A New Captain
Since earlier this week, there has been a rare off season buzz. Todd McLellan revealed that the Edmonton Oilers will have a Captain next season. This, of course, begged the question: who will it be?
McLellan played coy and did not answer that question.
However, all signs point to one player in particular – Connor McDavid at the ripe age of 19 years old. Jason Gregor touched the subject on Thursday at OilersNation and I recommend a read there too.
I think McDavid as captain is a great idea, but others make the argument as to why McDavid should not be captain. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, the idea that McDavid can’t be captain is absurd.
Argument One: He’s Too Young!
When the Oilers make McDavid Captain, he will be the youngest in NHL history. While Gregor said the history has produced mixed results, I don’t think it’s as doom and gloom.
From Greatesthockeylegends.com, here are the youngest captains in NHL history, as of 2012:
- Gabriel Landeskog, 19 years old.
- Sidney Crosby, 19 years old.
- Vincent Lecavalier, 19 years old.
- Jonathan Toews, 20 years old.
- Steve Yzerman, 20 years old.
The biggest question mark for Captain was Vincent Lecavalier; he was later stripped of the captaincy but would regain the lettermark in the 2005-06 season. Crosby played two seasons prior to being named captain; Toews only played one; Landeskog played one as well, while Yzerman played three seasons before being named captain.
Regardless, when McDavid is named captain, he will be in with some very good company. Nobody questions the leadership of Yzerman or Toews nowadays and I think Crosby has handled the captaincy well too. Landeskog, by all measures, has been solid.
I think people look at age and overplay it. If a player is a leader, he’ll lead regardless of how old he is.
Argument Two: It’s Too Much Pressure
I’m not sure how captaincy will add more pressure to Connor McDavid. Remember McDavid has been under the spotlight since he was twelve years old.
McDavid was hyped to be the next generational talent from a young age and is no stranger to pressure. At age 15, Connor was taken 1st overall in the OHL priority draft by the Erie Otters, the OHL’s third exceptional status player ever after John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad.
Internationally, McDavid has represented Canada four different times, once in the under 18s, twice in the World Juniors and once in the World Championship. McDavid won gold in three of the four.
McDavid was also the captain of Erie in his final season with the club and was named an assistant captain during the 2014-15 World Juniors.
He’s soon to be the face of the NHL and has lived up to every expectation. Adding a C on his jersey? Not a big deal in terms of pressure. McDavid has done it before.
Argument Three: He’s Not Mature Enough
This is the most bogus argument. As mentioned before, McDavid is used to being under media scrutiny and has handled it well.
He’s a lot like Gretzky in this regard: At a young age, Gretzky also learned how to be aware that he is under the spot light at all times. Gretzky was incredibly smart about his demeanour away from the ice, always making sure there was another person with him in case he got into a situation where it would be his word against someone else’s.
But those never happened with Gretzky because of his maturity. They will probably never happen with McDavid either. Both players are not just great at hockey but incredibly savvy regarding their public personas.
Even more points go towards McDavid in terms of comments from teammates. Taylor Hall told the press that this was McDavid’s team. Guys like Matt Hendricks admitted the same. So did Cam Talbot. Milan Lucic signed in Edmonton because he was enticed by the prospect of playing with Connor McDavid, and has had nothing but good things to say about him.
Connor McDavid earns high praise from all these players because of his poise and maturity.
Saying Connor McDavid is not mature is not right.
Change in Captaincy
What a sight. pic.twitter.com/ZDj07bAXLY
— Nuge’s Teddy Bear (@NugeTeddy) July 28, 2016
Connor McDavid captaincy will be a change for the Oilers, where the C has historically been given to a player who worked extremely hard, but was not exactly the best player on the team.
It has been like this since Jason Smith left in 2008. The Oilers have used Ethan Moreau (3rd line player), Shawn Horcoff (whipping boy due to contract and lower production), Andrew Ference (a newcomer who worked hard, but skills eroded).
You can dial it back even further. With all due respect to Jason Smith who was a helluva captain, the Oilers have not employed a captain who was also the best player on the team since Doug Weight.
It will be a refreshing change as many teams in the NHL have their best player also serve as captain. McDavid belongs up there in the ranks of Crosby, Ovechkin, Toews, and Pavelski of the league – not just in terms of skill, but leadership.
Get ready to get a C put on the front of your McDavid jersey – Connor’s captaincy is coming.
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