Mark Madden: Can Connor McDavid win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton?

Edmonton lost a second straight Stanley Cup Final.

That’s no shame, especially when the winning team is clearly better. Florida’s incredible depth and physicality overwhelms. Give the Oilers credit for extending the series to six games and to seven games last year.

But that doesn’t help Connor McDavid’s legacy.

The NHL’s stat king for the 10 seasons of his career, McDavid still thirsts for his first Cup. He needs one to truly cement his status as an all-time great.

McDavid has one year left on his contract with Edmonton.

Money won’t be the issue. McDavid can get whatever he wants wherever he wants, that team’s cap situation permitting.

But where can he win?

The NHL would likely prefer him to be a New York Ranger. New York being the No. 1 media market. But the Rangers don’t win. Only once since World War II. (Wayne Gretzky finished his career with the Rangers. And didn’t win with them.)

The only team that currently offers McDavid a better chance than Edmonton is Florida. But how long will that remain the case?

The Panthers have been in three straight finals and play every shift like it’s a five-car pileup. They’ve got to fizzle at some point.

Anyway, McDavid joining Florida would be like Kevin Durant joining Golden State. Whatever McDavid won with Florida would never truly be his. Like when Ray Bourque left Boston to glom onto his undeserved Cup with Colorado.

McDavid’s best chance is to remain in Edmonton.

Stan Bowman has been the Oilers GM for less than a year. Bowman is an excellent executive. He won three Cups as Chicago’s GM. He’ll figure it out.

The Oilers are driven by high-octane offense and star power, namely McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

They lack depth all over the roster, not least in their bottom six. Their third and fourth lines don’t have enough players who fit the description. (Florida, by comparison, runneth over.)

But what Edmonton mostly lacks is goaltending.

Their incumbents, Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, are low-budget fill-ins. Playoff hockey requires big saves. They don’t make them. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky does.

But there are no good goalies available in free agency.

Heck, there aren’t more than 10 truly good goaltenders in the entire NHL, and saying 10 is a stretch. It’s probably more like six or seven, and elite netminders like Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger disappointed in this year’s playoffs.

Could the Penguins foist Tristan Jarry upon the Oilers? Would Bowman see him as a worthwhile gamble?

Bowman is way too smart for that.

Some cite Jarry’s connection to Edmonton as a Memorial Cup winner with the major junior Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 as potentially triggering such a move. But winning Canada’s national junior championship more than a decade ago means much less than Jarry’s failure since.

What about Anaheim’s John Gibson?

The Whitehall native has stagnated a bit after 12 seasons with the Ducks. His stats have dipped since the turn of the decade, and Anaheim has missed the playoffs the past seven seasons.

Gibson started just 29 games last season. His goals-against average was 2.77, his save percentage .911.

But Gibson, 31, has made three NHL All-Star events and is a massive talent. Moving to a winning situation might ignite Gibson.

Gibson has two years left on a contract that pays $6.4 million. He has a 10-team no-trade clause. He was reportedly willing to move to Edmonton in the past.

You’d certainly rather have Gibson than Jarry. Or Skinner. Or Pickard.

Speculation will rage until McDavid signs a contract extension with Edmonton this offseason. If he doesn’t, the Oilers might have to trade him. But McDavid will re-up.

Will he win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton? Not sure.

But if the Oilers decline, McDavid will obviously be a very tradeable commodity for many more years.

McDavid had just two points in the last four games of the final but hasn’t gotten the criticism that might be expected. That speaks to the convincing nature of Florida’s triumph.

McDavid’s situation isn’t at all like Sidney Crosby’s. Crosby has three Cups.

One of the usual suspects clamored for the Penguins to trade for McDavid, saying one season of McDavid would be worth blowing up the ongoing rebuilding process.

It’s best to leave the hockey talk to me.