EDMONTON — In the moments after that Game 6 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, before the media entered the Edmonton Oilers dressing room, Connor McDavid was already setting the tone for the 2023-24 season.
We’ve heard the story now from a few places, that he cleared all but the closest team staff out of the room and laid down the parameters for his franchise going forward. That the window for learning how to win was slamming shut, and the time for applying those lessons — and winning Stanley Cups — has officially begun.
“Well, emotions run high at those moments. It might have been a little (higher) than in years past,” McDavid said over the phone Wednesday.
We asked him about new CEO Jeff Jackson, and how that might affect his looming contract extension, some 24 months from now. (You’ll have to read to the end for the answer.) For now, it’s his head space in the summer of 2023 we wanted to ask McDavid about, as the dawn of an era of true Stanley Cup contention opens in Edmonton.
If you know the Oilers captain, you won’t be surprised that he would not provide a full recap of his post-game address for public consumption. He did not deny the event, sharing only that “sometimes there are some words shared (after a playoff loss), and sometimes there are no words shared at all. There was definitely a couple more words shared in the room right after that (loss to Vegas).”
It’s been a short summer for McDavid, propelled by the intrigue that, perhaps, the dues have in fact been paid. That his Edmonton Oilers have reached their moment honestly, like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche did before them, where the student may be ready to become the teacher.
He popped the question to fiancée Lauren Kyle this summer, and as age 26 turns to 27 this January, this summer has felt like a turning point of sorts.
“In summers previous there are parts of the summer where you’re like, ‘we’re months away.’ You’re kind of dragging your butt to the gym,” he said. “I never had any stretches like that this summer. It’s been it’s been really easy to get myself to the gym and onto the ice. It’s been a very motivating summer.”
It started back in May, when a series in which the Oilers held a lead in every game was lost, and the Golden Knights went on to hoist the Stanley Cup.
“That feeling in the room has really sat with me for a long time now, you know, ever since that series ended,” McDavid said. “It’s something that we’re all going to want to hold on to. When we’re back in that situation, maybe when we’re down in a series, understanding that the time is now to do it. Because once it’s over, it’s over. You don’t get any re-runs.
“That was just as big of a feeling in our room: how far away you are from being in that exact same position and getting a chance to do it over again. So you don’t want to have any regrets.”
It was after that McDavid soliloquy, unbeknownst to us at the time, that goalie Skinner said this: “You’ve got to learn how to lose. You’ve got to learn how to win as well. I think we know how to do both. So just being able to gather ourselves here in the summer, get to work and know what we’re coming back here to do.
“And that’s win the Cup.”
Said Leon Draisaitl of the coming season: “It’s Cup or bust.”
As such, McDavid has summoned the entire team to begin Captain’s skates here in Edmonton on Sept. 5 — right after the Labour Day long weekend. He calls it a group decision — “Not just one guy telling everyone to do something” — but admits a desire to be “a little bit more organized in our Captain’s skates. Just to make sure that it’s a productive month and we can hit the ground running.”
As someone who was asking the questions after playoff losses to Chicago, to Winnipeg, to Colorado and to Vegas, it’s been interesting to watch McDavid grow as the voice of this team. Today, perhaps for the first time, he speaks as the captain of a team with the true belief that a Stanley Cup could be around the corner.
“I would say that is a fair assessment. But with that being said, I’ve always had a strong belief in our team,” he said. “We have a good team, we have a good roster, and we’ve gone through some steps. Through some stages. That being said, it’s a long year.”
He admits now, for the first time, that losing to Colorado and losing to Vegas are two different animals.
“This year was different, in the sense that our belief was stronger. We competed with Vegas. We gave them a series,” he said. “The Colorado series was not all that close, and it’s hard for us to look around the room and say, ‘We’ve got to do this and that,’ when they were just the better team.
“We look back at that Vegas series and it’s really the small, little moments. The small, little things that make all the difference in the world. We felt like whoever won that series was going to have a great opportunity to keep moving on, in what was a little bit of a strange playoffs with big teams going out early.
“It was just disappointing because the belief was there, and it was so high. We felt like the series was close. That we had a real chance.”
Over the summer he lost an agent, but gained a new boss when Jeff Jackson joined the Oilers as CEO.
What does that mean for McDavid signing another long-term deal here, with three seasons left on his current one?
He knew the question was coming, and gave it his best shot:
“I love playing in Edmonton, and I really feel at home there. Lauren loves being in Edmonton. There are a lot – a lot — of things that check the boxes for us in Edmonton. We’re super comfortable there,” McDavid said. “But with that all being said, it’s three years down the road. We’ve got to kind of see where our lives are at and kind of go from there.
“I don’t say that to raise eyebrows or cause panic. It’s just the way that it is,” he cautioned. “But I love playing in Edmonton, I’m 100 per cent committed to winning in Edmonton with this group…
“And we’re gonna see it through.”
