Chasing Greatness: Connor McDavid, the burden and privilege of greatness

From the moment Connor McDavid entered the NHL as an 18-year-old, he was expected to be a franchise saving talent. Now, ten years on, he's chasing all-time greatness and an ever elusive Stanley Cup

In the pantheon of sports narratives, there are few more enticing than the franchise savior. The prodigal child, often the age of a high school senior or maybe even a junior so naturally gifted that teams spend entire seasons ahead of time making their roster as uncompetitive as possible to give themselves the best possible chance to win the draft lottery.

Then, once every 10-15 years or so, a franchise saving talent enters the inner ring of that conversation. They leap from the amateur ranks directly into the National Hockey League and instantly hit. Not only do they hit, they seize the game, remodel the game and give their fanbase an indelible feeling of hope. From the moment Connor McDavid pulled an Edmonton Oilers sweater over his head, the conversation surround the club was “if they have him, they’re always dangerous.”

Now, ten years on into an NHL career littered with individual awards, a 4 nations face off gold medal and three conference final appearances in four years, McDavid is chasing the highest mountain in all of sport. Argue the merits of the World Cup once every four years sure, but for my money, there is no better tournament and trophy in all of sport than the Stanley Cup and its playoffs.

The hockey player’s spirit is spoken of in the domain of legend, as if they were cowboys or samurai in a fable. These are teenagers plucked from home right at the start of their adolescence and moved all across North America to live with billet families with one hope: to make it to the NHL. For the privilege to play in the world’s best hockey league, teenagers across the continent are willing to forgo traditional teenage life experiences.

Just one in 4000 youth hockey players will play at least 400 NHL games according to Hockey Canada’s data. Just making it to the show is a statistical improbability. To walk into the league with the expectation that you alone, as an 18-year-old are tasked with changing the direction of a billion dollar corporation through the hockey their body produces.

McDavid’s arch to the next great in a long line of the great Canadian hockey player was preordained as a junior hockey player. As an Erie Otter, McDavid produced 285 points in 167 games and produced the nastiest tank off in modern NHL history between the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes and the Oilers who had the best odds at 11.25 percent.

Within a single season, McDavid was already amongst the best players in the world. In his sophomore campaign, the Ontario native captured his first of three Hart Trophies. The individual awards are numerous, they tell a story of a singularly driven figure with some of the most explosive traits ever seen on NHL ice.

Make no mistake about it, McDavid is in the lineage of the great Canadian faces of the league. The baton was passed from Gretzky to Lemeiux to Crosby and it’s firmly been in McDavid’s hand since winning that first MVP. In the pantheon of athletic greatness unfortunately, in team sports, team success is of course an integral factor in legacy discussion.

At this point, McDavid’s certified: He’s the best player of his era, the most physically gifted since Lemieux and unquestionably a Hall of Fame player if he retired today. Hell, he even got a signature moment representing Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face off tournament back in February scoring the tournament clinching goal in overtime.

Now, all that remains is the greatest trophy in all of sports. It weighs 34.5 pounds and is weightless at the same time. It is the fruit of a life’s ambition. Every single man, woman and child that’s ever picked up a hockey stick has closed their eyes and thought about hold it over their head. Certain images come to mind: Ray Bourque being reduced to tears, Alex Ovechkin's guttural yell and of course Mark Messier cackling like a Bond Villain.

To be considered one of the all-time greats in a team sport, McDavid needs to conquer the hill. For the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons, the Oilers are in the Western Conference Final. After the first half of McDavid’s career was largely hobbled by a weak lineup, he’s been on the doorstep a few times now.

I think we forget just how close the Oilers were to pulling off the greatest comeback in the history of professional sports. Edmonton getting to a game 7 alone against last years Florida Panthers’ team after being down three games to none was miraculous. McDavid was the first player in 21 years to win the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP on the team that lost the Stanley Cup final.

