The rebuild in Edmonton has become the ultimate cautionary tale, awash with systemic losing and an abject lack of progress. It has scared Western Canadian bedfellows in Calgary and Vancouver away from travelling down the same, all-out tear down road that Edmonton stumbled on to seemingly a decade ago.
Today, the City of Champions (cough) is mourning the temporary loss of its latest No. 1 overall draft pick, the engaging and fabulously talented Connor McDavid. And it is with genuine sadness that the hockey world learned this prodigy would miss “months” of time, according to Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli.
Truly, this is hockey’s loss as much as it is Edmonton’s. How many people across North America looked at their game tickets this season and thought, “Usually I give the Edmonton game away, but maybe…?”
According to blood ‘n’ guts veteran Matt Hendricks, McDavid is as good a person as he is a player, which makes this bit of bad luck even more misdirected.
“Every player, including myself, has been saying it since he came in here: What a great person,” Hendricks marvelled. “He’s easy to talk to, he wants to learn, he doesn’t have a big head on his shoulders… Then he starts playing as well as he has been, and you just want to start following him. He’s become a leader just by the way he’s playing.”
Hendricks is a genuine guy, who speaks as honestly as he plays. So we asked him:
In a season where new coach Todd McLellan has stressed never giving in when times get tough — not always folding your cards so soon — is there a stout enough team here in Edmonton to handle this loss? Or are they mentally walking away from the poker table already, shirtless and busted?
“Connor is a huge piece of our puzzle here in Edmonton. Does this injury really hurt our team right now? Of course it does,” Hendricks began. “(But) it certainly doesn’t end our season. Guys that have smaller pieces need to widen their role now. I believe we have the team in there to do it.”
And so we get to the crux of what faces the Oilers.
Surely, after this many years of drafting No. 1 — as well as 31st, 61st, etc. — this franchise can find a way to win some hockey games sans the latest 18-year-old who has ridden in on his golden placard to save the day.
Can it not?
Is it not time for Nail Yakupov, who after more than 200 NHL games has finally begun to fulfill the promise once seen in him, to pull the rope on his own? Or McDavid’s other winger, Benoit Pouliot, who signed a five-year, $20 million deal in Edmonton. With that kind of drag on the team’s salary cap, can Pouliot be reliant on an 18-year-old with 13 games under his belt to be productive?
Taylor Hall is the third leading scorer in the NHL right now. He is also the third most productive left-winger in the game over the past three seasons (behind Alex Ovechkin and Jamie Benn). After all these years of building, is there not a couple more leaders who can step up and provide some leadership in the face of adversity?
McLellan think his new team isn’t the same as the one his old team — the San Jose Sharks — used to beat for fun.
“Losing Jordan Eberle (since the pre-season)? That’s a big hit for our team. (Losing) Justin Schultz? A big hit for our team. We’ve been able to overcome them,” began McLellan. “Have we won enough? No. But the effort, the commitment level to each other has been very strong.
“We came back in the third period (Tuesday against Philadelphia) for a win. A lot of resiliency there, and the ability to hold their hand (of cards) a lot longer. Did it against Montreal. Did it in Minnesota. Did it against Los Angeles,” he said, listing off third-period comebacks. “We’re not always getting the results we want, but the effort and commitment to holding your hand a lot longer is there.”
This franchise hasn’t played a meaningful game after January 1 in years. Last season, the Oilers were completely eliminated and totally irrelevant by Nov. 15.
After a painful 0-4 start to the season, Edmonton has now won five of nine and on Wednesday found itself firmly in the early race for the third (and almost certainly) last playoff spot in the weak Pacific Division.
Already, McDavid has given this franchise some much-needed relevancy and respect. Surely the group that has been assembled during this protracted “rebuild” can, in return, provide McDavid some meaningful games to play in when he returns, likely some time in February.
“I’ve heard about meaningful games in February, March and April,” since coming to Edmonton, McLellan said. “For our group … every game is a meaningful game right now. We’ve got to get better as a team. If we do that, we can insert Connor back into the lineup and be in the thick of it.”
Sounds easy, right?
So why has it been so hard here in Edmonton?
