EDMONTON — Connor McDavid isn’t loving what he’s hearing out there. “The narrative.”
The whispers about McDavid pulling the strings here in Edmonton, the way Mark Messier did when he went to Vancouver?
The talk about the Oilers captain having the say on who fills the front office — and the coaches’ office — from his position at the nucleus of this franchise?
McDavid all but said it on Monday, but allow us to flesh it out on his behalf: With every fibre of his being, he hates this narrative.
Quick story: During the summer before the last Winter Olympics, when we still thought NHLers might go, McDavid and Sidney Crosby were skating together at Gary Roberts’ camp (as I recall). I’d heard that McDavid made sure he spent a day or two on a line with Sid, so when he returned to Edmonton for camp, I asked him about it.
His answer: “I’m not talking about that.”
Why?
Because, even in summer hockey, McDavid didn’t like the notion that he might be influencing the yet-to-be-named Olympic coach on the makeup of his lines. That’s how cognizant he is of any perception that the best player thinks of himself as the most important player in any dressing room.
That he is above his teammates in any way.
You think it is phony? I’m here to tell you, it’s not phony.
It’s who he is.
“I know the narrative out there, but it couldn’t be further from the truth,” McDavid said on Monday, a day that brought another strange twist for a franchise that has hired 11 head coaches since Daryl Katz became the owner in 2008.
He was standing inside the Oilers dressing room, positioned one stall over from his old junior teammate from Erie, free agent pick-up Connor Brown. McDavid was answering media questions about the new Oilers coach, former Erie Otters junior coach Kris Knoblauch.
Who’d been freshly hired, of course, by McDavid’s former agent, new Oilers president Jeff Jackson.
We’re not going to say that it is the elephant in the Edmonton Oilers dressing room today, because we do not know that to be true. But it is the elephant in McDavid’s world right now, and that doesn’t sit well.
The thing that McDavid detests the most when it comes to people’s portrayal of him, is any picture that he is special, should be treated any differently than his teammates, or that he’s manipulating things behind the scenes.
Ironically, that we are at this intersection between perception and reality falls at the feet of the Oilers, a team that twists itself into an organizational pretzel trying to please its captain — in constant fear of the unspeakable, two seasons after this one when his contract expires.
They are terrified here, so someone thought that surrounding McDavid with his agent, his old coach, his former winger might help.
But now it looks like it’s his doing, when it isn’t. And on Monday, McDavid couldn’t make it any clearer that he was blindsided by the latest move, Sunday’s dismissal of head coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson.
“First and foremost, surprised,” said McDavid. “I didn’t see it coming. I loved playing for Woody, I loved playing for Mans — two guys who are unbelievable coaches.”
So he was caught off guard? He was asked a second time.
“I woke up to a text — probably the way a lot of you (media) guys did,” he said. “I know the narrative out there, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Every team consults it leadership group about various things.
When he’s considering a trade or signing, a GM will always ask his leaders, his captain, what he thinks. That’s simply how hockey works, and it works that way here too.
But did McDavid ask for Jackson? Did he ask for Knoblauch?
My sources tell me, he did not.
Knoblauch will coach his first NHL game tonight, with the New York Islanders in town.
He spoke Monday morning about his preference to start games with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on separate lines. About his beliefs on employing superstars on the penalty kill. About accountability throughout the lineup, a coaching tenet that has tripped up coach after coach during McDavid’s time in Edmonton.
All of those things will play out over time, to us who observe, and to McDavid, who made it clear that the two haven’t been daily Facebook friends since those days back in Erie.
“It’s been a really long time,” McDavid began, when asked about his relationship with Knoblauch. “I thought he was great in Junior. I don’t know too much about what he’s been up to — he’s been focused on getting into the NHL as an assistant. He’s young, a young voice that will resonate with a lot of guys in this room.
“I look forward to working with him.”
