I can’t put my finger on it, but something seems just a bit off about Connor McDavid at the moment. Yes, he still has breathtaking speed and the fastest hands in the NHL, but this season, he doesn’t quite seem himself. I could see it against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan 30. From overtime to his foiled attempt in the shootout, he didn’t seem to be his usual dominating self. I’m wondering if there’s a flu bug running through the Oilers’ dressing room at the moment and maybe he’s just playing through it. Or maybe the three-game suspension he received for standing up for himself against Conor Garland and the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 18 has affected him.
Go back all the way to Oct. 28 when he was injured against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Has he completely healed from that injury? It just seems like the 2024-25 NHL season has been one of stops and starts and roadblocks for McDavid from the beginning. Despite rumours from sources like Greg Wyshynski at ESPN about him possibly not re-signing next season, McDavid has soldiered on and currently sits fifth in NHL scoring with 67 points.
McDavid Gearing Up for 4 Nations Face-Off
In less than two weeks, some of the best players in the game are going to gather in Montreal and Boston for the 4 Nations Face-Off. With the announcement this week that Pittsburgh Penguins captain and Team Canada legend Sidney Crosby was named captain of Team Canada, some of the pressure was taken off of McDavid, as he and Colorado Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar were named assistant captains.
This is McDavid’s biggest international stage since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the World Juniors in 2015. He’s waited close to a decade for this, and I think he’s going to emerge as an even more finely-tuned, dominant player when it’s all said and done.
He’s had a few mentors over the years with the Oilers, but playing on the same team as Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup winner, and Brad Marchand, a one-time Stanley Cup winner, will be something special for McDavid. Maybe history will repeat itself and McDavid will skyrocket in the same way Mario Lemieux did when he played with Wayne Gretzky in the 1987 Canada Cup.
Win or lose, McDavid is going to benefit from playing in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Oilers fans will see it in the final nine weeks of the season and into the playoffs.
McDavid Is Human
The 2024-25 NHL season has brought changes to McDavid. After leading the Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 24 and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs, McDavid encountered the shortest offseason of his career. In the summer, he married Lauren Kyle, shot a few new commercials and cancelled the annual Captain’s Skate. Rather than go full balls-to-the-walls in the offseason, McDavid was more calculated about his approach to the 2024-25 NHL season, and I think the Oilers are going to reap the benefits once the postseason arrives.
McDavid’s Only Focus Is Winning the Stanley Cup
This window of time is possibly the most important of McDavid’s career. He’s in peak physical and mental form and is obsessed with winning the Stanley Cup. He’s won almost every single individual hockey award imaginable, but winning the ultimate team prize in hockey is what drives him. Even though he doesn’t seem to be his usual Superman self lately, I think you can expect him to crank things up a notch after the 4 Nations Face-Off is over.
From general manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch to McDavid, Draisaitl and the players in the dressing room, the entire Oilers organization is focused on winning the Stanley Cup. Maybe McDavid has just been pacing himself, conserving his time and energy to get his engines revved up for a playoff performance for the ages. Oilers fans are hoping so.