Connor McDavid has not done quite enough to earn a parade through downtown Edmonton, but he deserves at the very least a road named after him for putting the team first with his last contract extension. He deserves, and rightfully receives, adoration from Edmonton Oilers fans throughout the city and beyond, who treat him like he is No. 1 even when he is not winning one of his six Art Ross trophies for leading the NHL in scoring.
Even if you do not think he is the best player in the world, the generational talent is, hands down, the most skilled and talented player on his team. He is motivated by one thing: winning. It is obviously not money, as evidenced by the cap-friendly $12.5-million salary he pulls annually, which could easily be $20 million on the open market. There is not a hockey club in existence that would not put him on their team if the miraculous opportunity arose, and there is not a hockey fan anywhere who would be unhappy to have him.
You cannot say enough about all that he is and what he offers. But there is one thing he is not and never should have been, and that is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers hockey club. In fact, of the 15 captains in franchise history, he might be the worst choice of them all. Not that it is his fault. He did not come out and ask for it. As with most things that have gone wrong with the Oilers during the Daryl Katz era of ownership, management is to blame.
They were gifted the greatest draft pick since Sidney Crosby, and what did they do? They wanted him so badly to be the second coming of Wayne Gretzky that they waited one whole season before adorning McDavid with the captain's C. Gretzky had to wait five years. Yes, it showed they had full faith in who McDavid is and what he was going to become, putting their backing behind the youngest captain in NHL history at 19 years, 266 days, a record he continues to hold to this day.
That was back in 2016-17, in a move that filled a void left behind by the departure of his predecessor, Andrew Ference, following the 2014-15 season. Ference had just turned 36 and missed all but six games to season-ending hip surgery. While he would retire that off-season, in deference to Ference, his name appeared on the Oilers' long-term injured list until his contract expired at the end of the 2015-16 season, which was McDavid's rookie year. But you cannot exactly name a rookie the team captain. Not even when it is the greatest rookie the league has seen in a decade. That would reek of desperation.
So, the C went absent for one season. And I will argue it has been missing ever since. The essence of leadership the letter entails, anyway. Sure, McDavid had no doubt been captain of his minor hockey teams during his rapid rise to stardom in the junior ranks, where he served as alternate captain of the Toronto Marlboros midget triple-A squad and became captain of the Erie Otters in his final year in the Ontario Hockey League. But being a captain in the NHL is a different beast altogether.
McDavid leads by example on the ice, but a captain must also be a vocal presence in the locker room, a mediator between players and coaches, and a figure who can handle the media spotlight with poise. McDavid's quiet, introspective nature may not lend itself to those duties. The Oilers have struggled with consistency and playoff success during his tenure, and while McDavid's individual brilliance is undeniable, the team's shortcomings often fall on his shoulders as captain.
Management's rush to anoint him captain may have been a disservice to both McDavid and the team. By placing such immense pressure on a teenager, they may have inadvertently hindered his ability to develop as a leader organically. The Oilers would have been better served by letting McDavid mature into the role over several seasons, as was done with Gretzky and other franchise legends.
