Chicago Blackhawks: Most intriguing play-in series vs Oilers

The Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers are going to match up in the play-in series.

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to the playoffs if the return to play format goes through. There are still some hurdles to climb over but it seems like hockey is coming back. The Hawks have a chance to give fans their first winning experience in the playoffs since the Stanley Cup victory in 2015. It has been a crazy year but they are going to have the opportunity to come back and play.

They are going to play the Edmonton Oilers in the play-in series for a chance to move on. That has a chance to be one of the most intriguing matchups of the entire playoffs. It has everything you would want in a series of this type in a season like this. The series’ between the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks and the one between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes come close in terms of the “intriguing” aspect but this Chicago vs Edmonton one is king.

Some of the best players in the world will headline this series. Edmonton has players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leading the way. Meanwhile, Chicago has Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith who are all still great and have been there for so long. With McDavid, Kane, and Draisaitl, you have three of the five or six best players in the world.

There is a scenario where McDavid is just so fast and makes the Blackhawks look old and slow. He is significantly faster than every player on the Hawks (and every player in the world for that matter). The only player who might be able to keep up with McDavid in terms of pure skating speed is Andreas Athanasiou who the Oilers acquired from Detroit at the deadline. There are going to be times where McDavid wins a puck race and nobody should get mad about it.

There could also be a scenario where the Blackhawks contain McDavid and Draisaitl just enough to squeak by them. If Corey Crawford can be elite like we know he can, especially against those two, the rest of the Oilers team isn’t loaded with talent. Combine that with a good series from Patrick Kane and you have yourselves a chance at a short series win.

It is an intriguing matchup because it is basically a youthful team with some high-end skill going up against a veteran-led team that also has some young players. It could be looked at as brains vs speed. The Oilers probably aren’t happy to have the league’s two leading scorers and were well on their way to the playoffs yet they still have to play the Hawks, but nobody asked for the coronavirus to take over. Fans of hockey in general, however, should be super excited about this matchup.