McDavid has found a way to raise his game, and the Oilers
The Edmonton star should get points for substance and style
Even in a summer Olympic year, when amateur athletes delight Canadians with their performances on the biggest global stage, there will be talk about hockey when it comes time to deciding Canada’s athlete of the year.
And when talk shifts to Canadian hockey these days, Connor McDavid is the first name to come up in conversation.
The 24-year-old Edmonton Oilers centre, a native of Richmond Hill, put in a mammoth performance in the NHL all year long. In 77 games played between now and the beginning of last season, which started in January because of delays related to COVID-19, McDavid has 48 goals and 97 assists for 145 points. That’s 20 more points than his closest rival and the most goals by a Canadian, trailing only Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews and Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl in that time.
Winning the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year wouldn’t be McDavid’s only honour in 2021, should he be selected by a voting committee made up of members of the country’s sports media next Wednesday. The Oilers captain already won his second career Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s outstanding player, as voted by his peers, and the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer last season. This season, he has his Oilers among the top teams in the NHL, leading the Western Conference after Wednesday’s games.
McDavid also scored what many are already calling the goal of the year last month against the New York Rangers, when he undressed four New York Rangers before tucking the puck past goaltender Alexander Georgiev.
“He’ll downplay it,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse told reporters after that game. “But that was … probably the nicest goal I’ve ever seen.”
While McDavid is clearly hockey’s top contender for the Lou Marsh, he is not alone on the list of candidates.
The Montreal Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1993, in large part because of Anahim Lake, B.C., native Cary Price, now 34, who mesmerized fans with stand-on-his head goaltending through the first three rounds, producing moments reminiscent of the 2014-2015, which led to a Lou Marsh win. Price has yet to play for the Canadiens this season after entering a treatment facility for substance abuse in October, but by being open about his recent struggles he has been a leader in the conversation about mental health among athletes.
“It takes courage to face situations like that,” head coach Dominique Ducharme said last month about Price. “That’s the first thing, individually, is to get help and you need to have the courage to admit that you need it.”
Marie-Philp Poulin leads the names on the women’s side. The Beauceville, Que. native put Canada back on top of the hockey world when she scored the golden goal in overtime against the rival Americans at the women’s world hockey championships this summer. It was Poulin’s third championship-winning goal, following her heroics at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.
And Toronto Six forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis, 23, became the first Black player in the then National Women’s Hockey League’s six-year history to be named Most Valuable Player this year, after scoring a league-best five goals in the pandemic-shortened season.
“Mikyla Grant-Mentis is our secret weapon,” Six president Digit Murphy said when she re-signed with the team in June. “Regardless of playing her on the wing or in the middle, she is an offensive threat, she anticipates well and is a constant threat to opponents. She has a special talent that you can’t teach.”
That is something all of hockey’s Lou Marsh candidates share.