BREAKING UP MCDAVID’S BAND OF BROTHERS WAS ALL BUSINESS
Oilers superstar says having your best buddies dealt away to other teams ‘sucks’
When the Edmonton Oilers congregate for the opening of training camp next week, Connor McDavid’s mind will momentarily wander back to September of 2015.
At that time, the much-ballyhooed 18-year-old rookie arrived in a new town, a new environment, a new league, a new life. That’s when two former firstrounders took him under their wings.
There was Taylor Hall, who welcomed McDavid as his roommate with open arms. And there was Jordan Eberle, who showed McDavid around the city while looking out for him.
Now, just two years later, McDavid will arrive at Oilers camp next week without his two mentors and pals to lean on.
In June of 2016, Hall was shipped to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Adam Larsson. This summer, Eberle was traded to the New York Islanders for forward Ryan Strome.
When it comes to the reasoning for why those moves were made by GM Peter Chiarelli, McDavid accepts it.
He understands it.
But it still hurts. It always will.
“It never gets easier,” McDavid said during the NHL’s player media tour this week. “Jordan’s a great friend. We’re really close. He did a lot for me coming in as a young guy, taking me around Edmonton and kind of taking care of me.
“It’s never easy to lose a friend like Jordan or Taylor. It sucks.”
McDavid is well aware these things happen. Hockey, he says, “is a business.” And in a candid interview this week, McDavid revealed how he discovered what a cutthroat industry the sport can be.
“I learned about that at an even younger age than people know of,” McDavid said. “I was 16, playing for Erie and living with a guy named Stephen Harper. I was very close to him. We had a close buddy that lived just one street over. His name was Hayden Hodgson.”
Much in the way McDavid, Eberle and Hall shared a special relationship in Edmonton, such was the case in Erie with McDavid, Harper and Hodgson.
Midway through the 201314 season, all of that changed, thanks to wheeling and dealing Otters general manager Sherry Bassin. First, Heyden was shipped to Saginaw. Shortly after, Harper was sent to Belleville. McDavid was crushed. “Two months into my second season my roommate got traded,” McDavid said. “And for me, it was like: ‘This is insane.’ You can’t get close to anyone. It was so hard for me.
“And then a week later, my other buddy got traded. So, it was like two of my best buddies in the whole world on the team got traded in a week. So for me, it was kind of a rude awakening. Now, in the past two seasons, losing Hallsie and Ebs and all these different guys, it just goes to show you that it’s a business. But friendships do last. I talk to Taylor all the time, I was at Ebs’ wedding … so, like I said, friendships last. Those are the types of bonds you get when you are on a team.”
Talking about McDavid’s first camp as an Oiler brings back memories for Hall, back to a time 24 months ago when he, McDavid and Eberle had aspirations of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton together.
“It seems like a long time ago,” Hall said. “Going out for dinner with Connor, he was so brighteyed and trying to find his place on the team.
“We all knew he was the face of the team the first day he stepped on the ice for training camp. Selfishly, it’s kind of cool that I got to experience that with Connor because he’s going to be one of the best players in the game. I was there for his first training camp and I was able to spend time with him away from the rink which a lot of guys didn’t get the chance to do. That’s pretty cool for me.
“But a lot has happened since then. Connor’s a Hart Trophy winner, I’m on a different team, Jordan’s on a different team. A lot can happen in this game and it just goes to show you you have to enjoy the present at any given time.”
In mid-July, Eberle got the Three Amigos back together again at his wedding, a lively event that featured Hall singing karaoke and using a guitar as a goalie stick to face shots from McDavid.
“If Wayne Gretzky can be traded, anyone can be traded,” Eberle said. “For me, getting traded wasn’t a surprise. But in the summer it’s nice to see guys again. Friendships never go away.”
Until he plays the Oilers, that is.
“If they win the Cup one day, you are going to be a bit jealous,” Eberle said.
“I hope we meet them in the Cup and we beat them. I’m going to be more competitive against that team than any other team. You have ties there and when you play your buddies you want to beat them.
“But yeah, Connor is a generational talent.”
One that Hall and Eberle not so long ago thought would help lead them to hockey’s holy grail.
Then came the breaking up of the band.
What a difference two years makes.
Two of my best buddies in the whole world on the team got traded in a week. So for me, it was kind of a rude awakening.