-maker for Florida and drive its offense. Now is the time for him to shift gears.
Is there a coaching edge for the Panthers?
The Cup Final will feature two head coaches at opposite ends of the NHL spectrum. Florida coach Paul Maurice has been in the league for two decades, and he has now reached three Cup Finals (two with Florida). Edmonton’s Kris Knoblauch hasn’t even coached an entire NHL season yet, having replaced Jay Woodcroft in November as his first gig in the league. Will experience be a factor for either side?
The Oilers have responded well to Knoblauch, and their on-ice success since he took over is abundantly clear. But when evenly matched opponents like Florida and Edmonton clash, there is generally an X factor that emerges to separate the sides, something more intangible. Things such as a critical line change, or knowing when to take a timeout, or being able to read the demeanor of your team and adjust accordingly. All of that will be heightened given the stakes in the Cup Final.
We’ve already seen in the playoffs how well-timed coaching decisions have helped secure wins in tight contests. The margins for error in this series will be slim. The edge could lie not with who is sitting on the bench, but standing behind it.
Stanley Cup wins: 1990, 1988, 1987, 1985, 1984
How they got here: Defeated Kings 4-1, Canucks 4-3, Stars 4-2
Goalie confidence rating: 9 out of 10
There were certainly questions about Stuart Skinner earlier this postseason. But how he has performed since Game 6 of the second round has only added to what makes the Oilers such a problem in the defensive zone. They enter the Stanley Cup Final allowing just 25.1 shots per game, the third fewest among 2024 playoff teams.
With a penalty kill that held the Dallas Stars to zero goals through the conference finals, the Oilers have one of the strongest defensive identities in the league.
Complementing that with a consistent version of Skinner — who had a 1.95 goals-against average against the Stars — only adds to the argument that the Oilers might be the most complete team in the playoffs.
What the Western Conference finals taught us about the Oilers
That anyone who still believes this team is just Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid has not been paying attention. The path they took to beat the Stars in the Western Conference finals is proof.
In the Oilers’ victories in Games 4 and 5, they received key goals from players such as Mattias Janmark, Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Philip Broberg. Their penalty kill was perfect against the Stars, including going 3-for-3 in the pivotal Game 6.
They’ve developed a two-way identity that has allowed them to play comfortably in one-goal games, including the closeout in Game 6. They’ve made goal prevention a serious component to their success, and it has only added to the looming threat that the Oilers could break out to score more than four goals in a game as well.
A team that has been billed as an offensive juggernaut has shown it can be the complete package.
Players who will be key to the Cup Final
The Oilers have Draisaitl and McDavid, a pair of elite forwards who have four Hart Trophies between them. But again, they are more than that.
Zach Hyman has given them a forechecking winger who can control the net front. They have a puck-moving defenseman in Evan Bouchard, who, along with Mattias Ekholm, gives the Oilers a trusted top pairing.
This postseason has elevated Nugent-Hopkins’ profile as a two-way player because of what he has been able to do at 5-on-5, on the penalty kill and on the power play; he could be their most important forward not named Draisaitl or McDavid.
There’s also what Darnell Nurse accomplished against Dallas, going from a figure under scrutiny to being one of the Oilers’ most consistent players to close out the series. That includes logging more than 21 minutes with three hits while not being on the ice for a goal against in Game 6. That version of Nurse would be instrumental in helping capture the franchise’s first title since 1990.
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Oilers celebrate advancing to the Stanley Cup Final
The Oilers hang on to defeat the Stars in a hectic finish to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
Player who needs to step up
Evander Kane. At his best, Kane is a physical power forward who can cause problems in the slot and at the net front, with a shot that can also make him dangerous on the perimeter. That has made him one of the NHL’s most consistent goal scorers over his career, with a run of nine seasons with more than 20.
It’s also what makes his recent scoring drought (six straight games, going back to Game 7 of the second round against the Vancouver Canucks) so puzzling.
Kane opened the conference finals with nine shots in his first two games, only to then record four shots combined in Games 3, 4 and 5. He was moved down from the second line to the third line as a result in Game 5, resulting in a significant decline in his work rate compared to his first two postseasons with the Oilers.
