The Edmonton Oilers' Connor Mcdavid made some interesting comments recently regarding Edmonton's upcoming NHL season. The Oilers, about two months ahead of their first game of the season against the Calgary Flames, enter the 2017/18 as the favorites to win the Western Conference, at least depending on the source one consults. One sportsbook, William Hill, priced Edmonton at +450 to win the Western Conference while another, 888Sport, puts the Oilers at +600. The odds with the former make Edmonton favorites in the west while the odds with the latter make them 2nd favorites.

While the winners will be decided on the ice that the Oilers enter the upcoming season as very real candidates to make the Stanley Cup Finals is clear. As Connor McDavid sees it, teams won't be expecting an easy ride when they face the Oilers next season.

"Nothing should change" about Oilers' mindset

"Nothing should change," McDavid said recently (qtd. by NHL.com's Dan Rosen on August 2nd). "Even in my first year when we weren't a great team, we still believed in ourselves and still expected ourselves to win. Now that we have the year under our belt, we've been a playoff team, had some success, we still have that same mindset."

In the first season of McDavid's career two years ago, the Oilers struggled.

Part of that was due to Edmonton losing McDavid for roughly half of the season due to a collarbone injury that he suffered on a play against the Philadelphia Flyers. It was this same injury that may have cost him the Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year. However, McDavid did win the MVP for last season as he leads the league in scoring at the age of 20.

Opponents will come ready for Edmonton

"The only thing that is going to change," McDavid continued, "is teams aren't going to play down to us. Teams aren't going to expect a bad game. They're going to expect a good hockey game and we have to be ready for it."

What Connor McDavid means by a team playing "down" is a matter of speculation.

However, sometimes in sports when teams expect an easy win they don't bring the energy that they might bring against a stronger team. It's likely this notion, of a good team stooping down to a bad team's level that McDavid is making a reference to. Even if the Oilers are in a winning mindset, they will face teams that are in a different mindset in the future.

The Oilers enter the 2017/18 season having made some interesting free-agent signings. Jussi Jokinen is one interesting addition that Peter Chiarelli found at a price that has to be considered reasonable. At present, Edmonton fans are waiting for news regarding Leon Draisaitl. The center is a restricted free agent that remains unsigned. The situation will have to be resolved in the near future as the NHL's preseason is only about six weeks away from starting.
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