McDavid’s future finally arrives
Erie wunderkind talks about the fi ve teams he could wind up playing for
ERIE, Pa. — Finally, thankfully, mercifully, the time has come for Connor McDavid to find out where his new hockey home will be.
W h e n t h e s u r e - t o - be ecstat i c w inner of the 2015 NHL dra f t l o t t e r y i s d e t e rmined shor t l y a f t e r 8 p. m. ET on Saturday. it will leave behind:
Months, even years, of speculation of where the gifted centre might end up.
Countless accusations of tanking against teams such as Buffalo and Arizona, who spent the final months of the regular season jockeying for that suddenly coveted 30th- place position in the overall standings.
An endless assembly line of finger nails chewed down to the nubs by the respective fan bases of the league’s lower echelon teams, loyal supporters who have been drooling over the prospect of landing a socalled generational franchise player such as a McDavid or a Jack Eichel.
Now. all that lottery lunacy is on the cusp of coming to an end.
And as for all those McEichel Bowls, there were so many of those by the end of the season, we lost count.
Through all the hype and hysteria, the one person who has maintained his cool and kept his feet planted on the ground is McDavid.
Dealing with the omnipresent publicity and attention with the maturity of someone twice his age, McDavid, 18, has been able to tune out the majority of the surrounding white noise related to his future. What’s partially helped him turn a deaf ear to all the outside chatter is the playoff run his Erie Otters have been on, which includes eliminations of the Sarnia Sting and the London Knights.
Even so, he fully understands the life- changing moment that awaits him Saturday night. And with his parents and friends on hand in downtown Toronto for the occasion, he’s going to embrace it all.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s all in good fun,” McDavid said.
Even with all the McDavid mania that has ballooned with every passing week, day and hour leading up to the lottery?
“I’ve never had much trouble blocking it out,” he said. “This is getting down to crunch time. It’s an exciting time. It’s been nice that I’ve been able to not to think about it too much. I took the stance that it’ll happen when it happens. There really wasn’t too much you could do to make it come any faster.” And now, the day is here. But where will he go? To that end, in an exclusive one- on- one sitdown with Postmedia Network, McDavid broke down the five teams with the best odds of winning the lottery and how he would fit in with each one.
BUFFALO ( 20%)
OF NOTE: Fans in Buffalo have been wearing Sabres No. 97 McDavid jerseys for almost a year.
CONNOR’S TAKE: “I love Buffalo. It’s a great place. I know it very well. Playing in Erie, I’ve been to Buffalo a whole bunch. It’s kind of the closest ( NHL) place to Erie and there are a lot of Sabres fans living in the area. I live with a diehard Sabres fan in my billet ( Bob Catalde). It’s a special place.”
ARIZONA ( 13.5%)
OF NOTE: Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, two of McDavid’s gold medal- winning teammates with the Canadian world junior team, are with the Coyotes organization. Some prognosticators already are predicting a Domi- McDavid- Duclair line if Arizona wins the lottery.
CONNOR’S TAKE: “I don’t know too much about the place. I’ve never been there. I don’t really know what anything’s like down there, but I’m sure it’s great. I haven’t heard anything but great things from Max. And obviously Dukes ( Duclair) is there. That would be a fun opportunity.”
EDMONTON ( 11.5%)
OF NOTE: Oilers held first overall pick for three consecutive years: 2010 ( Taylor Hall), 2011 ( Ryan Nugent- Hopkins), 2012 ( Nail Yakupov).
CONNOR’S TAKE: “That’s a great hockey town. They love their hockey. Obviously they’ve been on a bit of a slide the last couple of years. That’s allowed them to get some unbelievably amazing players that play there now. They’re just kind of a young team now, I guess. I’m not quite sure what’s going on ( moving forward). That would be an awesome place as well.”
TORONTO ( 9.5%)
OF NOTE: McDavid grew up in Newmarket as a Leafs fan. Played minor hockey and lacrosse on the same line as Tristan Joseph, son of former Le a f Cur t i s Joseph. Cuj o remains a mentor and role model to Connor as well as a friend of the McDavid family.
CONNOR’S TAKE: “Playing for the Leafs would be a dream come true. I can’t help it — I’ve cheered for them since I was a kid. I still remember going to my first game. I predicted in the car they would win 4- 1. And they ended up beating the Rangers 4- 1! I’ll never forget that.”
CAROLINA ( 8.5%)
OF NOTE: In terms of tutors for a young centre like McDavid, this would be an ideal spot given the presence of the Staal brothers, Eric and Jordan, and GM Ron Francis, a first- ballot hall of famer.
CONNOR’S TAKE: “That’s kind of another place I don’t know too much about. Obviously the ( Staal brothers) are there. That’s kind of a big perk of being in Carolina, to see those guys, to be around them, to see what they do each and every day. I know Ryan Murphy a little bit. Not too much. We grew up in kind of the same area. That’s an awesome possibility.”