If back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final was two steps forward, then last year can only be described as one step back.

An early exit at the hands of the upstart Anaheim Ducks was nothing short of a mighty disappointment in last year’s playoffs, where the third time was anything but a charm for an Oilers squad with one eye squarely on an ever-closing championship window.

The job right now isn’t to get back to the Stanley Cup Final. Their only job is to make sure one step back doesn’t turn into two, and that means keeping the focus on the six inches in front of their face, and that begins with putting together a strong training camp that wastes no time familiarizing the roster with the new coaching staff.

Next up will be putting together a productive pre-season, one game at a time. Work on that, and the next steps will each begin to take care of themselves. In theory, at least, including the pre-season opener Sept. 19 and the regular-season opener Sept. 29.

And it all starts in earnest when the puck drops in training camp Wednesday at Rogers Place.

Here are five burning questions heading in:

1. How will the head coaching change pan out this time?

The Oilers roster is far from unfamiliar with welcoming in new head coaches.

They’ve had countless faces move in and out in a number of years that is all too easy to count.

The last time it happened, the team was midstream in the 2023-24 season, when Kris Knoblauch was parachuted in to take over for Jay Woodcroft.

And let’s remember, all Woodcroft had done was put together the best regular-season win percentage (.643) the franchise has seen since the glory days of the 1980s.

And all Knoblauch did was waste no time putting together back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final while following right behind his predecessor when it came to regular-season success (.624).

The latest contender has had more of the focus placed off the ice instead of on it, and hasn’t actually been behind an NHL bench since Nov. 19, 2019, which is pre-COVID-19, for those of us keeping score. The world has changed a lot since then. And so too has the NHL. Whether Babcock can overcome his own past is one question, but he will also have to prove he can keep up with the direction of today’s NHL.

One thing is certain, he’s got some pretty big shoes to fill, and a smaller and smaller Stanley Cup window on this roster to do it in.

2. How much are the Oilers going to miss Darnell Nurse?

The answer is either not at all, or much more than they anticipated. There is no in between.

In a perfect world, Jake Walman will slide seamlessly into a second pairing job alongside Connor Murphy and offer up the same productivity as Nurse, but at a $2.25 million discount.

The thing is, between injury and lacking productivity, Walman is finding himself in the exact same boat as Nurse with his bloated $9.25 million contract, only on a $7 million scale. He needs to pick up his numbers. Or help drop them down, if we’re talking his goaltenders’ goals-against averages.

Whatever ends up happening, circle the calendar for Nurse’s return to Rogers Place on Jan. 13, when he faces his former team for the first time since the trade.

3. Is this the year the Oilers finally get their goaltending figured out?

Newsflash: The Oilers are never going to get their goaltending figured out. Not to the satisfaction of the vocal and ever-demanding fan base in this city, anyway. Not while so much of the priority rests on putting the puck in the opposing net while the poor pair in pads are left doing everything they can to keep it out of theirs.

That’s just the way this team is built. And it doesn’t seem to matter what head coach is running what system.

At the same time, it’s more than a little enticing to see the off-season addition of Frederik Andersen, fresh off a Stanley Cup championship with the Carolina Hurricanes. At least, it will be once he gets over whatever injury he’s dealing with this time, and is able to report. In the meantime, Tristan Jarry will get a chance to redeem what was no doubt a disappointing start in Edmonton since taking over from Stuart Skinner last December, and then seeing the No. 1 job go to a reclamation project called up from the farm.

But, hey. They have some options. And that’s never a bad thing. Not with the spotlight that seems to get placed on their crease once things start going the least bit wrong.

4. Which prospect, if any, will become the next Matt Savoie?

Which Oilers prospect will be the next one to not only stick on the roster, but challenge for a potential top-six role?

In fact, if they could get that figured out immediately, that would be best, considering Savoie, himself, will not be present in training camp or to start the regular season due to a lower-body injury while off-season training.

All the more reason for prospects and newcomers to put on a showcase over the pre-season.

Bigger things are expected from former Hobey Baker award winner Ike Howard here after splitting last season between the Oilers and the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League. But they also have Quinn Hutson looking to make the leap after leading the farm team with 30 goals and 63 points a year ago.

Josh Samanski, also called up from Bakersfield last season, is looking to lock down the fourth-line centre job.

5. Could this really be Connor McDavid’s final season for in Edmonton? Like, for real?

Hold on. The sky isn’t falling in Edmonton. Not yet, anyway. The captain and living heartbeat of the team said he wants to win a Stanley Cup and he wants to win it here. And just because he’s now in the first year of a two-year contract extension that pales in comparison to the eight-year marathon his right-hand man, Leon Draisaitl, signed on for a year earlier, it doesn’t mean McDavid will necessarily be gone by the time it’s up at the end of next season.

The reality is, if he does end up leaving it would be at the end of this season, when the Oilers can trade him to, let’s face it, wherever he wanted to go, and still get something in return. Because there is no way they let him play to the end of his current deal and then let him walk in free agency for nothing.

So, that’s not happening.

But a lot else can in the meantime. And it could simply end up being a bridge deal before he ends up re-signing again (and for a much bigger number this time around, with the way the NHL salary cap continues to increase).

The bottom line is, who knows what’s going to happen? In the meantime, there are two choices: Worrying about it, or enjoying watching the greatest player of his generation play at the height of his career in the market where he truly belongs.

One thing’s certain: He’s not retiring without winning a Cup. Wherever that ends up being. Mark my words.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

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