Connor Brown isn’t the best Connor on the Edmonton Oilers. Heck, he might not even have been one of the six most important forwards on the team this year.

But his return to active duty is the best thing the Oilers could have hoped for heading into the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place on Wednesday (6 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet).

With NHL playoff hits leader and clutch goal-scorer Zach Hyman gone for the rest of the post-season after undergoing surgery to repair what’s been reported as a broken wrist suffered in Game 4 of the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars, the Oilers have a huge void to fill in their championship rematch against the Panthers.

But that void was made much less bleak and endless by Brown rejoining his teammates for practice Sunday, marking his return from injury after Stars defenceman Alexander Petrovic put shoulder to chin, creaming the Oilers forward along the boards in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.

“I think he will be fine,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Obviously, you saw him on the ice and double-shifting.

“And I’m pretty sure and confident that he will be fine for Game 1.”

Brown has eight points (five goals, three assists) in 14 games so far in the playoffs, but is expected to get elevated to a top-six role in Hyman’s absence.

“I’ve got no idea what the line combinations are. Obviously, I’m not trying to put my coaching hat on or anything like that,” said Brown, who was wearing a grey practice jersey denoting the fifth line Sunday. “It’s just my job to be ready to go.

“The beauty about this team is I think we’re so deep, any type of combination that you find yourself on, it can be productive. So, I’m just worrying about myself, making sure I’m at my best.”

Brown came to Edmonton as a free agent two summers ago fresh off surgery to repair a knee injury that limited his 2022-23 season to just four games with the Washington Capitals.

He fought to earn 12 points in 71 games, and added six points in 19 playoff games.

This year, he marched back to the 30-point plateau (13 goals, 17 assists), and has eight points (five goals, three assists) in 14 playoff games so far.

The difference in his game between this year and last is like night and day.

“I guess maybe a little more confidence having a longer runway,” Brown said. “Obviously, I felt like there were only a few months of kind of getting back to my game before getting to the finals last year. So, I feel good.”

As does his outlook on the Oilers as a whole, this time around.

“Last year when we punched our ticket, there were only a few guys who had been there before, so it felt like when we were going to the Stanley Cup Final there was that big shock factor,” Brown admitted. “And this year, we understood what it took given our experience last year.

“So, we kind of just followed the blueprint, stuck to the process and believed that we were going to get the results we wanted and we’re going to continue to do that.”

This is, after all, the very point they wanted to return to ever since losing Game 7 of last year’s championship final 2-1 to the Panthers.

However, injuries and missed time by significant pieces of the lineup, including star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, heading down the playoff stretch didn’t make it look like a return would happen.

Especially after finding themselves down a goal heading into the third period of Game 3 to the Los Angeles Kings in an opening round after quickly fell behind 2-0 in the series. But the Oilers turned things around, and have since gone on a 12-2 run right back to the Stanley Cup Final.

“I think we believed we knew we had the horses in here and it was a little bit tough because we hadn’t really been together for a long time and we didn’t really have that chemistry coming into the playoffs,” Brown said. “We knew that if we survived that first series long enough, that we could find some chemistry and we did.

“It took us a few games to get it going. We found a spark and we just kept going. We believe in this group, we’ve got a lot of great players in here, a lot of experienced guys. So, it’s been fun.”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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