EDMONTON — You are Miro Heiskanen. You are one of the best defenders in the world. And not the modern kind of “defender” who gets most of his Norris Trophy votes in the offensive zone, basically the fourth forward on the ice. You are the defender. you play defense, male. Better than probably all but a handful of men alive today. You know what you’re doing out there.
So when you see Connor McDavid catch a pass from Leon Draisaitl, prepare accordingly. You know his speed. You know his shots. You know his creativity. And when he blasts Sam Steel, a very good penalty killer, to the outside by simply sprinting through a helpless stick check, you start to turn to the outside. McDavid goes wide to attack the net from the wing. Maybe he’ll try to tuck it into a corner, maybe he’ll try a wraparound around the cage, or maybe he’ll try one of those reverse VH breaking acute angle roof jobs that are all the rage these days. Recently. But he’s going wide.
There is no other way for him to go, right?
Suddenly McDavid stops on a dime and it’s already over. You are toast. To see the person, you have to turn your neck 90 degrees to the left, and all you see is a blur of blue and orange in your peripheral vision. You thrust your hips out in a vain attempt to throw him off balance, but he had already pulled the puck back and dragged it across your body, wedging the impossibly narrow passage between you and Steel like a seasoned cave explorer. , who he is still desperately trying to keep up with.
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By the time you’ve whipped your head around and desperately flailed with one hand to where you think – guess what? hope? — McDavid might. The puck is already in the net. McDavid somehow placed the puck exactly over Jake Oettinger’s left shoulder with a shovel maneuver. It’s not a wrist shot. Not a clean backhand in open space. It’s not a chin job. shovel. The guy looked like he was ruining the Belmont stall, but he still hit a perfect, unstoppable, unbelievable shot.
By the time you get to the end of the turn, all you can do is slump your shoulders and shrug in reflection. You and Steele, Asa Lindell, and Wyatt Johnston wander around the crease, exchanging silent, blank stares. “What on earth happened?”
I’m just being mean, but whatever 😤 pic.twitter.com/KRcj2GF3El
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 3, 2024
McDavid literally shrugged his shoulders. “I tried to go to the middle of the rink, which I thought was the best way to go.
huh. Ho hum.
McDavid added a delicate small-dish pass to set up Zach Hyman’s power-play goal late in the first period. That was enough to send the Dallas Stars home to a 2-1 win in Game 6. This is how you win a 35-10 game. This is the lowest shot differential ever for a series clincher and a record shot differential. This is how you beat back-to-back division champions and get to the Stanley Cup Finals. This is how they get one step closer to living up to the impossible hype that came into the league nearly a decade ago. Well, and the penalty kill thwarted 28 straight power plays, goaltender Stuart Skinner exceeded expectations, and first-year coach Kris Knoblauch pushed all the right buttons, and another of five. I had one. The best player in the world in Draisaitl, using the same power play unit as you. The Edmonton Oilers have a lot going for them.
However, all teams are putting in a lot of effort during this time. But no McDavid. No one does. No one has ever done that. And finally, after nine seasons of this Human Highlights GIF toiling in relative obscurity in northern Alberta as far away from American prime-time TV as possible due to the overall lack of vision from American rights holders, McDavid does his own thing. I will do it. Trade, fly and dodge in front of the widest audience possible.
He earned it and the hockey world deserves it. We all deserve to see our best on the biggest stages.
Best ever? Well, hockey protocol dictates that the Stanley Cup is a requirement to be included in that conversation, so we might have to wait a few more weeks. Or maybe we don’t. See, there’s always a recency bias in play. But go see an NHL goalie in the early 1980s, about 5 feet tall, playing in awkward stand-up style with his scrawny little pads. Imagine what this McDavid would do against all the pylons and goalies that populated the league. Sure, he’s going to be headhunted every night by those four-line guys plodding around the hockey world like dinosaurs, but will they ever get inside the guy’s neutral zone?
It feels like a huge stretch to say that no one in the history of the game has ever been able to score like that, but then again, is it? Why are we always forced to validate ourselves, qualify, sit on the couch, waffle, and sit on the fence? This is a talent we’ve never seen before, accomplishing things we never thought possible. To say that McDavid is the greatest hockey player of all time is hockey heresy. Because saying he’s the greatest Edmonton Oiler of all time is also hockey heresy. Wayne Gretzky was the most dominant athlete in the history of North American team sports. full stop. One of one. Best career ever.
But can he do it? that?
Can we at least acknowledge that McDavid is the best, most gifted, most jaw-dropping hockey player who has ever lived? That’s not an exaggeration. That’s clear. It’s right in front of us. Speak loudly. Admit it. Accept it. Celebrate it. It’s a great time to be a hockey fan. What a great time to be alive.
Draisaitl deadpanned, while hundreds of enthusiastic fans chanted “We want the cup!” It shook the window looking into the Oilers’ press conference room at Rogers Place at 104 Avenue. “There is only one player in the world who can make this happen.”
One player. This game has one player. In this league. In this world. Perhaps in the history of the sport.
The grandest stage awaits, so it will be a must-see. McDavid always does.
(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
