Just Who Is Connor McDavid?

Since the Edmonton Oilers won the Draft Lottery in April (a day I’ll never forget), he’s been called a lot of things: McJesus, McSavior, Future Captain, better than Gretzky…

But other than being considered the future of the beleaguered Edmonton Oilers, who IS Connor McDavid, really, and can he live up to the hype?

McDavid was born January 13, 1997 in Richmond Hill, ON, and began to show promise on the ice almost immediately after birth. In fact, he’s been a league MVP since he was still in diapers. (Not really. But almost.) McDavid was playing organized hockey at age 4 (his parents lied about his age to get him on the ice), and by the time he was 6 he was playing against 9 year olds in Aurora, ON. He played most of his minor hockey with the York-Simcoe Express (also in Aurora) before he moved to the Toronto Marlboros of the GTHL. In 2011-12, he scored 79-130-209 in only 88 games as a midget hockey player. That season would mark his last as a relative unknown.

McDavid was granted Exceptional Player status by Hockey Canada so that he could enter the bantam draft in 2012. He was, of course, drafted first overall by the Erie Otters, where he would spend the next 3 seasons. During his time in Erie, McDavid was dominant from the first game. As an Otter, he scored 97-188-285 in 166 regular season games, including 44-76-120 in 47 games in 2014-15. He is also the most decorated player in OHL history, being named OHL/CHL Scholastic Player of the Year twice, OHL Most Sportsmanlike, OHL Rookie of the Year, OHL Most Outstanding Player, CHL Top Draft Prospect, and CHL Player of the Year.

In the midst of his prolific junior career were two appearances for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships (2014 and 2015), where he led Canada to a gold medal in his second (and presumably final) appearance. He led the tournament in assists, and was named to the all-star team. McDavid had represented Canada once before, in 2013 at the World Under 18 Championships. He led that tournament in scoring, and helped Team Canada win a gold medal over the United States.

After the Oilers won the draft lottery for the fourth time in the last six years, they drafted McDavid first overall. There have been hundreds of thousands of words devoted to the impact McDavid will have on the team, but I can’t imagine that it’s going to be anything but incredible. If the Biosteel camp tournament is any indication, there should be many Highlights of the Night to watch over the next few years.

We’ve recently found out that McDavid will be living with Taylor Hall, something that is causing much consternation among the fanbase. As far as I’m concerned, McDavid could live in a cardboard box under a bridge as long as he shows up to the rink on time, and scores a million goals a game.

There isn’t much else to say about him that hasn’t already been said by much better writers than I, so instead of giving you their opinions, I’ll say this: Having McDavid will change this franchise. We may not be able to keep our current core of players past their current contracts because of salary cap issues, but the next 3-4 years should be absolute magic. Am I predicting a Stanley Cup win? Not necessarily, but with the other pieces the team has started putting into place, I wouldn’t rule that out either.

Can he live up to the hype? Hopefully. He’s more of a Crosby than a Daigle, and that bodes well for his rookie year and beyond. I’m almost certain he won’t be a bust like Jason Bonsignore, or Steve Kelly, or even Rob Schremp. He has the potential to be the face of the franchise for the next 15-20 years, and I’m already dreaming about his name being engraved on the Stanley Cup. All he has to do is play his game and learn how to adapt to the NHL, and he should be fine.

The REAL question is: can we, as fans, temper our expectations and remember that he’s just an 18-year old kid (and not ACTUALLY a saviour)?

For everyone’s sake, especially McDavid’s, I sure hope so.