When Connor McDavid reached the 1,000-point plateau against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 14, I found it fitting that Sportsnet’s cameras zeroed in on Connor’s dad, Brian McDavid. You could see the sheer joy and the emotion on his face.
When Sportsnet’s Gene Principe caught up with the elder McDavid between the second and third periods, he shared his enthusiasm and his emotions on this great moment for his son. Brian also revealed something that you don’t hear every day from reporters or even from Connor himself, when he told Principe that, “His (Connor’s) only goal in hockey is to win the Stanley Cup here in Edmonton.”
Brian went on to say, “… he (Connor) loves Edmonton, he understands where he sits in hockey, the history of the championship teams here (in Edmonton) with Wayne (Gretzky) Paul (Coffey) and Mark (Messier), and those guys. More than anything, he wants to bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton. We’re very hopeful.”
It was an encouraging statement for Oilers fans to hear especially from one of the people closest to the Oilers captain.
McDavid’s Pure Joy for Oilers Fans Was on Display After His 1,000th NHL Point
You could tell that Connor was genuinely moved by the Edmonton fans’ reaction to him reaching this 1,000th-point milestone. His interview with Tony Brar of the Oilers on the ice after the game captured his joy and his genuine affection for the fan base in Alberta’s Capital City. He seems like a guy who isn’t going anywhere in the final season of his current contract. In fact, many people expect him to sign another long-term contract in the off-season that could almost guarantee he would be an Edmonton Oiler for the remainder of his career.
When you consider that McDavid and his good friend Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year extension this September, could both stay in Edmonton until retirement, it would be something Oilers fans have never really experienced before. In the past, this small market franchise has lost some of the greatest names in hockey while they were still in their prime – players such as Gretzky, Messier, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, and even Chris Pronger. To have McDavid and Draisaitl compete and hopefully win a Stanley Cup for the Oilers and spend their entire careers in Edmonton would be something truly extraordinary for this fan base.
More Sides of McDavid’s Personality Being Shown to Fans This Season
If you watched the “Cup or Bust” episodes on the Amazon Prime series Faceoff Inside the NHL, you would’ve seen a side of McDavid that the public rarely gets to see. I found it revealing when he mentioned that he’s a bit of an introvert, and you can kind of tell by the way he conducts himself through interviews and when he’s at a public event. It was interesting when the Amazon cameras showed us footage of the Oilers dressing room, guys like Draisaitl and Zach Hyman were more vocal than McDavid. He seems like he’d rather lead by example than talk about it.
McDavid reminds me a lot of Bobby Orr, who was shy in interviews and often tried to deflect the spotlight to others. As time goes on, you can see McDavid is getting more comfortable in interviews and public interactions, but he’s still that quiet kid from Newmarket, Ontario. The one thing you can’t deny about McDavid is his inner drive to get better and better. That was fully on display in the Amazon series.
Gretzky & McDavid Spoke About Winning a Stanley Cup in Edmonton
One of my favourite hockey interviews took place four years ago when GQ Sports got Gretzky and McDavid together for a one-on-one conversation. Gretzky told McDavid how personal it was to win in Edmonton because he recognized the same fans sitting in the same seats game after game, season after season. Gretzky went on to mention “There’s no comparing the feeling of winning (a Stanley Cup) in Edmonton to anything else.”
Related: Connor McDavid Can Join All-Time Greats with a Stanley Cup
Having McDavid react to the Edmonton fans in the way he did after his milestone 1,000-point night, you can tell that he would be over the moon to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton. Who knows, if that happens, maybe he’ll get a street named after him like Gretzky and Messier. But that’s a dream for another day. McDavid and the Oilers have a lot of hockey to play, but if you’re an Oilers fan you have to know that McDavid wants to win the Stanley Cup as much for you as he does for himself.
