Zizing 'Em Up: McDavid needs help for Oilers to have success, Coffey says

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday during the season, he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."

TORONTO --According to the stat sheet, it would appear that Connor McDavid's return home was a successful one with a three-point performance (one goal, two assists), three shots on goal and even three hits delivered Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Edmonton Oilers center, the scoreboard suggested otherwise.
Despite McDavid's best efforts, a rash of brutal Oilers turnovers helped result in five consecutive Toronto Maple Leafs goals, resulting in a 7-4 loss for the visitors at Scotiabank Arena.
For Paul Coffey, it was yet another example of how even the best player in the sport needs help. The Hall of Fame defenseman, who is a consultant for the Oilers, won three Stanley Cup championships with Edmonton (1984, 1985, 1987) on a juggernaut that included future Hall of Famers like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson, so he knows that even a generational talent like McDavid can't do it alone.
"Connor had a great game and played well," Coffey said in the hallway outside the Edmonton dressing room after the loss. "Nobody likes to win more than Connor, and nobody hates to lose more than Connor, so it's a Catch-22 for that poor kid.
"Here's the thing. It's not basketball. Two or three players can't do it."
There's the rub.
Sure, the Oilers have McDavid, who leads the NHL with 55 goals, 72 assists and 127 points, and Leon Draisaitl, who is second in the NHL with 98 points (42 goals, 56 assists), but if Edmonton is going to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it will need complete efforts like its 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins Thursday, when Draisaitl had one point (an assist) and McDavid zero.
It's the same situation for the Maple Leafs. Relying on one of their stars isn't enough to carry the team during the postseason. Get cumulative efforts from their top players as a group, as they did in the victory Saturday, however, and the narrative changes in a positive way.
Indeed, the stars were out in Toronto for this one.
To that end, the Maple Leafs' so-called "big four" forwards -- Mitchell Marner (one goal, three assists), John Tavares (one goal, two assists), Auston Matthews (one goal, one assist) and William Nylander (one goal, one assist) -- combined for 11 points. Forward Noel Acciari, acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 17, had two goals.
That's called winning by committee. And it's a recipe the Oilers and Maple Leafs will have to subscribe to if they want to keep playing deep into the spring.
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe had Matthews match up against McDavid, and it proved to be a physical battle at times. Early in the second period, the two players exchanged shots and were sent to the penalty box, each with an unsportsmanlike minor.
"It's always fun going against elite players, and obviously right now he's at the top of our game," Matthews said. "You've got to be ready to face a guy like him. He's always on."
McDavid is attempting to become the first player to reach 160 points in a season since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux (161; 69 goals, 92 assists) in 1995-96. It's the type of statistical season the NHL hasn't seen in almost three decades and makes him the frontrunner to win his third Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player (2017, 2021).
On Friday, McDavid had called this game special, and rightly so. This was the first time he played an NHL game in Toronto in a full arena on a Saturday night with a national television audience on "Hockey Night in Canada." He played here on a Saturday night on March 27, 2021, but large gatherings were not permitted in the city because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The kid who grew up a 30-minute drive north of Toronto in Newmarket, Ontario, has always considered a visit here to be a hometown game. He remembers going to his first Maple Leafs game with his dad. On the ride to the rink, he predicted Toronto would defeat the New York Rangers 4-1. The final score: Maple Leafs 4, Rangers 1.
On this night, the Maple Leafs won again, this time at his expense. With a swarm of family and friends waiting for him after the game, he posed for photos and signed autographs. Through it all, his disappointment was evident. He'd wanted to win this one badly.
"He can't do it by himself," Coffey said. "No one can. Not in this sport."
A lesson that was on full display Saturday.

CUJO AND CONNOR

McDavid's visit to Toronto this weekend brought up memories for former Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph, who predicted two decades ago that the kid from Newmarket would be special.
"I could tell when he was 6 that he would play in the NHL one day," Joseph said in a phone interview from Arizona on Friday.
"Did I know he'd turn out to be the best player on the planet? Ha! I wouldn't go that far by any means. But you could tell he'd be in the League one day."
Joseph would know.
When McDavid was growing up, he became friends with Tristan Joseph, Curtis' son. The boys started out playing lacrosse together and one year later were linemates on a team representing York-Simcoe.
Every now and then, Joseph would invite the kids to come play in what they called "The Barn." Instead of housing cows or chickens, this farm building on Curtis' sprawling ranch in nearby King City contained a custom-made ice rink.
Kids from the region such as Sam Bennett, now a forward with the Florida Panthers, and Travis Dermott, now a Vancouver Canucks defenseman, played in The Barn. But for Joseph, McDavid was at a level above them all.
Why did he think that way? And how did he know McDavid would make the pros one day?
"His creativity," Joseph said. "It was off the charts, even back then.
"When they were 6 years old, before they were even at the novice level, they were so good as players -- Connor, Travis, Sam and a bunch of others -- they could have already been playing AAA novice. That's how good they were. We started a program in my barn called The Super Sixes, and they played the best kids from the greater Toronto area, and I'm sure we were better.
"I would stand at the glass with Connor's dad, Brian, and every year it would become more apparent that he was going to play in the NHL. I know that's hard to say with all the things that could put a career off track. But you could see it.
"I would look over at Brian and say, 'Every time your son touches the puck, I'm on the edge of my seat.'"
Keep this in mind for some perspective here:
Curtis Joseph was one of the best goalies in the NHL at the time.
Connor McDavid was a 6-year-old boy.
And even then, Joseph just knew.
Twenty years later, he predicts McDavid is en route to being one of the greatest of all time.
"On the trajectory he's on right now, he's on track to one day be on hockey's Mount Rushmore with Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and some of the other all-time greats," Joseph said.
He is well aware of the elite skills Gretzky and Lemieux possessed. After all, he played against each of them during a 19-season NHL career in which he went 454-352-6 with 90 ties, a 2.79 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage with the Blues, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames and Phoenix Coyotes from 1989-2009.
"Here's the thing when you are talking about greatness," Joseph said. "They all have attributes that made them great. 'Gretz' was different from Mario, and Connor's different from both of them.
"The common theme is creativity. They each were special at it in their own unique ways."
That being the case, here's a hypothetical scenario presented to Joseph: In his prime, what kind of game plan would he have against McDavid?
"In past years, play the pass," he said. "This year? Play the shot. He's got 50-plus goals and isn't slowing down.
"Put two guys on McDavid and two more on Draisaitl," he added with a chuckle. "We'll take our chances with the rest.
"The thing about Connor, he's always been humble and still is. You'd see him sometimes sitting there, in a hoodie, watching his buddies' junior games, so unassuming.
"He doesn't care about personal stats, he just cares about winning."
In the end, he has just one regret regarding his relationship with McDavid.
"I sold the farm a long time ago," Joseph said. "I wish I still had it so I could have sold The Barn to Connor.
"Then the story would have come full circle, wouldn't it?"

