EDMONTON — When Connor McDavid speaks, the hockey world listens. When he yells at his teammates — even within the confines of his team’s dressing room and with the Stanley Cup on the line — people play the clip on repeat.
“It was never my plan to be the star of the show,” the Edmonton Oilers captain said jokingly after a 6-3 preseason loss to Calgary. “I think we wanted to dip our toe in, but — here we are — headfirst off the diving board.”
A teaser of the upcoming Amazon Prime all-access documentary series “Faceoff: Inside the NHL” was released on Monday and the snippet that caught everyone’s attention was McDavid unleashing after the Oilers lost Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final to Florida.
Connor McDavid had a FIRED UP moment in the new trailer for the BTS Amazon Prime series “FACEOFF: Inside the NHL” 😳
(via @NHL) pic.twitter.com/QpROUvajfI
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 23, 2024
“That’s not good enough,” he screamed in the visiting room. “It’s the finals. Dig in. Right now!”
To linemate Zach Hyman, McDavid’s lashing out was perfect.
“That’s what everybody was feeling,” Hyman said. “That was great that he said it at the time.
“The closer you get, the more it’s in reach. We’re in the Stanley Cup Final. We had a pretty good first game; we lost. We had a not-so-good second game. It’s just frustration.
“Connor’s the most competitive guy you’ll meet. It’s a little window into what goes on. He speaks like that, with emotion, at the right times.”
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has seen McDavid in two phases of his life — as a junior player with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters and now in Edmonton after being hired last November. Leadership has always been one of McDavid’s best traits.
“Part of the reason Connor is as good as he is is he’s competitive and he’s passionate,” Knoblauch said. “Yes, he has talent, but he’s been able to push that talent and get better every single day.
“Obviously, he should get most of the recognition on how well he plays, but he is an outstanding leader. I’ve known him since he was a 15-year-old, and his teammates have had a lot of respect for him — and they should have.”
The five-second glimpse felt like an uncharacteristic moment from someone perceived as being stoic or teased for being a hockey robot. Not so, Hyman said.
“To us, it’s normal,” he said. “He’s a phenomenal leader, wears his heart on his sleeve. To you guys, he might be quieter, more guarded. To us, he’s Connor. He is who he is.
“He’s a great player, obviously — the best in the world — and a phenomenal leader and takes on a lot of the team onus. When we’re playing poorly, he takes a lot of it on himself and tries to elevate everybody’s game. That clip, you’ll see more of it in the show, I guess.”
Maybe so. But McDavid advised some things on the show should be taken with a grain of salt.
“You’ve got to understand some of the show is that they get to contextualize it as much as they want,” he said. “It’s interesting how they cut it up. They obviously need to make a story.
“Guys are playing for their dream. You’ll see that. You’ll feel that from both sides.”
Extra unwanted attention on him aside, McDavid hopes the juice is worth the squeeze for the doc, which will be released on Oct. 4.
“Ultimately, everybody wants to grow the game,” he said. “It’s worked for other sports. Hopefully it does something for our sport as well. That’s all we can really ask for.”
Required reading
• Mark Messier joins Amazon Prime’s ‘Monday Night Hockey’ broadcast team alongside Adnan Virk, Andi Petrillo
• NHL puts its stars front and center in Amazon documentary series to debut in October
(Photo: Perry Nelson / Imagn Images)
