The last time Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews shared a memorable moment on international ice was at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey when they were teammates.
Auston Matthews had an assist and Connor McDavid finished no points and a minus-1 rating.
But if the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night had been billed as a preview of what to expect when Canada and the U.S. meet at the Olympics, then it looks like we might be in store for a snooze fest.
When you think about it, that's mostly been the case for the McDavid vs Matthews rivalry.
Since breaking into the league in 2015 and 2016, respectively, McDavid and Matthews have faced each other 22 times. None have come in the Stanley Cup final. None have even come in the playoffs, despite Toronto and Edmonton being tossed together in the same All-Canadian North Division during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season.
Internationally, it's been only slightly better.
McDavid and Matthews squared off against each other once at the 2015 world juniors (Canada won, with McDavid picking up an assists), twice at the 2016 World Championship (Canada won both games, with Matthews scoring a goal and McDavid picking up an assist), and of course twice at last year's 4 Nations Face-Off (Canada won, with Matthews picking up two assists and McDavid scoring twice, including the OT-winner in the championship).
But in 10 years as arguably the two biggest stars in the NHL, McDavid's and Matthews' biggest moments while sharing the same ice may have come not as rivals — but rather, as linemates playing together for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
It was on a under-23 team of Canadian- and American-born players where McDavid and Matthews not only combined for two goals and six points in three games, but forged a professional friendship that has continued to this day with annual summer skates together and joint McDonald's commercial campaigns.
"We played together in the World Cup pretty early on. I mean, in both our careers. And then, you know, just spent time over the years, All-Star games, different situations," Matthews said of McDavid in February 2025. "But, yeah, I mean, I have a ton of respect for him. A great person. Obviously, a very special player."
In other words, this has not become a Sidney Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin rivalry. And least, not yet.
That will hopefully change in the next couple of weeks, when McDavid and Matthews head to the Olympics. Canada and the U.S. are in different groups, which means that they will not play against each other in the round-robin portion of the tournament. In fact, if McDavid and Matthews are going to see each other in Milan, it will come in a playoff game.
Fingers crossed, that game will determine gold.
Even then, temper your expectations. This tournament is bigger than just two players.
Matthews is on a team with Florida's Matthew Tkachuk, Vegas' Jack Eichel, Minnesota's Quinn Hughes and arguably the most talented roster that the U.S. has put together. At the 4 Nations Face-Off, where Matthews was captain, he had no goals and three assists in four games.
McDavid enters the Olympics with a league-high 95 points in 57 games. But like Matthews, the Oilers captain will have quite the supporting cast, including Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, San Jose's Macklin Celebrini and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.
"I know my place in that room and it's a great room, there's a lot of great players, a lot of great voices and leaders," McDavid told NHL.com. "Everybody just has to do their part, that's all it is, that's what makes a team like that special. Everybody can contribute in their own way and I'm looking to do that obviously."
Still, we could see something special. And we better. This is a moment that we've been waiting a decade for. For McDavid and Matthews, whose relationship — and rivalry — goes back to when they were kids, it's been even longer.
McDavid, who is from Newmarket, Ont., and Matthews, who was raised in Arizona, may have grown up on opposite parts of the continent. But that didn't stop them from occasionally finding each on opposite sides of the rink, trying to prove to one another that they were the best.
One of those rare meetings occurred when they were really young and Matthews travelled to Toronto for a youth minor hockey tournament, where he faced McDavid.
"I'll never forget, Connor came down, and in typical Connor fashion he blew by everyone on the ice and scored a highlight reel goal," Matthews' father, Brian, said in the book, The Next Ones: How McDavid, Matthews and a Group of Young Guns Took Over the NHL.
"And the parents were like, 'That's our kid.' "
The one-man show quickly turned into a duel.
"Auston came down and while he didn't have the same speed, he deked around every one of their guys and scored a highlight reel goal. Our team's parents turned around and said, 'Well, that's our kid.' And the other parents were kind of like shaking their heads like, 'Well, OK.'"
Hopefully, when McDavid and Matthews meet in Milan, we'll get another duel. After all, we've been waiting 10 years for it happen.
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