Oilers’ McDavid opting for ‘different’ off-season strategy in latest Cup pursuit
How long did it take Connor McDavid to get over losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final? He’ll let you know when it happens.
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EDMONTON — How long did it take Connor McDavid to get over losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final?
He’ll let you know when it happens.
“It’s something that you’ll never really get over,” McDavid admitted on Wednesday, over the phone from a training camp in Vail, Colo. “You’ll never not feel those emotions when you think about it. But ultimately, time moves on, and you’ve got to get ready to go again.”
A year ago, the NHL.com headline read, “McDavid has ‘super-motivated’ Oilers skating early.” After losing to Vegas in Round 2, to a man, they’d gathered in Edmonton on the Tuesday after Labour Day for the captain’s skates orchestrated by McDavid.
Today, among the wealth of knowledge that a season like 2023-24 provided to these Oilers, this thought stands out above all else:
“Definitely, last year taught us that you can’t win the Cup in September and October. But you can certainly put yourself in a tough spot.”
Team-wise, although there are already a handful of Oilers players skating in Edmonton this week, there will be no “captain’s skates” per se. Personally, at age 27 McDavid has matured into a player who is willing to listen to his body a little bit more, after a 2023-24 season that reached 107 games, both regular season and playoffs, with McDavid missing just six.
“I went with a little bit of a different strategy this summer,” he said. “In years past, it’s just been very volume heavy, Very go, go, go. Throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks. That strategy, as well as it’s worked for me, I think about the beginning of last year.
“I was just very tired and fatigued from a long summer of training, and was not feeling very good on the ice. And it translated.”
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It translated to a 2-9-1 start, a fired head coach and an Oilers team that was 14 points out of third place in the Pacific before Remembrance Day. Forward Ryan McLeod was hurt. So was defenceman Mattias Ekholm.
The lesson?
“You don’t necessarily need to peak Sept. 18, but you need to peak for Oct. 9 when the first game is,” he said. “This summer I took some time off the ice, rested a little bit. I was working hard off the ice, but I didn’t go on the ice until August. Five great weeks on the ice, and I’m feeling good and ready to roll again.”
With his mate Leon Draisaitl signed on for the long-term and a mostly solid veteran group surrounding him, it’s a year to look forward to for a team that has been eliminated by the Stanley Cup champs for three years running. Add on the fact that McDavid will finally get a chance to pull on a Team Canada sweater at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, and this could be a memorable season for the game’s best player.
“I’m super, super excited. That’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time now,” he said. “With that being said, it’s not my priority right now. My focus, my energy, is being put into making sure I’m ready to roll, to having a great start, and making sure our group is ready to pick up where we left off.”
McDavid and Draisaitl will jet down to Vegas next week for the NHL Players Tour, where they have been a fixture for years now. Two of the game’s top four or five players, one an Oiler for life, the other (we predict) a year away from signing the contract that will make him one, too.
And what are his thoughts on that?
Yeah, we’re afraid you’re going to be disappointed.
“Obviously it’s your job to ask, and I understand,” he said when his pending contract status is broached. “There’s nothing really that needs to be talked about. There’s nothing to really be done at this point.”
As McDavid has grown in the captaincy, with a team around him that has grown into a true contender, he sounds more like a veteran than he ever has before. An experienced captain who, the older he gets, realizes that the one thing you know for sure in hockey — or in life — is that you don’t know everything.
“Every year, the team takes shape in ways that you don’t always expect,” he said, when asked about moving from last year’s “Cup or bust” theme to a new season with similar expectations. “Last year, our identity was built around this team that is just never going to die. Like, you’re never going to be able to put us out. And ultimately, it took right down to the very, very last game of the whole season to do that.
“That belief is still there within everybody that’s in that room and in that organization. But with that being said, there are new pieces, there are new faces, and this group is going to take on an identity of its own.”
Cup or bust?
Of course it’s Cup or bust in Edmonton.
“You don’t need to talk about it anymore than the media and everyone else is going to talk about it. Everyone knows what we’re after and what we’re what our purpose is.
“So, you know, I guess that box is checked.”
One last box remains. And it’s about 107 games away.
