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Stanley Cup Final
Game 1 matchup of
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The 2024 Stanley Cup Final has the potential to be magical, and it’s largely because of Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.
McDavid is the greatest player of his era. He’s at or near the zenith of his powers, and in his ninth season, he’s finally competing for his first NHL championship.
The Florida Panthers are the only thing left between him and the Stanley Cup.
“This year you’ve got the best player in the game, a player that can do things that other people can’t, and you have a series that I don’t think anybody thinks is a short series,” ESPN analyst and former NHLer Ray Ferraro said. “It’s really important and really cool that Connor gets to play in his first final.”
McDavid going for his first title should have the same intrigue as LeBron James’ first appearance in the NBA Finals. McDavid is hockey’s LeBron in terms of making good on his phenom potential.
Yet for all of McDavid’s impressive resume and impeccable skills, it doesn’t seem to stack up. In fact, McDavid’s first trip to the final might not even compare in the United States to Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby reaching that stage.
“With Gretzky, you had a smaller league and the aftermath of the World Hockey Association — and then the merger. With Sidney Crosby, he played for a franchise that was either No. 1 or No. 2 in terms of regional television audiences in the United States on an annual basis,” said Tom Mayenknecht, a sports business commentator and host of the Sports Market. “Then there was the almost Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa-type bouncing back from the lost season. Crosby was part of that context (with Alex Ovechkin). He was a big hope to get people past that.
“And LeBron James was basketball. He had high-school hype.”
Mayenknecht said McDavid is still the most recognizable player across the NHL.
Hardcore hockey fans will be watching him in the Stanley Cup Final, and the McDavid narrative should be enough to interest casual fans.
Will it, though?
As McDavid prepares to play for the championship, viewers who rarely watch hockey need to understand what makes him so special.
“For the casual hockey fan clicking around on this Saturday night or during the series, we have to do a good job of making sure we introduce Connor McDavid … and not just assume that everybody knows everything there is to know about Connor McDavid,” ESPN senior vice president of production and remote events Mark Gross said.
Aside from perhaps Crosby, McDavid was the most-hyped prospect in the sport since Eric Lindros. Though Lindros’ brute strength made him a man playing amongst boys, McDavid’s sublime talent put him several cuts above his junior hockey peers.
McDavid was touted as one of the most graceful and fastest skaters ever before he even entered the NHL.
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There was never a question he’d be the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft. Teams tanked, and tanked hard, to secure the best odds to land him.
When the Oilers won the draft lottery, moving up two spots to leapfrog Buffalo and Arizona, then-Sabres GM Tim Murray couldn’t hide his disappointment that he missed out on the chance to select McDavid.
Murray’s emotions have turned out to be justified. McDavid won the scoring title and league MVP in his second season. He’s won five Art Ross and three Hart trophies in his nine seasons. He’s already one of the greatest players ever — and he’s backed it up in the postseason.
His 1.58 playoff points per game over his career is the best production rate of anyone not named Gretzky or Mario Lemieux — whose best years were in hockey’s most offensive era. The goal he scored in the clinching game of the Western Conference final, where he made one of the NHL’s best defensemen, Miro Heiskanen, look foolish, was a thing of beauty.
“That should be on everywhere there’s an NHL highlight,” Ferraro said. “In the NHL, there is one player that can score that goal. There’s one player. That’s it. It’s special.”
McDavid is like a god in Edmonton — one of his nicknames is McJesus — and he’s one of the most well-known people in Canada.
That applies in the United States, too, to some extent.
“Any hockey fan in the U.S. who follows hockey closely knows who Connor McDavid is already,” Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said. “I’ve had the chance to sit at MSG or in Tampa or other places, and you watch the crowd. They all get on the edge of their seat when he touches the puck just like they do in Edmonton.”
But those attending games are mostly hockey fans and usually hardcore ones at that. McDavid’s appeal in the United States beyond those invested in the sport isn’t remotely the same.
That McDavid plays in Edmonton, one of the smallest markets and the most-northern-based team in North American pro sports, doesn’t help.
“There’s no question that if he was playing in an American market that he’d be an even bigger name among American hockey fans and American sports fans,” Mayenknecht said.
The NFL and NBA can overcome the small-market issue. Some of football’s biggest stars over the years, such as Brett Favre, Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes, spent their primes in small markets but were the most marketable and recognizable players among casual fans. LeBron got his start and eventually won an NBA championship in Cleveland, and that didn’t hurt his status one bit.
“The National Hockey League still has a lot of work to do, in partnership with the PA (players’ association) and with its broadcast rightsholders,” Mayenknecht said. “There’s a lot more that can be done in terms of individual player marketing. But the league is better now than it was 30 years ago … but it’s still fourth among the big four (leagues).”