It’s possible Kane could be on the mend going into the Stanley Cup Final. After delivering a check early in Game 6, he skated to the bench and logged only 4:39 of ice time via nine shifts.
Hiring Kris Knoblauch could be the latest move in a certain trend
Moving on from Jay Woodcroft and hiring Kris Knoblauch not only saved the Oilers’ season, but allowed them to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in nearly two decades. Whether the Oilers win the Cup or not, the move raises a debate about the expectations for an NHL coach in his first season with a new team.
This trend started in 2019, when Craig Berube, who had 161 games of NHL head-coaching experience, was made the interim coach of the St. Louis Blues … and won the Stanley Cup in what was his first of five-plus seasons with the club.
A year later, veteran coach Rick Bowness was an interim who guided the Dallas Stars to the Cup Final.
In 2021, Dominique Ducharme, an interim coach with no previous NHL head-coaching experience, guided the Montreal Canadiens to a Cup Final.
Last year saw Bruce Cassidy, who had 500-plus games of experience, win a title in his first campaign with the Vegas Golden Knights.
It’s a trend that continues with Knoblauch, whose head-coaching roles had previously been in the AHL and junior hockey. Knoblauch has the chance to be the first coach since Dan Bylsma in 2009 to win the title in his first year behind an NHL bench.
After a split north of the border, the 2025 World Series is headed to Hollywood.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays each won a game in Canada. Now, a pivotal Game 3 — with a marquee pitching match between a future Hall of Famer and yet another L.A. ace — will determine who has the advantage moving forward.
We’re posting live analysis all game long — and will add our takeaways after the final pitch.
Key links: World Series schedule, results
Live analysis
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
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Michael Rothstein
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of former Los Angeles Angels communications employee Eric Kay testified Monday that the organization was aware of his drug abuse multiple times before Kay supplied the drugs that killed Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.
Camela Kay testified in the wrongful death civil suit that she witnessed team employees and players distributing nonprescription drugs to each other, including once on a team plane where she described opioid pills being handed out. Her testimony was repeatedly interrupted with objections by team attorneys.
Camela Kay’s testimony contradicted that of the first two witnesses of the trial — Eric Kay’s ex-boss Tim Mead, the former director of communications, and Angels traveling secretary Tom Taylor. Mead and Taylor both testified they were not aware of Kay’s drug use and whether he was providing drugs to players until after Skaggs’ accidental overdose death in a Texas hotel room in 2019.
Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of giving a fentanyl-laced pill to Skaggs that led to his death. Kay is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence.
The Skaggs family is seeking $118 million and possible additional damages, claiming the team violated its rules requiring intervention, including potential dismissal, of any employee known to be abusing drugs. The family asserts that allowing Kay to interact with Skaggs, when both had addiction problems, set the conditions for disaster.
Plaintiff’s attorney Shawn Holley said in her opening statement last week that the Angels put Skaggs “directly in harm’s way” by continuing to employ Eric Kay.
Camela Kay testified that, after an attempted intervention Oct. 1, 2017, when the couple was still married, Mead and Taylor came to the Kay home. She said Mead returned the next day to check on Kay. During that time, she testified, Mead came out of the Kay bedroom holding “six or seven” baggies of about six white pills each. Camela Kay used her fingers to show the size of the baggies, about 1 inch square.
“I was shocked,” she testified. “I questioned [Mead] and asked where he got those. He said Eric directed him and told him they were in shoeboxes.”
She said Mead then put them on a coffee table in front of where Eric Kay was sitting with Taylor.
In his earlier testimony, Mead said he recalled “very little of that morning” and did not remember asking Kay where drugs were, whether he went into Kay’s bedroom or if he found drugs in baggies there. Angels attorneys said in opening remarks that the team was not responsible for Skaggs’ death and was not aware of Skaggs’ illicit drug use or that Kay had provided drugs to multiple players. The defense also argued that Skaggs had used drugs when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks, whom he played for before his time with the Angels.
Angels attorney Todd Theodora said it was Skaggs who “decided to obtain the illicit pills and take the illicit drugs along with the alcohol the night he died.”
