EDMONTON — Connor McDavid walked out of an optional practice that included just four players — himself, Leon Draisaitl, rookie Quinn Hutson and injured John Klingberg — and told the media not to believe their eyes.
“Guys are healthier than it may seem,” McDavid said. “I think we kind of have this aura around us that we’re the walking wounded. But we’re just fine. Everybody’s going to be ready to roll.”
But…
“I don’t like this whole notion that we’re the walking wounded here. We’re ready to roll.”
That, folks, was a hockey captain being a hockey captain.
It was a leader with the playoffs approaching, trying to dispel any idea that their impending Stanley Cup run comes wrapped in weakness or is in some way compromised by a built-in excuse to lose.
Despite the fact that no teammates were listening, only a small contingent of media, McDavid was building up a team that’s been broken down of late.
“I just don’t like the theory that people are counting us out. We’re a great team here,” McDavid demanded. “Bumps and bruises along the way? Obviously.
“But we’re a dangerous team when we’re rolling and healthy — and we are healthy. I think you’ll see that over the next little while, and (I’m) looking forward to showing that.”
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Let’s forget for a second that there were several Oilers who did not play Monday in a 5-0 loss to Los Angeles — and who will not play in Wednesday’s season finale at San Jose — yet they still did not attend an optional practice on a travel day Tuesday.
And we’ll overlook, for the moment, the accepted tenet that a team that begins the playoffs with injuries is bound to run out of gas before four rounds are completed; that injuries are inevitable, and those who start the race weakened seldom finish it.
No, McDavid was planting the seeds of belief on Tuesday — perhaps both inside and outside his dressing room — that a cobbled together lineup of players coming off of various and sundry injuries can be as good — or in some ways better — than one that simply rolls uninterrupted through a season and right into the playoffs.
“Who’s to say what’s bad and what’s good? Maybe it’s good. Everyone’s going to be rested,” he said, a tone of defiance in his voice. “Would it have been nice to get some games with a full lineup? Sure … but like I said, not everything is as it seems.
“I’ve felt, personally, night and day better from before the injury, just in terms of rest. Not getting a break there with the Four Nations — which I’m not complaining about at all — I feel night and day better since the injury. I’m sure Leon’s going to feel the same way.”
His form does not refute his words.
McDavid missed eight games with an undisclosed injury, then racked up nine assists (no goals) in three games upon his return. He took Monday off, and though he deferred to head coach Kris Knoblauch’s decision, McDavid said he’s more than ready to play in San Jose, where he needs one point to crest the 100-point plateau for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.
His current form is exquisite — likely the best we’ve seen all season long — and he looks like he’s itching to prove some people wrong in Round 1.
If Draisaitl is at the same level, if Zach Hyman can make the most of a 10-day rest, if Evander Kane can find form after a year away, if Jake Walman’s mystery injury heals, if the Oilers can hang around long enough for Trent Frederic to help…
Those are a lot of ifs, and McDavid is ready to defend every one of them. Bring up the loss of Mattias Ekholm, however, and he is, alas, stumped.
“I wish I could spin that one for you, but that’s obviously disappointing. There’s no way around that,” McDavid said. “He’s a great player who just does everything right. Maybe the most all-around defenceman there is. He’s a big loss.”
Forget Monday’s 5-0 loss to the Kings, a game that saw a decimated Oilers lineup go up against the Kings’ ‘A’ squad.
Nobody in the NHL knows how to beat Los Angeles in a playoff series better than Edmonton, nor does any team have as much respect for the type of game that must be adhered to advance past the careful, cloggy Kings.
“They play, I would say, more of a passive game in terms of the neutral zone. But they’re a really good team and have been for a long time. I’m excited about (opening) there,” said McDavid. “It takes a really clean, solid, hard-working game to beat them, and that’s what we’re going to have to be prepared to do. And we are prepared to do.”
He claims no advantage in having beaten the Kings for three years running.
“Every time we’ve come in with the same mentality: it’s a new series, and there’s no carryover. We don’t start up a game, or up two games. It’s the first team to four, and it’s a challenge every time.”
Ah, but things are a little different this year, no?
“It’s that way every year, isn’t it? There’s always a challenge,” McDavid said. “There’s always going to be something that happens, a uniqueness to every playoffs that we’ve had, every series that we’ve had.
“This one is going to be no different.”
