It’s been a rough week for Connor McDavid, who had the puck on his stick in the men’s hockey gold medal game in the Winter Olympics against the United States, only to watch it get poked away by American netminder Connor Hellebuyck.
Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils became the hero. McDavid watched on as another team celebrated a championship in front of him.
For the past two years, he has lost in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers, and now experiences international pain with Team Canada. Although he won the exhibition 4 Nations tournament with an overtime winner, those memories have been swept away with the most recent heartbreak.
It’s another punch in the gut for the world’s best hockey player, who is still searching for that pinnacle, title-winning moment that puts him amongst the greatest to ever play the game.
Compared consistently with Canadian teammate Sidney Crosby, McDavid missed out on his 2010 Vancouver Games moment, where he pushed Canada over the line against their archrivals. And unlike Crosby, he doesn’t have multiple Stanley Cup victories to lean back on.
As the NHL break for the Olympics came to an end and McDavid took media questions in preparation for the Oilers’ first game on Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, the last night the superstar forward wanted to think about his legacy.
Unfortunately for McDavid, a member of the sports media didn’t get that memo.
“It’s a hard question,” the reporter emphasized before asking. “Stanley Cups found [Wayne] Gretzky, Crosby, and those guys. And gold medals. You’ve put yourself in those positions, and it’s not finding you. Did you think it would be this hard?”
McDavid, visibly perturbed, did his best to give a quick answer back.
“That’s a nice question, thank you,” he said. “It’s disappointing, there’s no question about it.”
The Oilers captain continued on to say that if one little thing had gone differently, the entire conversation they were having would be changed as well.
Until he wins the big one, though, these types of questions will continue lingering. Be it in hockey or any sport, when you’re an all-time great, fair or not, a championship is not an accessory — it’s a requirement.