Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid was a guest on The Jeff Blair Show with Joey Vendetta Monday, where he talked about his involvement in the annual BioSteel Camp in Toronto, Canada’s performance at the Olympics in Rio, the World Cup of Hockey, and the Oilers’ off-season moves and expectations heading into the 2016-17 season.
The 19-year-old superstar offered some words of support for defenceman Adam Larsson, who was acquired from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Taylor Hall.
“Everyone definitely has high hopes this year for our team, and for good reason,” McDavid said. “There’s been some good additions…obviously losing Taylor [Hall] hurts, but Adam is a great defenceman. He’s someone that’s so underrated, you don’t understand how good he is until you’ve actually played against him. I’ve played against him a few times and it’s definitely not very fun.”
While the Oilers shocked the hockey world when they swapped Hall for Larsson, the signing of winger Milan Lucic was much less surprising. Lucic blossomed into one of the game’s top power forwards when Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli was at the helm of the Boston Bruins. McDavid thinks the addition of the 6-foot-3, 233-pound forward should make the Oilers a tougher team to play against.
“Lucic speaks for himself. He’s such a big body, such a presence…probably the toughest guy in the league,” said McDavid. “I expect that teams when they come into Edmonton aren’t going to be looking forward to it as much as they have in the past. We’re going to be a hard team to play against and we’re going to have skill to back it up. I’m definitely excited about it.”
McDavid is set to lead Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto beginning September 17. The North America roster is made up of the best Canadian and American players aged 23 or younger.
McDavid scored 16 goals and totalled 48 points in 45 games with the Oilers in 2015-16.
