The Next One could be ‘a career-changer’ for teammates
Prospect of playing alongside McDavid thrills current Oilers
It was a hypothetical question, given that Andrew Ference made his decision two years ago.
But when asked if a player like Connor McDavid could make the Edmonton Oilers a more appealing destination for free agents, Ference just pointed to David Perron, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in January.
“Look how excited Perron was to go to Pittsburgh, to have an opportunity to play with a guy like Sid. It’s a big deal to play with those guys who are head and shoulders above,” Ference said on Sunday, the day after the Oilers managed to again secure the first pick overall, this time with 11.5-per-cent odds.
The grand prize, of course, is Erie Otters centre Connor McDavid — a.k.a. the Next One.
“Obviously, it’s build-up and the hype and speculation, but he looks like he is everything everybody has talked about,” continued the Oilers captain. “It can be a career-changer to play with a guy like that.
“There are plenty of examples of that when you look at guys who have played with Mario, played with Jagr, played with Crosby. Played with Wayne.”
References to players like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky have become commonplace when McDavid is at the centre of a discussion. In short, what started out as just another long off-season for the Oilers took on a significantly different direction with the results of Saturday’s lottery.
“When you look at the line combinations, or how it’s now going to be more appealing for free agents ... there’s just a lot of things that start running through your head,” said winger Jordan Eberle.
“Usually, you take a bit of mental break at this point, but there’s even more excitement now when it comes to the prospect of going into camp.
“When you have an opportunity to pick a player of that calibre, it just brings a lot of excitement.”
McDavid has been labelled the most promising prospect since Crosby, as a player who could have as much impact on the Oilers as Gretzky once did.
“He’s definitely going to hear about that, and he’ll have to deal with all the comparisons to him. It’s to be expected,” Crosby told the Trib Total Media on the weekend.
“The great thing for him is that they have a lot of young guys there already. That’s a big thing for him. It’s not like he’s going to an older team or anything like that. He’ll be able to grow with those guys.
They have a ton of young talent there already, so it should be a good thing or him to be there.”
When Crosby stepped into the league in 2005-06, the Penguins had the likes of Mario Lemieux, Sergei Gonchar, Ziggy Palffy, John LeClair, Mark Recchi in the lineup — veterans all — and in that first season, he put up 39 goals and 102 points, but the Penguins finished 29th with a record of 22-26-14.
The following season, Pittsburgh was second in the Atlantic; in 2008-09, they laid claim to the Stanley Cup.
“The No. 1 priority hasn’t changed for us,” said Ference. “We have to change that atmosphere of what it is that we expect of ourselves. What we demand of ourselves. The accountability on our team has to be at a higher level. That all remains the same but now you throw this into the mix, it’s a great thing to add.
“Look no further than Pittsburgh,” Ference said. “Sure, they changed things around there. They put together a great team. They went to the finals, they won the Cup, but if they’re not playing at the top of their game, then they’ve lost out. They barely squeaked in this year.
“Having a potential superstar on your team doesn’t allow you to slack off in those other areas.”
That was a sentiment shared by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who like Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov was drafted first overall by a team that hasn’t seen the post-season since Crosby’s rookie season.
“Obviously, we’re all thinking about next year,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “He has the potential to change things for the better for us ... but we just have to find a way to get better — all of us. Regardless of who we get this summer, I think we are all of that mindset that we have to be better next season.
“Adding him changes things, but at the same time, we have to keep that same mentality. We can’t rely on him too much. We have to find a way to take it upon ourselves to really turn things in the right direction.”