Connor McLindros?

On December 26th an interview appeared on Sportsnet.ca between Kristina Rutherford and Connor McDavid. Within that interview was a question…

The question Rutherford served up to the young McDavid was:

If an NHL team tanks to try to get you, would that impress you?

Bold… Bold indeed! McDavid’s reply:

If a team is tanking to get me then no, I do not want to play on that team. If you’re tanking to get a higher draft pick, you really shouldn’t be playing hockey. But I don’t think anyone is tanking to draft me.

So here we have the consensus no.1 pick in the upcoming NHL entry draft, a player highly touted as being the next generational talent, haughtily telling us that he doesn’t want to play for a team that is “tanking” to get him. What ever happened to the humble hockey player that would just be happy to play a shift in the NHL?

McDavid then goes on to question the integrity of the teams that may or may not be sabotaging their seasons to have a crack at him. Sure, everyone is entitled to their opinion but maybe exclaiming that he’s only worried about his own game going into the draft and isn’t concentrating on what other teams are doing would’ve been a better way to go.

Finally he back-pedals at the end to try and save some face because you know, teams never have garage sales at the trade deadline if they know they aren’t going to make the playoffs let alone have a shot at the first overall pick.

I’m not impressed one bit.

Earlier in the week during an intermission interview McDavid was asked a question and he let the gentleman interviewing him know that his question “wasn’t fair”. Boo hoo I say! God forbid he gets thrown a challenge now and then… Now, I apologize for not getting the exact quote and line of questioning down but if you saw the interview you know what I’m talking about.

It’s little comments like these that give people the wrong impression. Maybe that’s exactly what is happening here. Maybe I’m not catching what Sir McDavid is throwing down.

Is Connor McDavid is a hypocrite? In 2010-11 the Erie Otters went from 82 points and a place in the OHL playoffs to 26 points and last place by some margin in 2011-12. Suppose that had nothing to do with McDavid being granted exceptional player status and eligible to be drafted in the subsequent OHL draft.

Do the comments have anything to do with McDavid Sr. being an unpaid consultant to the owner of the Erie Otters and being involved in the talks between the Oilers Entertainment Group and Otters owner Sherry Bassin regarding the purchase of the OHL team by OEG? Would it be fair to speculate that the elder McDavid had seen something or heard something about the Edmonton franchise that he may have passed on to Connor? (source)

Let’s talk about Jack Eichel. He was interviewed by the boys at The Pipeline Show on December 3rd and when he was asked how he would feel about playing for a team in northern Alberta his response was as it should be:

To be honest, I’d be more than happy to play for any NHL team. It’d be a dream come true to ever get a chance to play in the National Hockey League. So, no matter where it is, I’ll be more than happy to go there.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/179740316″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Skip to the 12:40 mark to hear the question and answer about playing in northern Alberta.

I’ve seen McDavid play and I’ve seen Eichel play. They’re both amazing players in their own rights and deserve the attention and accolades they are getting. McDavid is a dazzling playmaker with the kind of vision, speed and puck handling that will make him a superstar in the NHL. Eichel is so smart and patient with the puck, he knows how to protect the puck and his two-way game doesn’t seem to be flawed. Eichel is the captain for Team USA at the world juniors and to me, that speaks volumes to his leadership qualities and character traits.

But if I’m the Edmonton Oilers GM with the problem of having to decide between the two, I’m going to be looking for character as the tie-breaker. At this point, Eichel is saying and doing all the right things on the ice and off of it. He’s a better fit for the Oilers given his playing style and to be frank he doesn’t come off as arrogant. The Oilers organization has enough arrogance to go around as it is.

Has Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray seen the McDavid comments?…

https://vine.co/v/OHp32EPqMlL