EDMONTON – Connor McDavid didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even have to think about it. When asked who he felt should be Team Canada’s captain at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February, the answer was obvious to the Edmonton Oilers superstar.
“It should be Sid,” McDavid said. “It should be Sid for sure. That’s not even a question.
” Advertisement Sid, of course, is Pittsburgh Penguins leader Sidney Crosby . He and McDavid will finally be teammates for the first time in less than four months. Both players were named to Team Canada as part of the initial rosters in June.
McDavid, 27, grew up idolizing Crosby, who’s nearly 10 years older. They first met after a Pittsburgh Penguins game when McDavid was playing junior hockey and travelled from nearby Erie, Pa. McDavid has gone on to succeed Crosby as the next great Canadian hockey star.
McDavid has already won the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times (one more than Crosby) and the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion five times (three more than Crosby). McDavid is just 10 points away from 1,000 in his NHL career. What McDavid doesn’t have is a stacked trophy case full of team hardware.
McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP in June, but the Oilers fell in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers . Crosby, meanwhile, is perhaps the preeminent winner of his era with three Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title. He was the MVP in two of Pittsburgh’s Cup .