FROM TEARS TO CHEERS

Gracie Meyers fought back the tears.
Here she was, about to step onto the ice at Prudential Center, home of the New Jersey Devils, for one of the biggest games of her life Monday. The 17-year-old is the goalie for Morristown Beard and was about to play in the New Jersey girls high school hockey championship game against Pingry.
Then her skate blade "exploded," according to her coach, former NHL defenseman Bruce Driver. It came right off the boot.
"It was devastating, I have to admit," Gracie said from New Jersey on Friday. "I'm going to [Trinity College] next year. This was my last high school game, maybe my last game period, ever. You don't know.
"It was very emotional. It was scary."
Fortunately, members of the Devils and Maple Leafs support staffs were there to help.
Driver, who played 922 games across 15 NHL seasons with New Jersey and the New York Rangers from 1984-1998, reached out to a friend with the Devils. Soon, Maple Leafs head equipment manager Bobby Hastings, assistant equipment managers Chris McKeage and Tom Blatchford, strength coach Louis Rojas and Devils assistant equipment manager Brent Overkamp came to the rescue.
The Maple Leafs had just finished practicing on the Devils practice rink in preparation for their game the next day against New Jersey. The equipment staffers found a way to get Gracie's blade back in. And when it came out again, they found a way to make it work permanently.

After freshman goalie Hannah Mortazavi stopped all nine shots she faced in the first period, Gracie took over in the second and made 15 saves, helping Morristown Beard to its third consecutive state title with a 2-1 victory.
"In a couple of hours, you go from being really upset to on top of the world," said Gracie. "I'm very grateful."
She showed her gratitude the next night when the Devils hosted the Maple Leafs. Gracie presented the equipment staffers who'd helped her with thank you cards and certificates for Tim Hortons and Dunkin'.
"I'll never forget what they did for me and how they helped," said Gracie, who was a huge fan of Mitchell Marner and the Maple Leafs even before Monday. "It's a lesson that you should always try to help people when you can."
Driver couldn't agree more, and reached out to his former Devils teammate, Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, to express his thanks.
"Those equipment guys helped a girl's dream come true," Driver said Friday. "What more can be said?"
What indeed.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"We made a commitment to youth where we feel we can put talented athletes into moments where they gain experience, not bogging them down by bringing in older players. They may help you a notch here and there, but they're not going to be here long term and they'll take away the opportunity for young talent to gain experience in pressure situations. These young guys have done a great job of getting us into pressure situations. We can't take them out of them because they're young. They need to go through it. The sooner the better."
-- Couldn't agree more with these comments from Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato on why the team didn't bring in a cache of veteran rent-a-players at the trade deadline. Yes, consecutive losses to the Oilers, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars and Rangers last week showed there still is a learning curve going on with Buffalo. But players like Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson are both the present and the long-term future of the Sabres, and such recent adversity should pay dividends in the long run. History shows going the quick-fix route has not worked for Buffalo, which hasn't qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2011, the longest playoff drought in the NHL (11 seasons).

THE SUNDAY LIST

With five weeks to go in the NHL regular season, The Sunday List will take a weekly look at some of the most intriguing and influential matchups in the upcoming seven days. Here's this week's version:
-- Monday, Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs, Scotiabank Arena: The Sabres are hockey's version of Jekyll and Hyde. In the past month they've defeated the Anaheim Ducks 7-3 and Washington Capitals 7-4 … and lost 7-2 to the Flames, 6-3 to the Maple Leafs and 10-4 to the Stars on Thursday. They have become the masters of one-sided scores, good and bad. In their pursuit of a wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, they'd better be more consistent down the stretch, starting with seeking revenge for the three-goal loss to Toronto on Feb. 21.
-- Tuesday, Washington Capitals at New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden:The Rangers are playing for playoff seeding. The Capitals are playing for a playoff spot. With Patrick Kane scoring his first goal as a member of the Rangers on Thursday, New York would like nothing better than to help spoil the wild card aspirations of longtime rival Alex Ovechkin and Washington.
-- Saturday, Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden: Not only will this be the second of consecutive between these teams in the same arena, they also play today in Pittsburgh, meaning they will face off against each other three times in the span of seven days. The Penguins' postseason hopes very well could change either for the best or the worst, depending on how they fare this week against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season.
-- Sunday, New Jersey Devils at Tampa Bay Lightning, Amalie Arena: A potential preview of the Eastern Conference Final between the young up-and-comers and three-time defending conference champions? We'll see.