3 worst moves that stopped Oilers from winning a Stanley Cup in the McDavid era

McDavid is now entering his 11th NHL season, and for all that time, the Oilers haven't found a way to win with the 2 best players in the league. A few awful decisions from management have significantly held back the team.

Dustin Nielson of Edmonton Sports Talk posed the question of which moves have been the worst in recent Oilers history. Fans have sounded off with a myriad of answers, but 3 moves came up more than anyone else.

Going all the way back to McDavid's draft year, the Oilers made one of their worst moves in franchise history on the draft floor in 2015. Edmonton traded the 15th and 33rd overall draft picks to the New York Islanders in exchange for defenceman Griffin Reinhart.

Reinhart went on to play only 29 games for the Oilers, but the 15th overall pick proved to be valuable. Matt Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot were the 3 picks still on the board at number 15. Had the Oilers drafted one of those players, their last 10 years would've looked much different.

In 2022, the Edmonton Oilers signed goalie Jack Campbell to a 5 year, $25M contract. He was coming off a strong stint with the Maple Leafs, but there were signs that Campbell should never have been trusted as a long-term starting goalie.

Campbell only played 41 games with the Oilers before the team was forced to cut him loose due to terrible results. The failed signing resulted in vaulting Stuart Skinner into the starter's crease prematurely, and held them back from having the cap space to sign a goalie that they still need.

The Oilers will be paying Campbell $2.3M this season as part of his buyout, and he'll remain on Edmonton's salary cap until the 2029-30 season.

Finally, another move reportedly brought up by Oilers fans is the signing of Darnell Nurse for an inflated salary at $9.25M.

The Oilers paid Nurse the massive $74M deal in 2021, after his career-best season the year before. Since then Nurse hasn't been able to meet the value of a $9.25M player, and it's consistently taken away options for other Oilers moves. This season, reports surfaced the Oilers asked Nurse to approve a trade.

These three moves have made it more difficult for the Oilers to win a Cup in the McDavid era, so it's amazing that they've still made the Finals twice in spite of these past failures. Regardless of the holes on the roster, the Oilers have the high end elite talent that will always make them competitive.