It’s a miracle Mcdavid is even at All-star Game
Connor Mcdavid is no longer the fastest in the world. And yet, he’s still faster than he’s ever been before.
The Edmonton Oilers captain, who had won the fastest skater event at the All-star Game in each of the past three seasons, turned in a personal best time of 13.215 in Friday’s Skills Competition. But it was a shade slower than New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal’s 13.175.
“He flies,” Mcdavid said of Barzal, whose time was .003 off Dylan Larkin’s record set in 2016. “Obviously he skates like the wind and he’s got real good hands and he’s definitely a player that’s fun to watch. I like watching him.”
Despite not winning, the fact Mcdavid was competing in the event was a minor miracle considering how badly he had injured his knee in the final game of last season.
In a documentary that aired on Sportsnet on Friday night, Mcdavid revealed he had considered surgery to repair his torn posterior cruciate ligament — surgery that possibly would have kept him out for the entire season — before deciding on a summer- long rehab process that no one could be sure would properly heal the ligament.
With a league- leading 64 points, it’s safe to assume he made the right choice.
“Obviously, there’s going to be lots made about that,” he said of his injury. “I feel real good. I don’t think I’d be sitting here at the All-star Game if I didn’t.”
Mcdavid said the reason for deciding against surgery was he didn’t want to miss the season. But the bigger reason was it wasn’t a common procedure and was worried whether it would alter his skating stride.
“You never want to miss a season. You never want to go through a surgery — I’m not going to call it risky — but there were a lot of questions,” said Mcdavid. “It’s not like it’s an ACL where doctors can almost do that in their sleep. It’s a PCL. Only a few doctors have done that and it’s not like it’s been mastered.”
Even so, there were concerns throughout the summer Mcdavid wasn’t on the path to being ready for the season.
“For sure, there were days when it didn’t feel that good going through that process. You’re like, ‘ Uh, I wonder what the MRI is going to look like? Should we go back and do the surgery and start over?’
“But it just kept progressing and progressing and ultimately we didn’t have to go through the surgery route.”
COULD THE WNHL BE COMING?
Canada defeated the U. S. 2-1 in the first- ever women’s 3-on-3 game during the NHL All- Star Game. The next step: having an NHL go one step further and create a women’s league similar to the WNBA.
“We are all hopeful,” said Canada’s Rebecca Johnston, who scored the opening goal. “Us being here, I think that’s a step in the right direction. The NHL is supporting women’s hockey. They’re helping us get the exposure that we need. I think the partnership is there. It’s not something you can just build over night. For us it’s just being patient, trying to grow the game.”
For now, Bettman was happy with giving the women a larger platform to further demonstrate their skill.
“I’m thrilled that we have an opportunity for the women’s game to be demonstrated,” said Bettman. “They’re excited to be here, we’re excited to have them. The fact we can shine a brighter light on the women’s game is a positive for them, for the game and for young girls watching and aspiring to do the same thing.”
BETTMAN NOT IN A RUSH TO GO TO OLYMPICS
Gary Bettman has not decided on whether the NHL will participate in the 2022 Olympics. But he laughed off the so- called August deadline imposed by International Ice Hockey Federation president René Fasel.
“He also said last summer that he wanted an answer by December, and he didn’t get one,” said Bettman. “So we’re going to have to see. I actually think that the deadline is really more one that we would have to impose in terms of logistics. My guess is if at a point in time we said we wanted to go and we could handle the timing of it, my guess is the IIHF could as well. That doesn’t mean that I don’t take Rene seriously, but he already gave us one deadline that came and went.”
Is Bettman still leaning toward skipping another Olympics?
“I can’t say that with certainty,” he said. He then added, “Not to give people false hope.”
LOOSE SNAPS
The Florida Panthers were officially announced as the hosts for the 2021 All- Star Game. In other words, put money on them winning the Stanley Cup this year … A week before the Super Bowl, Ryan O’reilly drew some extra cheers from the hometown fans for skating out with a Kansas City Chiefs football helmet … St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington won the shootout save streak competition with 10 consecutive saves … Stick tap to Tomas Hertl for providing some much-needed humour to the competition by wearing an oversized Justin Bieber mask when facing Binnington on a breakaway. Although it was super creepy … Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin won the accuracy shooting contest by hitting five targets in 9.505 seconds.