More than a decade into NHL career, McDavid has forever changed the game

By Will MacLaren

Connor McDavid ranks no. 4 on the CHL’s Top 50 Players of the Last 50 Years

Consider for a moment how many people have strapped on a pair of skates and, in one shape or form, played hockey since the game as we know it was devised. Could’ve been on a pond, in a local arena, perhaps a world class stadium. Think about it; how many people? Millions? Tens of millions? Maybe a hundred million or more?

Now, consider how many people over that expanse of time have been considered, unequivocally, the best at playing the game at any given moment. Virtually zero argument. You can likely count those people on two hands. Maybe even one.

Regardless of the number of fingers in play, one must be reserved for Connor McDavid. For the majority of the past decade, his top flight status has been challenged by few. It’s a trajectory he’s been on since before he could tie his own skates. But it was in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania where he truly came of age.

McDavid landed with the Erie Otters as a 15-year-old in 2012 thanks to the exceptional status rule. In short order, the kid who chose his number 97 by virtue of his birth year began redefining the meaning of the word exceptional for many. By the time he exited the OHL in 2015, he had crossed over from mere star to legendary figure. He also kept trophy case makers in Southern Ontario plenty busy; a gold medal and MVP award at the U18 World Championships along with the OHL’s Rookie of the Year award in 2013. The league’s Most Outstanding Player Award, Playoff MVP and a trip to the final with the Otters in 2015. Not to mention the CHL’s Player of the Year and Top Prospect Awards. World Junior gold with Team Canada. And, if that wasn’t enough, the second of back-to-back CHL Scholastic Player of the Year awards. You see, Connor Andrew McDavid isn’t just swift with a puck on his stick.

If the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery was must see TV, the lead-in to that year’s Draft was the coronation of the next generational talent to grace the world’s top league. With all of that swirling around him, McDavid, still just 18 years of age, didn’t just survive; he thrived.

Joining an Edmonton Oilers organization that had been mired in a decade-long funk, he immediately made the team appointment viewing while trying to bring the club back to respectability. With one playoff series win in his first six seasons, that proved to be a tall order but not an impossible one. McDavid, who seemingly lives by the saying “challenge accepted” has captained the club to back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances over the past three years while adding to a resume that now includes six scoring titles, one goal scoring crown, three Hart Trophies as NHL MVP, the 2024 Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP and four time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award, the league’s MVP as awarded by his peers within the NHLPA. Add up the numbers and you have nine 100-point campaigns, five 40-goal seasons and the fourth youngest player ever to reach the 1000-point plateau.

Internationally, he can lay claim to a gold at both the 2016 IIHF World Championship and 2025 Four Nationals Faceoff. In February, he took home silver at the Milano Cortina Olympics as well as tournament MVP honours. Simply put, he has set the bar to new heights in the modern NHL.

With a decade in the pros in the rear-view mirror, the slickest Otter to ever hit the ice has fans of the game from all corners of the plant asking what’s he going to do for his next act. It’s going to be a treat to watch that answer unfold before us.