For someone like McDavid, that taste was fuel on the fire. That was the former first overall pick’s first time in the final at 27 years old. I think a lot about the anecdote of McDavid asking his parents, as a 5-year-old, to write then 15 year old Sidney Crosby a letter asking how the latter handled the pressure that came along with the responsibility of being so talented.

Several years back, The Athletic chronicled McDavid’s family and their role in his development as a young hockey player into the world class professional he is today. It portrays a mom tasked with corralling sky high expectations for a 1st grader.

(Via The Athletic)

The article accounts the varying struggles McDavid had as a child, a young junior and subsequently, a young professional hockey player. Now, seven years since that article was written, the former first overall pick is in pursuit of every person who’s ever picked up a stick’s goal. At this point, McDavid is no longer a young man trying to revive a once dormant powerhouse, he’s a titan of the sport holding himself to the highest possible standard.

The all-time greats are largely defined by moments. Last year’s run to the Stanley Cup final was a two month run of McDavid demonstrating to the rest of the hockey world that this was his league. Sure, MacKinnon and Matthews might have won Hart Trophies more recently and the next wave was on the horizon. But this is still McDavid’s league and more importantly, his sport.

When I think about McDavid contemporarily, I see a healthy masculine role model who’s willing to be vulnerable with his feelings in a way few professional athletes are. After losing game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last year, to see McDavid with his face in his hands, reduced to tears, unable to hold it in anymore, it humanized him in a way that isn’t glorified in eight part Netflix documentaries.

There’s a certain expectation to be deemed “great.” It’s not just enough to put up the stats, to win individual awards or to drive team success. That if you have the God given ability to be great, it’s incumbent upon you to commit yourself to the highest possible standard. To mold yourself in the vein of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods. To push your body until it’s physically unable to handle the grind anymore and to show a singular, assassin like focus until the goal has been hunted down.

While I think McDavid’s pursuit of a Stanley Cup features a level of super human dedication, I find myself rooting for him more than ever because I understand what this means for him. This is the pursuit of a life’s journey. At 28-years-old, he’s in the prime of his athletic life, but the “McBiological clock,” jokes aren’t that unserious of a question.

At age 28 Wayne Gretzky was a four time cup champion, Lemieux and Crosby were both two time cup champions. The Oilers burned the first five seasons of McDavid’s NHL career with just a single playoff appearance, it took quite a while for the franchise to build a proper supporting cast for their savior.

Now, with the Oilers window of contention ticking, large salary increases on the horizon and the oldest average aged roster in the entire league, banking on “we’ll be back,” is a risky proposition at best. At worst, it’s a misguided, borderline arrogant mindset rooted in banking on McDavid and his running mate Leon Draisaitl’s talent sustaining drop off in the supporting cast.

McDavid knows that game 7 of a Stanley Cup final last June might be the closest he ever gets. Some all time greats never get back a second time. The playoffs are too high variance to assume that even a talented roster will always prevail and break through. The Oilers trail the Dallas Stars 1-0 in the Western Conference final, with a chance to get back and a potential rematch with the Panthers on the horizon, I look for McDavid to find that next gear.

He is a singular force within the sport, every single time he’s on the ice, he’s a star bringing planets into his orbit. For the Oilers to break their 35 year drought, it will likely take McDavid rising to the Conn Smythe trophy standard he established last year. No player feels more pressure this time of year to meet the moment and carry his team, but there is no player better equipped to handle those expectations.

For someone like McDavid, pressure truly is a privilege. The former first overall pick knows he’s expected to assume the mantle of the great Canadian hockey player and everything that entails. He’s worked his entire life to get to this moment, this is his opportunity to mirror Lebron James falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 finals, getting back the next year and winning his first championship.

But first things first, McDavid and the Oilers need to get over the Jake Oettinger sized mountain in front of them. If anyone can rally his team to a second straight cup final, it’s the captain that understood from the age of five, he wasn’t going to be like the other kids. He wanted to be singularly great. He wanted to be Sidney Crosby, now he’s Connor McDavid.