McDavid talks legacy, goals in Part 1 of exclusive Q&A with NHL.com

Connor McDavid is putting together a season for the ages. The Edmonton Oilers center has 151 points (64 goals, 87 assists) in 80 games, the most in the NHL since Mario Lemieux had 161 in 1995-96 for the Pittsburgh Penguins. With his remarkable regular season coming to an end and the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting April 17, the generational talent and face of the NHL sat down with NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger in Edmonton recently and opened up about all things Connor McDavid.
In Part 1 of NHL.com's three-part exclusive 1-on-1 with McDavid, we look at McDavid the player and discuss his developing legacy, including his role on the ice as difference-maker and teammate, how he pinches himself sometimes while living his childhood dream and how he wows even himself on the ice at times.

EDMONTON --What is the legacy Connor McDavid wants to leave behind when his playing days are over?
The Edmonton Oilers captain lets out a good-natured chuckle when he hears the question. Here he is, sitting in the empty Oilers dressing room, having not even reached his prime yet at age 26, and he's already being mentioned in the same breath as some of the all-time greats like
Bobby Orr
,
Mario Lemieux
and
Wayne Gretzky
, whose iconic statue stands majestically outside these walls in front of Rogers Place.
Make no mistake, McDavid strives to be among those legends one day, his name part of hockey immortality like theirs. Only that day has not arrived yet, he says. Not even close.
"Ultimately I want my name to be remembered in the history books of hockey and to be up there with the greatest of all time," McDavid told NHL.com. "You know, with the guys like 'Gretz' and Mario and Bobby and there's others that I'm missing out on. But for sure, that's what I want."
In order for that to happen, he says, there needs to be team success. In his opinion, putting eye-popping numbers on your statistical resume doesn't make you one of the greats.
[Part 2: Connor McDavid, the emerging face -- and voice -- of the sport]
"I think the biggest compliment in this game is to be known as a winner, right?" he said. "You know, you look at Sidney Crosby, you look at Jonathan Toews, Gretz, all these guys, I mean, they're winners."
Gretzky helped the Oilers win the Stanley Cup four times, Crosby has done it three times with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Toews has won three championships with the Chicago Blackhawks.
"You've got to be a winner to be up there with the best of the best," McDavid said, "and ultimately, like I said, that's where I want to be."

The deepest McDavid's Oilers have gone in the postseason was to the Western Conference Final a year ago, when they were swept in four games by the eventual Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.
This season seems to be his best shot at a title to date. The West is wide open, and this edition of the Oilers is the best team he's been on since being selected No. 1 by Edmonton in the 2015 NHL Draft. They enter their game at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNW, ESPN+, SN NOW) on a 12-game point streak (11-0-1). The Oilers (47-23-9) are one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division and the No. 1 seed in the conference.
Can they go all the way?
"We have all the tools," he said. "It's up to us."
Here is Part 1 of our Q&A with McDavid:
You usually deflect talk of any kind of personal goals or stats in favor of the team, which is one of many reasons your teammates say make you the consummate captain. Having said that, hearing you talk about wanting to be among the game's greats one day is very insightful and speaks to what drives you. As such, do you hear the noise coming from the outside about how elite you are? Are you aware that some so-called experts and fans already say you belong on hockey's Mount Rushmore alongside Orr, Gretzky and Lemieux? Even former NHL goalie Curtis Joseph, a family friend and one of your mentors growing up, said you're on your way to joining them there.
"(Laughs) Yeah, I hear that stuff. I just normally don't talk about it. But I'm not naive. I'm not naive to what's being said. I'm not naive to where I sit in the history of the game and all that. It's something I'm aware of. But that's not what I'm after right now at this point in time. Goals, points, all that stuff is fine, but what's really important is that we're after something much bigger than any one person or any one award or anything like that."

Still, what keeps you grounded when there's so much praise being heaped on you, like this Mount Rushmore stuff, especially during this historic season? You admit you hear a lot of it.
"For sure. And you know, a lot of the really, really, really nice things that are said about me, I for sure have to kind of limit what I see and take in just as much as the really, really bad things that are said. You don't want to ride the roller coaster of the highs and lows throughout the course of a year or throughout the course of a career. I really feel that those things aren't good for you. With that being said, when people are saying really nice things, it does mean a lot. But for me it's more important to stay focused on what I have to do because the product you see on the ice is a byproduct of a lot of work that goes into it. And when that starts to fade away, then, you know, the product on the ice is going to start to fade. So to me, that's more important."
Could you have ever imagined during your childhood days north of Toronto that your name would be mentioned in the same sentence with Gretzky, Lemieux and other greats?
"When I get some time to myself to reflect every now and then, you know, it's like, well, I have to pinch myself. For sure. Because I get to live my dream and get to do it at a very high level and be linked with some of the greatest players to ever play this sport. And obviously, I love the sport. So to be a part of the history of it would really mean a lot to me. Of course."
For the hockey fan inside of all of us, you are a human highlight reel. But do you ever wow yourself? Does Connor McDavid ever impress himself with some of the things Connor McDavid does?
"Yeah. Sometimes every now and then. I think of the New York goal. I think the expression on my face after that goal kind of explained that."

You were pretty pumped up after going through the entire New York Rangers team to score. For the record, that was Nov. 6, 2021, in Edmonton, a moment you obviously haven't forgotten … and probably never will.
"There's moments like that. Sometimes, every now and then, there's things on the ice you do where you say, 'Oh, that was pretty good,' something like that (laughs)."
You've become known as much for your relentless work ethic as you are for your point totals. Sherwood Bassin, your longtime friend and owner/general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Erie Otters when you played for them (2012-15), tells a great story of your first training camp there when he brought former Otter Ryan O'Reilly in to help you with face-offs. After 30 minutes of working with you, O'Reilly told Bassin, "This kid's amazing. He's going to be teaching me stuff in no time." Sure enough, you keep working on improving your face-offs to this day. And your shot. Last offseason, teammate Leon Draisaitl said you could score 60 goals this season even though your previous NHL high was 44. You kept working on your shot, and sure enough, you cracked 60. So the question is: Is there anything Connor McDavid can't do on the ice? What part of your game, if any, would you like to improve?
"I feel really good about things offensively. For me, it's always going to be about defending, face-offs, these kinds of things that round out a player's game. For me I really feel like I've made really, really good strides in that regard. I think back to my first couple of years and the defensive side of things for sure was a little bit loose. I feel better about where things are today and will continue to work on it and focus on that."
You and Draisaitl have a special connection on the ice and are good friends off it. You've been teammates in Edmonton since you entered the NHL in 2015 and together you've both been through the postseason frustrations of years past. How much does it help that you went through that adversity together and have grown from it?
"We've certainly been through it all together. We've been through kind of a handful, or a couple of runs, that are obviously really fun. And we've also been through years where, you know, you don't make the playoffs or have early playoff disappointment. So I feel like it's a thing that a lot of teams go through. We're going through it, obviously, but to do it with a player like Leon and somebody like Leon who is a close friend, it'll just make it that much more special when the ultimate team success does happen."

Leon has scored 50-plus goals three times and cracked the 100-point barrier four times. Do you think he gets the respect he deserves around the League and from observers of the game? Do you buy into the claims that he's overshadowed by you when it comes to things like votes for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player?
"I mean, when you're talking about the Hart, I'm not sure why two players playing together kind of overshadows [anyone]. I think what Leon does each and every single year is amazing. Who else scores 50 goals and 100 points pretty much every year they play in the League? It's pretty special. And I don't think that he gets enough credit to be honest. You know, he makes me so much better. He makes the guys around him so much better. He's a special player."