Connor McDavid tends to come across as a completely emotionless superstar hockey robot, even when the spotlight shines brightest on him. The story was no different at Friday’s Stanley Cup media day.
“What’s Hollywood about me?” McDavid asked, per NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika. “Not much. Not much at all. Just a normal Canadian kid.”
The Edmonton Oilers’ generational talent is set for his first-ever appearance in the NHL’s championship series starting Saturday night. Despite expressing his overall excitement to be finally involved in the league’s biggest games, McDavid made it clear to the assembled media that he was ready to let his play on the ice do most of his talking.
“Excited to get the madness all over with,” McDavid said. “Today’s a busy day for everybody, but once it’s over with, it’s just going to be hockey.”
McDavid will take the ice in Game 1 of the Cup Final inside Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena, the same arena where he walked across the stage as the 2015 NHL Draft’s first overall selection. The long-anointed savior of the Oilers has delivered on the hype.
Fast forward almost a decade, and the 27-year-old centerman is the league’s marquee talent and a main focus of this year’s final playoff series.
“It’s kind of funny how it’s worked out,” McDavid said, as quoted by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “Honestly, it feels like it was yesterday that night was happening, and here we are nine years later, it feels like it’s going back around.”
McDavid leads all players in the postseason with 31 points (5g, 26a) in 18 games. That sort of high-level point production is commonplace for the seven-time All-Star pivot as he has previously bathed in individual glory, winning the Art Ross Trophy five times, the Lindsay Award four times, the Hart Trophy three times, and the Richard Trophy once. However, he has yet to reach the pinnacle of team success.
After nine seasons in Edmonton, including five previous playoff failures, he’s finally getting his shot at hockey’s most legendary prize. Edmonton has won the sixth most Cups in the history of the NHL, including a dominant run from 1984-1990 that featured all five of those wins. McDavid, born in 1997, was not alive for any of them.
Connor McDavid, this postseason's leading scorer, will enter his first #StanleyCup Final with seven 100-point seasons under his belt – the most by any player prior to making their debut in the championship series.#NHLStats: https://t.co/DwrPRn7OWz pic.twitter.com/P8aFzaO36Y
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 6, 2024
This year’s Cup won’t just be gifted to McDavid though, as the Oilers need to first go through a series against the battle-tested, hardened Florida Panthers. After finishing the regular season with more standings points, Florida will also have home-ice advantage.
“They’re a great team and they require your full attention,” McDavid said. “You’ve got to stay in the moment. You can only take what’s in front of you. And for us, that’s getting ready to go for tomorrow. Showing up and playing all of Game 1.”
The Panthers are back vying for a championship after they saw the Cup slip away in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights last year. A win for Florida would mean a third Cup for the Atlantic Division in five years and the 1993 Montreal Canadiens would remain the last championship team in Canada.
Game 1 of the final series is set for an 8 pm puck drop on Saturday night.
