EDMONTON — Connor McDavid was requested if the Edmonton Oilers needed to lose within the Stanley Cup Remaining earlier than they might win a championship.
“Should you requested me this query final yr, I might in all probability say no. Now that we have misplaced, I am going to say, ‘Yeah, after all you have to lose earlier than you win,'” the Oilers captain stated, drawing amusing at media day.
McDavid and the Oilers received the Western Convention and earned a Stanley Cup Remaining rematch with the Florida Panthers, who defeated Edmonton in Recreation 7 final season after blowing a 3-0 sequence lead. McDavid was crushed by the defeat. Being named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP was of little comfort. So getting one other probability to win the Cup was his solitary focus getting into this season.
“I went to see him in the summertime and all he talked about was, ‘I simply need to win a Cup’ That was it. We did not discuss the rest. That is his singular focus,” stated Oilers GM Stan Bowman, who was employed final offseason to succeed Ken Holland.
“He is achieved every thing he may accomplish individually on this sport. He continues to dazzle us each sport. You run out of superlatives to speak about him as a participant,” Bowman stated of McDavid, the five-time scoring champion and three-time league MVP. “You might see how badly he wished it final yr when it did not go Edmonton’s approach in Recreation 7. Proper now, he is on a mission.”
McDavid leads the Stanley Cup playoffs with 26 factors in 16 video games, together with a postseason-high 20 assists. He was particularly good within the Oilers’ five-game Western Convention finals win over the Dallas Stars, with 9 factors.
“He is simply the ultracompetitor who needs to win so badly,” his linemate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stated. “The extra expertise you might have, the better it’s to sort of settle in and play your sport. I feel simply having just a little bit extra expertise final yr helps us.”
McDavid stated his second journey to the Stanley Cup Remaining “feels extra regular” than final postseason’s first journey.
“It is totally different within the sense that it feels much less large, ? Final yr felt monumental. Very dramatic. This yr feels very regular,” he stated. “It is simpler to play and performance when it is simply one other day.”
To that finish, McDavid stated he feels “extra comfy” in returning to play for the Stanley Cup.
“I might say it is simply coping with the emotion of it [better]. There is a large circus. It could actually really feel prefer it’s bigger than it’s, however on the finish of the day it is one other sequence. We’re enjoying one other nice group and you have to beat them earlier than the rest occurs. So that they have our full focus,” he stated.
“All of our vitality goes into beating the Florida Panthers. There ought to be nothing else on anybody’s thoughts.”