EDMONTON — There were the usual handful of points, three assists in a 6-3 victory, production that seems to be de rigueur for Connor McDavid against junior or, in this case, university competition. But we know McDavid will shine against his peers, even if the peers on the University of Alberta Golden Bears were four and five years older than him.
But what you have to see to believe is his foot speed.
“His skating,” marvelled linemate Cole Sanford, who is here on an Amateur Try Out and was installed on McDavid’s wing Wednesday night, where he collected a goal and an assist. “The way he makes plays at high speeds, in and out of traffic. He doesn’t slow down. He glides out there faster than most guys can skate.”
In his Rexall Place debut, it was a chance to see McDavid on NHL ice, if not yet against NHLers. Still 14,434 fans came for a look, and for a fan base that has only seen him on television, to watch live in search of other nuggets in his game.
A spin-around, powerplay pass from behind the goal that would light the lamp. An overhead lob pulled out of the air to rescue what was left of a breakaway chance, hand-eye co-ordination that is clearly at an NHL level. Some responsible defensive work; a deft deflection of a pass to the far sideboards that would have sprung a winger in full flight had that player had the slightest clue he should be expecting the puck.
But it was speed through the neutral zone that really drove home what makes McDavid different than all the other No. 1 overall picks who have made their way through this arena. Speed the likes of which this old building hasn’t seen since Mike Modano was ripping up the ice for Dallas in the mid-90s.
“I felt a little better out there, in terms of my legs,” said McDavid after a three-assist evening. “It was pretty special to play here for the first time. I can’t wait to get (training camp) going.”
McDavid’s teammates have now spent a few days around him, and the level of reverence from a group that will mostly find themselves at levels lower than the NHL is becoming palpable.
“I don’t know if there is one part of his game that isn’t ‘Wow,’” said drafted defenceman Joey LaLeggia, who also had a goal and an assist. “The speed, the skill, the intelligence and the tenacity in his game… He wants to win, to win battles, to be on the ice. Even sitting out those two (Rookie Tournament) games last weekend in Penticton, it’s the coach’s decision, but he wasn’t happy about it because he’s such a competitive kid.”
On this night, McDavid was perhaps not even the best player on the ice. Big Leon Draisaitl was dealing passes all night long, collecting a goal and three assists in a silky performance. It’s been a long, long time since Edmonton could enter a game like this and have a player outshine the latest No. 1 overall selection.
Indeed, the future that Draisaitl and McDavid have in this town intrigues, if Draisaitl’s game continues to grow. He could one day be a truly elite passer, the next Joe Thornton, German engineering of course.
“For a player in my position, those are my favourite guys to play with,” said LaLeggia, a smaller, puck-moving defenceman out of Denver University. “He’s so big, so skilled, so dangerous, all five guys on the other team have to be aware of him. If he has the ability to pull up and hit the guy coming in late, he’s a dream for a defenceman like me.”
A crowd of 14,434 came to Rexall Place in a game that has for the past 24 years been played at Clare Drake Arena on the U of A campus, in front of about 3,000. That’s the McDavid Effect, a wind that also blew through the Young Stars Rookie Tournament in Penticton, where the Oilers’ opening two games were sold out long before the teams even arrived in the Okanagan.
They left happy after the 6-3 win, though after a quarter century of this game the Golden Bears still hold the edge, 13 wins to 12. They won’t see McDavid again next year, or Draisaitl either, much to the Canadian champion Golden Bears’ relief.
“I’m just happy that, hopefully one day, I can get the opportunity to play with (McDavid) instead of against him,” said LaLeggia.