Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has seen seven of his nine points against the Vancouver Canucks come in two games. Which version of him will we see in Game 7?
As the Edmonton Oilers prepare for Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Vancouver Canucks, one angle isn’t getting the attention it deserves – and it all has to do with the performance of superstar Oilers center Connor McDavid.
Although McDavid at, let’s say, 75 percent of his talent is still worlds better than 99 percent of his NHL colleagues, it feels like McDavid hasn’t been quite at his top level against the Canucks despite averaging a ton of minutes.
Now, let’s underscore something here – McDavid currently leads the Stanley Cup playoffs in assists, with 19 helpers in 11 games. Only his Oilers teammate, Leon Draisaitl, has more points than McDavid’s 21 points.
But seven of McDavid's nine points in this round have come in two games, with only two points in the other four outings. Suffice it to say, the Oilers won when McDavid had four assists in Game 2 and three in Game 6.
Considering McDavid’s only one year removed from scoring 64 regular-season goals – and that he generated 18 goals in 28 games of the previous two post-seasons combined – McDavid’s imbalanced output feels very much like the result of someone who isn’t firing on all pistons.
McDavid did sit out three regular-season games in April with a lower-body injury, but Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said at the time the team felt he recovered from what was nagging him and that there shouldn't be any regression. He also missed a week in October with an upper-body injury.
And if McDavid isn't quite at 100 percent, it wouldn’t be the first time an elite competitor did their best to play through pain and discomfort because they understand how vital their on-ice presence is to their team’s chances to win a championship.
For instance, in Toronto, superstar center Auston Matthews had only – only – a 40-goal season for the Maple Leafs in 2022-23 after getting 60 goals the year before and 69 goals this year. Something was bothering him in that '22-23 campaign, and it was reflected in his totals on offense. Matthews eventually revealed he had been playing through a hand injury that year, so it made sense that he wasn’t meeting his own lofty standards.
The secrecy surrounding NHL injuries is rampant and well known, and it wouldn’t shock anyone if McDavid was functioning below optimal levels.
Of course, we could be wrong, and McDavid is 100 percent healthy. But either way, succeeding in the playoffs is determined by a team’s best players being its best players. And despite his success in the assists department, McDavid’s all-around production this round is clearly lacking regarding goals scored and consistency. Fortunately for the Oilers, they've had other players pick up the goal-scoring slack – most notably, winger Zach Hyman.
There’s still time for McDavid to rise to the occasion and propel Edmonton into the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars, but if he doesn’t come up with a big-time showing in Game 7 against Vancouver, the “what if” brigade will kick into overdrive.
Nobody would fault McDavid if he ultimately was hamstrung, as it happens all the time to star players and worker bee performers alike. But when you’re the best player on god’s green earth, and you’re not functioning as the dominant force you’ve proven to be for most of your NHL career, you open yourself up to questions and comments from the peanut gallery. That just comes with the territory.
McDavid has been surrounded with more quality depth in Edmonton this year than at any point in his career, but don’t fool yourself – the Oilers desperately need him to come through in the clutch on Monday night as he did in Game 6. The Canucks have done a decent-enough job in containing McDavid through six games, and it’s all about McDavid making adjustments and putting the team on his shoulders in Game 7 – or faltering and watching relatively helpless as Vancouver wins and moves on to the Western final.