HOISTING CUP WOULD CEMENT MCDAVID'S LEGACY
Oilers captain among the all-time greats but the ultimate prize remains elusive
The greatest hockey player in the world has yet to experience the greatest hockey moment.
There isn't much Connor McDavid hasn't accomplished over his first nine seasons in the NHL.
He boasts a resume that would be the envy of anyone who ever laced up a pair of skates — except for maybe a handful players already on the Mount Rushmore of hockey.
Only, there is one glaring omission.
Sure, he's a five-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the league's leading scorer.
He's a three-time MVP of the league.
He's won the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading the league in goals.
Last year, he collected five trophies at once after setting the pace in both goals and assists for a career-high 153 points, becoming just the fifth player to reach the 150 milestone.
This season, he became just the fourth player in the NHL's 107 years of existence to reach triple digits in assists, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.
But there is one line on that list, all the way up at the very top, in fact, that to this day remains blank.
And you can bet the farm McDavid would like nothing more than to fill it with these words: Stanley Cup champion.
For a legitimate superstar in every sense of the word, there is no bigger story in Edmonton heading into these playoffs than Connor's Quest for the Cup. How, for all the overinflated offensive numbers that get put up, year in and year out, his legacy could end up being full of hot air if he remains unable to cement it with Lord Stanley's namesake by the time it's all said and done.
And this year could well be the best chance he'll ever get, given the way the Oilers finally found some traction in becoming a more well-rounded team that's capable of a lengthy playoff run. They have reliable goaltending, complementary defensive play both ways, and secondary scoring that doesn't require McDavid or his right hand man, Leon Draisaitl, to be on the ice for the Oilers to have a hope of generating some offence.
Of course, the biggest problem faced by any first overall draft pick — and the Oilers have certainly had their share — is the team that picked them earned that right by basically being in no position to win a Stanley Cup anytime soon. But that wasn't necessarily the case for McDavid, who in just his second year in the league, guided the Oilers out of the Decade of Darkness. They didn't make the post-season after reaching the Cup Final in 2006 until they returned to the playoff picture in 2017.
And after a couple more lean years that followed, the Oilers have become a staple in the post-season, having reached the playoffs for five years in a row.
In 49 playoff games, McDavid has counted 29 goals and 46 assists for 75 points — a point and a half per game clip that's right on par with his equally impressive regular-season numbers.
The question is, will this be the year McDavid's Cup chase comes to an end? Or will the wait continue?
Henri Richard won an unprecedented 11 Stanley Cups in his career. Jean Beliveau and Yvon Cournoyer won 10 apiece and Claude Provost won nine. Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard is one of four players with eight, along with Red Kelly, Jacques Lemaire and Serge Savard. Jean- Guy Talbot has seven.
All but Kelly played for the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the last century, when there were fewer teams in the league and the term salary cap might as well have described a hat fashioned out of money.
Then the Oilers came along, enjoying almost immediate success in the NHL, with franchise legends Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe earning five Cups apiece before capping off their careers with a sixth championship with the New York Rangers.
Randy Gregg was also part of those five Oilers Cup teams. Esa Tikkanen won four of his five Cups here, and the best to ever play the game, Wayne Gretzky, won all four of his Cups with the Oilers.
The one thing they all have in common is that none of them ever won a championship alone.
Just like McDavid won't win one by himself.
MVPs don't win the Stanley Cup. Scoring leaders don't win the Cup. It takes a full team. And not always the best team, either, but the one that finds a way to play the best when it counts most.
And if McDavid is to ever join that group of greats who have hoisted the Stanley Cup, he's going to have to be at his considerable best, no doubt. But it's also going to take the same from every single member of his supporting cast.