McDavid, Oilers aim to push hockey forward on larger scale in Stanley Cup quest

Oilers C Connor McDavid is the NHL’s “brightest star,” and his team advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in three years is a “very good thing for the sport,” according to Jeff Gordon of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. McDavid will “get another chance to put his franchise on his back” while trying to win the Stanley Cup and “continuing to sell the sport” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/21). THE HOCKEY NEWS’ Michael Traikos noted McDavid is in his ninth season in the NHL and he “hasn't even reached the final yet." Fans of the sport "should want for it to happen.” Many have been calling McDavid “one of the greatest players of all time” ever since he arrived in the NHL, but if he wants to "stand shoulder to shoulder with Gretzky, Orr, Howe and Crosby, then McDavid needs to start winning -- and winning more than once.” One does not "need to be an Oilers fan to appreciate McDavid's greatness.” But hockey fans “should appreciate what he's meant to the sport -- and how he can lift it to an even greater height.” McDavid is the “face of the league” and has the “rare ability to pull in casual sports fans who don't normally pay attention to hockey.” McDavid "needs to win" as “his legacy -- and the legacy of the sport -- depends on it” (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 5/21). SPORTSNET.ca’s Iain MacIntyre wrote the Oilers are “playing for their stars’ legacy” instead of the “mere respect and recognition” (SPORTSNET.ca, 5/21).

O CANADA : In Seattle, Geoff Baker noted the Oilers will try to become the "first Canadian-based team to win the Cup since Montreal did it 31 years ago." But hockey has “changed plenty since” the Canadiens won the Cup in 1993, and “no major professional North American league has felt the impact of globalization quite like the NHL.” In the mid-1970s, the NHL was "comprised of roughly 95% Canadian players," but by the last decade, Canadians “comprised only half of all NHL players.” This season, they formed just 41.7%. So many additional players “helped the NHL expand to 32 teams,” but with only seven teams from Canada, Stanley Cup odds “take a hit.” Since Montreal’s win in 1993, Canadian teams have reached the final six more times -- a once-every-five-years rate “roughly mirroring their current seven-of-32 composition within the league.” Had the Canucks beaten the Oilers on Monday, “Canada’s hope” would now be a Canucks team that “dressed only two Canadian-born players on its Game 7 20-man roster.” The Oilers team now facing the Stars has a “whopping 16 Canadians among their 20 players” ( SEATTLE TIMES, 5/21 ).

THE NORTH’S TEAM? The CP noted the Oilers are the last Canadian team left in the NHL playoffs and “have the most Canadians on their roster of any remaining team.” But will they be "able to overcome regional loyalties and garner support from Canadians across the country?” Geography is a “major hurdle” for the Oilers to “gain support from across the country.” Because Canadian culture “tends to run north-south rather than east-west,” many Canadians have “more in common with their closest American neighbours.” Time zones “present another hurdle” for the Oilers. For hockey fans in the Newfoundland, Atlantic and Eastern time zones, that could mean the games “end prohibitively late” (CP, 5/22).