The year 2026 could be massive for Edmonton Oilers and Team Canada superstar Connor McDavid. But for a player who said how important it is for him to win something, the expectations to get it done this year are huge.
The year 2026 has the potential to be very good for Connor McDavid.
It could start with him winning a gold medal with Canada at the Winter Olympics – and it could end with him winning a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers. That's the best-case scenario, anyway.
But that also shows how high expectations are for him this season. After the Oilers lost the Stanley Cup final in each of the last two years, there's now the annual expectation for Edmonton to go one step further and not blow their competitive window. And there's pressure on McDavid to lead the Oilers to that success by dominating in every playoff round, no matter which team he faces.
And in the first Olympics with NHL participation since 2014, McDavid finishing this tournament without a gold medal would be disappointing.
Playing such an instrumental role in Canada's 4 Nations Face-Off win last year led to the first big-stakes-game success of McDavid's professional career, and he's nearing the end of the preliminary round at the Olympics on a Canadian team stacked to the gills with talent that befits his impact on the game.
Given the way he stepped up with the 4 Nations Face-Off-winning goal and his six points through two games at the Olympics, you have to think McDavid will be a high-impact player as the stakes rise in the knockout stages.
And it's clear McDavid's legacy depends not only on how many gold medals he wins but also on how many Stanley Cup championships he wins. Just getting to the Cup final twice doesn't mean much.
"I'm 11 years into my career. Of course I think about my legacy," McDavid said in a Players' Tribune article. "I think there's this narrative that we're this unlucky, troubled team. The end result hasn't been there, but it's not easy getting to two straight Cup finals. We really pride ourselves on being good playoff performers, and our room knows what we're capable of. I believe in this group. If I didn't, I wouldn't have signed my extension."
It's still too early to tell what will happen at the Olympics, but McDavid's looking like he'll be the top scorer, and MVP honors are a very real possibility. But whatever happens, if he cannot build on this experience by getting the Oilers across the finish line and winning the Cup, he'll be crushed, and so will Edmonton fans.
All the greatest to ever do it have made it clear how difficult it is to win the Cup and Olympic gold. Thus, the pressure on McDavid right now has to be enormous. He's carrying the weight of his country on his shoulders, and he's got an NHL fan base that was accustomed to rooting for the last real Canadian team dynasty and now already sees time ticking away on McDavid's two-year contract extension that kicks in next year.
But the bright side to all this is that McDavid could very well run the table with a gold medal and a Cup in the same calendar year. Having seen him over the years, would you doubt him capable of it?
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