McDavid leans on OHL roots to be his best for Oilers ahead of Stanley Cup Final

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- For Sherry Bassin, the 2024 Stanley Cup Final is personal due to his close relationship with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and coach Kris Knoblauch.

The longtime Ontario Hockey League executive and former owner and general manager of the Erie Otters has known McDavid since he was a youth phenom in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and selected him No. 1 in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection.

“This is heart-and-soul stuff for me,” Bassin told NHL.com from his home in Oshawa, Ontario. “I couldn’t be happier for Connor, he’s like family to me. I’m excited for all those guys, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Kris Knoblauch, they are all friends of mine. This is history; it’s like the Memorial Cups that we won, you never forget them.”

Bassin, 84, said he will be hanging on every shot, save and hit during the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final between the Oilers and Florida Panthers starting with Game 1 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

McDavid spent three seasons in Erie before selected by Edmonton No. 1 in the 2015 NHL Draft. A Richmond Hill, Ontario, native, McDavid is in his ninth NHL season and is playing in his first Stanley Cup Final.

“I didn’t draft him -- my dog Newman did,” Bassin said. “He was 14 years old, and my scouts said to me you have to watch this guy play, and my dog Newman went everywhere with me.

“Newman and I were watching his game and at the end of the second period one of my scouts asked me what I thought? I told him my dog Newman pulled on my leash after two shifts and said, ‘We’ve seen enough, it’s cold in here, let’s get out of here.’ I tell everybody my dog Newman drafted him. It was that obvious.”

McDavid was granted special player status by OHL in 2012 to play for Bassin in Erie as a 15-year-old. He was the third player at the time given permission to play in the major junior league as an underaged player, following John Tavares (2005) and Aaron Ekblad (2011).

During his time in Erie, Bassin became close with McDavid and his family and realized early on there was something special about him.

“The real thing is, everybody talks about the will to win, everybody has a will to win, but the issue is the will to prepare to win, that’s the key and he has such a will to prepare,” Bassin said. “Ever since I’ve known him, his will to prepare is greater than anybody else. He won’t accept not being the best he can be, because of his abilities he has expectations of himself beyond reason.”

Despite being the youngest player in the OHL, McDavid had an exceptional rookie season in Erie in 2012-13 with 66 points (25 goals, 41 assists) in 63 games. He had 99 points (28 goals, 71 assists) in 58 games in his second season and 120 (44 goals, 76 assists) in 47 games in his final season in Erie.

“(Bassin) for sure helped me get where I am, he showed a lot of belief in me and showed a lot of care,” McDavid said. “When you’re 15 years old moving to a different country to live with different people, you’re putting your trust into a lot of different people and Sherry was definitely one of those people and he definitely means a lot to me.”

Just like he did with Edmonton, McDavid joined a struggling team in Erie and helped make them championship contenders.

“I think that he’s had that pro commitment since I’ve known him, since he was 14,” Brown said, a teammate of McDavid’s with both Edmonton and Erie. “It’s not an accident and that’s what you kind of start to understand when you’re a pro hockey player for a long time. You’re around all these top guys and the top guys you realize it’s not an accident. There is a lot of God-given abilities there, but it’s also the dedication and the consistency to get better and better over years and years and that is the kind of player we’re seeing now.”

Brown was Erie’s captain in 2013-14 and had a standout season playing on a line with McDavid, with 128 points (45 goals, 83 assists) in 68 games. Brown signed a one-year contract with Edmonton on July 1 reuniting with his former junior teammate.

“For me, you could tell right away, he loved the game, and he did everything at a higher pace than everyone else,” Brown said. “It’s the same thing he does now: Move his feet at a higher pace, stick-handles at a higher pace, thinks at a higher pace, and on top of that, at a young age, he was working out and doing everything to be the best that he can be.

“It’s like the Kobe Bryants and the McDavids of the world, everyone when the lights are on, they get to see the finished product, but they don’t see the journey that’s led them there. It’s not an accident.”

Bassin was in awe of McDavid’s work ethic in Erie. He recalls visiting McDavid’s home in the offseason and was greeted by the future NHL star, who was drenched in sweat after a lengthy workout, and then proceeded to go work on developing a better shot.

“The fact that we’re all in awe of him is not what drives him, what drives him is that he wants to be the best that he can be,” Bassin said. “He loves the game so much and he has this ability and wants to be the best that’s the inner drive that he has. He’s not happy with an ordinary performance of himself.”

Bassin said McDavid’s father Brian and mother Kelly are responsible for installing a strong worth ethic in their sons, Connor and his older brother Cameron.

“I think it’s a combination of the environment he’s a product of, his parents, the values his parents have instilled,” Bassin said. “But they tell me when he was kid, he was like this. He wasn’t satisfied unless he performed at a high level; it was part of his makeup.”

McDavid, 27, has won the Hart Trophy three times as the NHL’s most valuable player (2017, 2021, 2023), the Ted Lindsay award four times as the most outstanding player as voted by his peers (2017, 2018, 2021, 2023), the Art Ross Trophy as the League’s leading scorer five times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023) and the Rocket Richard Trophy as the top goal-scorer (2023), but the ultimate prize in the Stanley Cup still awaits.

According to Knoblauch, who is coaching McDavid in Edmonton after working with him in Erie, all of the work has led to this moment.

“Connor was one of the hardest working guys every day at practice, doesn’t ever take a shift off, doesn’t ever take a drill off, anything,” Knoblauch said. “Connor strives on being the best and he also knows that others want to catch him and want to pass him. He puts in his time and works at his game and works in the gym; any little edge he can get, he’ll work on it.

“He’s always been like that, it’s not something that he decided to turn on now in the NHL. The reason he’s got to where he’s gotten is because he’s always been driven like that.”