Camela Kay testified she continued to have concerns about her ex-husband’s substance abuse and that she shared those concerns with Mead and Taylor.
She also said she never saw improvement in Eric Kay, even after he was sent to outpatient therapy following the failed 2017 intervention. Camela Kay testified — backed by text messages shown in court — that she had multiple conversations with Angels benefits manager Cecilia Schneider to get her husband into an outpatient rehabilitation program in 2017.
Kay also testified she had been on the Angels’ plane in the past and that she observed conduct on the plane that caused her concern. When asked about the conduct, she said, “I had seen them passing out pills and drinking alcohol excessively.”
Asked plaintiff’s attorney Leah Graham: “When you say observed them, who is the them?”
“Players, clubbies,” Kay replied, indicating she believed she saw Xanax and Percocet being handed out. She later said she was kept away from players on the plane, “but you can see what’s going on behind you” and when she would go to the bathroom.
In 2013, Camela Kay said, Mead and Taylor were at the team hotel after Eric Kay had a panic attack at Yankee Stadium in New York. It was there, Camela Kay said, where Eric Kay told her he was taking five Vicodin per day. She testified Taylor and Mead were there and heard the admission.
In 2019, she testified Monday afternoon, Taylor drove Eric Kay home after an episode of strange behavior at the office. She said she found a pill bottle in the gutter where Taylor’s car was parked, and she emptied the contents in front of Taylor — about 10 blue pills that she told him were oxycodone. She said she told Taylor her husband needed help. Eric Kay later went with his sister to the hospital, where he spent three days before starting outpatient rehab. She quoted Kay’s sister as saying the pills were for Skaggs.
In earlier testimony, Taylor said he drove Eric Kay home but denied that Camela Kay dumped blue pills out in front of him. He also denied that he was told they were oxycodone and that they were for Skaggs.
Camela Kay’s testimony continues Tuesday.
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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — MLB commissioner Rob Manfred called major league player involvement in the 2028 Olympics “a unique opportunity to market the sport worldwide” and sounded optimistic while talking through the logistics of how that might work when the Games come to L.A. in summer 2028.
“The way we’re thinking about it is it would be an extension of the All-Star break,” Manfred said Monday in an interview on ESPN Radio ahead of Game 3 of the World Series. “The All-Star break would begin, we’d play the All-Star Game, and then roll right into the Olympics thereafter. So, it’d be probably 11 days of break, all in, something like that.”
MLB’s All-Star Game, traditionally on a Tuesday, would likely take place July 11 in 2028. Baseball in the Olympics is currently scheduled to be played July 15-20. If it works out, baseball’s regular season would pause for close to two weeks in the middle of July. Manfred reiterated to ESPN’s Jon Sciambi and Buster Olney that separating it into two breaks “gets really complicated” and would ultimately cause an even longer break because of the additional travel days required.
Manfred also shed light Monday on MLB and ESPN’s potential new rights deal, which has yet to be announced, saying there will be “a Wednesday night package” while making reference to the league’s streaming arm, MLB.TV, being part of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offerings.
“There’s going to be integration in terms of local broadcasts that I think the folks at ESPN, and certainly we, look at as an experiment that can be really helpful to the game as we move forward in a rapidly changing environment,” Manfred said.
Asked what has him most excited about MLB, Manfred said, “International.” The 2025 season began in Japan, one year after beginning in South Korea. Next year, the World Baseball Classic will be played. And two years after that, the hope is that some of the world’s best baseball players will participate in the Olympics for the first time since 1992.
Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA 2028 organizing committee, made what Manfred called “a really compelling presentation” to league owners on the subject, calling it a one-time opportunity with the Games being held in the United States. Manfred said MLB is “in the phase now of working with the players’ association to get them on board with the program.”
“It’s a unique opportunity to market the sport worldwide, and you ought to take advantage of it,” Manfred said. “So, that’s why we’re continuing down the road. I think the owners really buy into that idea. It is a complicated path. We’ve made great progress with LA 2028 in terms of scheduling, exactly what the tournament would look like, how the qualifiers would look, how it would fit into the Olympic program.”
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