BLOG: McDavid pitches for Leon to join him in San Jose

Connor McDavid was asked after practice on Friday about the possibility of playing with Leon Draisaitl at the 2019 NHL All-Star Game.
"It would be very special to be able to go with Leon, a guy that's a good friend of mine, great teammate and a guy that deserves to go. I think that's the main thing. He's someone that's had a really good year. His numbers are there, his play's there. I think he deserves to go and should be voted in."
Draisaitl is one of the players up for the "Last Men In" voting initiative. Until January 10, fans can vote Draisaitl in on Team Pacific as Edmonton's representative.
"I think that would be fun. It's fun hockey and we're pretty good at (three-on-three) so it would be great to showcase it at the All-Star," McDavid continued, adding that Draisaitl having to take the extra step to become a participant despite being eight in the League in scoring isn't all that unusual given how other players in similar positions also didn't make it (one example being Toronto's Mitch Marner, ranked fifth and scoring and not even in the Last Men In vote).
"There's a bunch of guys like that this year, that's just how the league works out. He's a guy that deserves to be there and I hope the fans vote him in."
As for the argument that Draisaitl plays with McDavid so could potentially not be as worthy as some others, McDavid laughed at that notion.
"If you want to put it that way we could go down the list of guys that play with good linemates. I'm lucky to play with Leon."