McDavid tuning out MVP talk, focusing on strong end to season
Connor McDavid would rather chew on a bar of soap than talk about his chances for a second straight Art Ross scoring title or another Hart Trophy as league MVP, but he knows the score.
Your team has to make the playoffs or be very close to win an MVP title.
“I’m just looking to finish off the season strong on a team and personal level and see where that takes me. That’s my answer the rest of the way,” said McDavid, again deflecting any concrete talk of consecutive MVP awards.
But his coach said No. 97 should definitely be in the Hart hunt no matter where the Oilers are in the standings.
“He absolutely deserves talk of the Hart. I disagree with people who say he shouldn’t because the Oilers aren’t going to make the playoffs,” said Todd McLellan. “Without him, we’d be in big trouble. He’s the heartbeat of our team with his numbers and for a month he was playing sick (with strep throat) where we had to cut his minutes back.”
McLellan said McDavid, who went into Tuesday ’s Calgary game with 18 goals in 19 games since Feb. 1, has seriously taken something off his playmaking ability to shoot more this season.
“He’s made strides on the defensive side of his game and we’ve matched him up against the other team’s top lines. His ability to break plays up has gotten better,” McLellan said.
“There’s a unique talent or tool that the great players have. I saw it in (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg when I was in Detroit and saw it with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski in San Jose. They’re always looking for an edge because the edge they have today isn’t going to last forever.”
Especially with the way video use in the coaching world forces the great ones to be moving targets.
“Hundred per cent, there’s things and areas you can do better. It’s so tight-checking now that once you get a little stale, teams will figure out a way to shut you down. You have to find different ways to create offence,” said McDavid, who isn’t a big video study guy because he has great recall of games in his subconscious.
He just switches the replay button in his head.
“I definitely have memories of things. Not everything, but certain plays and chances where you made mistakes,” he said.
Is McDavid always going to be interested in lifelong learning?
“Jeez, that’s kind of deep,” joked McDavid after a question from The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek. “Yeah, it’s important to do things differently. If you’re going to do this for 20 years or however long, you have to mix it. Teams are so prepared now.”
CHASING GRETZKY
McDavid is a hockey player but also a hockey fan who’s followed Alex Ovechkin’s run to 600 goals.
“I’d say he’s the greatest goalscorer of this generation. To score 600 goals in this day and age is incredible,” McDavid said. “Definitely hats off to him. I guess with a shot like he has it makes it a bit easier, but he scores them all different ways with teams so prepared.”
Can he catch Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record 894 goals? Ovechkin is only 32, but McDavid doubts it. Ovechkin would have to play until he’s 40 and average 35 goals a year for the next eight.
“He isn’t slowing down, but Gretzky put up a crazy amount of goals,” McDavid said.
“That’ll be interesting.”
FOUR SURE
Former Edmonton Oil Kings forward Curtis Lazar has struggled to gain NHL traction after being a first-round Ottawa pick in 2013, but he may finally have found his role on the Flames’ fourth line.
“For me, it’s the mental battle. For so long in my career it’s been, ‘Am I in, am I out (of the lineup)? How long am I going to play for,’ ’’ said Lazar, 23. “The four years in the NHL haven’t been easy for me. It’s been frustrating because I know the player I am. Now, I know my role and I’m embracing it. I’m playing hockey like I did with the Oil Kings. I’m taking the puck and trying things. I’m seeing improvements.”