If you want an idea about how dark things can get for the Edmonton Oilers, consider that in the span of a week:
1) People were wondering if Connor McDavid would soon be on the verge of demanding a trade.
And
2) Sportsnet’s Mark Spector excitedly tweeted that McDavid attended Sunday’s exit interview while not on crutches.
Yeah, these have been trying times.
But, hey: McDavid was reasonably reassuring (to use his words, “fairly positive”) about the two most disturbing ways his season ended for the Oilers, beyond the team missing the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
McDavid noted that he still needs to get an MRI, so that “fairly positive” update could still be somewhat problematic if there’s soft tissue damage/structural damage/other bad things. That said, McDavid admitted that he feared the worst, saying that “I thought my leg was in two pieces” after Saturday’s terrifying fall:
Number 97 didn’t try to claim that he was happy with the Oilers results, stating that he’d be “a loser” if he wasn’t frustrated with the way things are gone, and that he expects changes in Edmonton’s front office. But McDavid did his part to shoot down trade rumors, stating that he wants to be part of the solution, and that he wouldn’t have signed an eight-year contract with the Oilers if he didn’t want to stay.
Now, sure, “part of the solution” is a phrase that brings back some bad memories of the Taylor Hall trade ... yet it’s better than McDavid giving a non-answer altogether, right?
Also: don’t expect the speedy star to change the way he plays, even after another frightful moment. As you may recall, his other major NHL injury happened because he was tripped up while going all-out.
"They pay me a hundred million dollars. If I stop playing like that(going to the net) I'm going to have to give Daryl his money back. I'm not going to stop playing like that" @cmcdavid97 @EdmontonOilers
— Gene Principe (@GenePrincipe) April 7, 2019
As Ken Hitchcock said after the Oilers received Saturday’s fairly positive update about McDavid, they’re not out of the woods just yet. If McDavid suffered an injury that inhibits his speed over his career, it would be a loss for hockey fans everywhere, not just for the Oilers and their fans. So keep that in mind, and keep your eyes on PHT for updates.
All things considered, it could still be worse, though.
(Oh, and no, McDavid didn’t think Mark Giordano made a dirty play.)
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.
