McDavid-MacKinnon Western Final matchup discussed by Oilers GM in Q&A
'Greatest players of their era' set to meet in Edmonton-Colorado series
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But can you imagine the impact the two elite centers could have if they were teammates instead of foes? Oilers general manager Ken Holland certainly does.
"When we met as a staff of the Canadian Olympic team last September in Banff, both players were at the top of our list of guys who would represent us at the (2022) Beijing Olympics," Holland said this week. "We ended up understandably not going due to COVID concerns. But we were certainly daydreaming at the time of the potential combinations and impact those two influential guys could have."
Holland was part of Canada's management team led by general manager Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues and coach Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"MacKinnon has had an outstanding season and outstanding career, so it was a no-brainer for us," he said of the Avalanche center. "It would have been fun to be on his side.
"But now the goal for us with the Oilers is to find a way to stop him."
Easier said than done.
RELATED: [Complete Oilers vs. Avalanche series coverage]
MacKinnon has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games this season. His electrifying, end-to-end goal in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round against the St. Louis Blues to give him a hat trick is one of the highlight-reel clips of the 2022 postseason.
McDavid has had plenty of those moments himself.
He is tied with teammate Leon Draisaitl for first in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists) and scored the overtime series winner in Edmonton's 5-4 victory against the Calgary Flames in the Western Conference Second Round on Thursday.
Holland said it makes for a juicy head-to-head matchup between two of the sport's marquee players when the Avalanche and Oilers face off beginning with Game 1 at Colorado on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).
In a wide-ranging interview with NHL.com, he discussed what makes both players so special, how they are different, and how McDavid has taken his game to another level in this postseason.
First off, you mentioned how the Canada hierarchy had been excited at the potential impact McDavid and MacKinnon might have had as teammates. Were there any discussions of having them play on the same line?
"Ultimately that was going to be Jon Cooper's decision. But it's a pretty intriguing thought, isn't it? Certainly, we talked about lots of possibilities in building the team. That included 'Do they play together?' But yeah, like I mentioned earlier, there was some daydreaming done about what it might look like."
Very understandable, especially when you consider the elite talent of both players. Their stats back it up. Since 2017-18, McDavid ranks first in NHL scoring with 549 points (193 goals, 356 assists in 360 games); MacKinnon is third with 442 points (167 goals, 275 assists in 338 games). Break down for us what makes them so lethal on the ice.
"Obviously Connor and Nathan are two of the players that can do things at such a high level. Not only can they play at high speed, they can think at high speed. That end-to-end goal MacKinnon scored against St. Louis, when you saw him rounding the net and his legs are going and he's picking up speed, I'm sure if you're on the ice you're backpedaling. Same thing with Connor. I'm sure you're backpedaling when those players bring it through the neutral zone at high tempo and do things at high tempo. If you're a defenseman you're backpedaling as fast as you possibly can because if you attempt to stand up against them they'll fly by you."
The hockey world has been privileged to witness the era of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, two generational players of their time. Are McDavid and MacKinnon at least on similar paths?
"They're two of the greatest players of this age. How do you define an era? Ten, 15 years? I mean, they're going to be the greatest players of their era, if not two of them. There are a couple of other guys that come into the conversation. And then anytime the careers of great players are over you try to figure out where they fit in the grand scheme of the entire League. I think they're two of the best players, if not the two best, of their era. Then you've got to watch both their individual accomplishments and team accomplishments. Obviously, all those accomplishments add to your resume. They're two of the greatest talents of their era and you can have the conversation of where they fit in in the history of the game."
You know Connor as well as anyone. He seems like he's on a mission this spring. How has he been able to bring his game to the next level when he'd already set the bar so high?
"I would say to you over the last three years, you know, and certainly in this playoff, he's worked harder at every aspect of his game. He always could obviously put points on the board. He won scoring races. So, I would say to you, he's got an incredible commitment now to defensive play. First shift in Game 7 of the opening round against Los Angeles, he runs over one of their players. He sets the tone. He's going to be really physical. I think there's been a few games he's led our team in hits. He's backchecking, he's playing physical. And I think when he's got the puck, he's very focused on driving to the net. He's obviously got incredible hockey sense and hands and skills. I just think that he's laser focused on being the very best that he can be every night. I think he always was, but I think part of it too is that you're different at 25 than you were at 21. He's grown up. He's got experiences to fall back on, both positive and negative, that you learn from. Players evolve and grow into becoming better players, and that's what he's done. He was one of the game's greatest players when he was 19 or 20. But he's got experience now, emotionally and physically and experience-wise."
Prior to this season, he'd been part of one playoff series win. This season he's been part of two. With hockey being such a team game, how has Connor been able to overcome the frustration of past playoff shortcomings?
"You're right, individual talent doesn't always translate into team success in the playoffs. I think most teams have to go through this. Look at Tampa Bay. When I was GM in Detroit, they beat us in seven games in 2015. They had a heck of a team and went all the way to the Final, where they lost to Chicago. They got swept by Columbus in 2019. And they learned from those experiences. It's no coincidence they rebounded to win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. We went through that in Detroit early on. So it's hard to come into this league as a teenager like he did. The expectations are you're supposed to have individual accomplishments and team accomplishments right away, and it doesn't always work that way. It's been hard not only for Connor, but for our team. I think it's important if you're on a team and you only make the playoffs twice in 10 years, it's harder to have those experiences than teams that make the playoffs eight, nine years out of 10. The more postseason experiences you've had, the more aware you are of the challenges that await and how you have to handle them. He's showing he's learned how to handle them. Our whole team has."
