Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
'McOverrated': Miami Writer's Bold Connor McDavid Claim
EDMONTON -- "They hate us because they ain't us."
That's a line of dialogue made famous by James Franco's character in The Interview, a comedy film released in 2014. In light of a Miami Herald scribe's less than complimentary opinion on Connor McDavid being made known, it seemed an appropriate addition.
What is that opinion? Let me tell you in their own words.
Connor McDavid.
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Greg Cote penned an article that was released on June 3rd. In it he listed 13 of his thoughts surrounding the Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers and the NBA finals. To read his piece in it's entirety you must have a subscription to the Miami Herald (which I do not).
So I took a screenshot of the McDavid part. Here is what he wrote, "Connor McDavid is overrated. Boom. He puts up impressive stats, yes. Fine. But should he really be called "generational," called the best player in the sport when in nine seasons he has yet to lead his team to a Stanley Cup?"
He continues, "Edmonton truly had one of those players, once. His name was Wayne Gretzky. He's why the Oilers bunched five Stanley Cup wins in 1984-90. McDavid? No Gretzky. He has the requisite nicknames -- McJesus, The Chosen One -- but he has not proved beyond-stats transcendent, able to lift a franchise to ultimate heights. McOverrated."
This is a strange opinion, but here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
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Wayne Gretzky.
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For one, Gretzky won four Stanley Cups - the Oilers won the fifth one after he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Secondly, why didn't Gretzky win any more Cups after he was traded? Did he suddenly lose his generational abilities? Definitely not.
However, that illustrates that winning a Stanley Cup cannot happen because of the play of the best player in the league. Hockey is not like basketball, where your best players can literally play the entire game. Hockey is a team sport, where you need the right recipe of players in order to win at the highest level.
If you want to follow this fellow's logic, it would mean that Gretzky would have won several more championships with several other franchises. That obviously didn't happen, yet he is widely regarded as the best player to ever play the game.
Perhaps some journalists need to expand their view of what "generational" means.
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