Continue the McDavid conversation here. I will rebuild the shrine when I have some more time after class tonight.
One piece of information to start the conversation, McDavid will be starting his series vs Oshawa this friday with a birth to the memorial cup final on the line.
Also look for my Connor McDavid video to release in the coming days!
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Well we did it folks, we won and I still cannot believe it. Somehow the hockey gods have granted us the most valuable asset in all of the NHL, and this smile won't leave my face! Connor McDavid is coming to town! This is your one stop shop for everything you need to know pre-draft! 5 14 6 1 I'll continue to update this OP as more news and content is made available.
Lottery Process
[NHL]810726[/NHL]
Fan Reactions
Videos
Connor McDavid Transitions - 25 Minute Mini Documentary MUST WATCH!
Scouting Reports
The Hockey Writers Scouting Report
Quotes
Photoshop + GIF's
Credit to Del Preston for the GIFs and Blunderbore for the beautiful paint art
One piece of information to start the conversation, McDavid will be starting his series vs Oshawa this friday with a birth to the memorial cup final on the line.
Also look for my Connor McDavid video to release in the coming days!
---
Well we did it folks, we won and I still cannot believe it. Somehow the hockey gods have granted us the most valuable asset in all of the NHL, and this smile won't leave my face! Connor McDavid is coming to town! This is your one stop shop for everything you need to know pre-draft! 5 14 6 1 I'll continue to update this OP as more news and content is made available.
Lottery Process
[NHL]810726[/NHL]
Fan Reactions
Videos
Connor McDavid Transitions - 25 Minute Mini Documentary MUST WATCH!
Scouting Reports
Has a 'next generation' processor and sees the game in a 'parallel universe.' Lightning quick in his head, hands and feet and what the minds directs the feet and hands can do. Exceptional ability to recognize both opportunity and danger at the same time and then exploit the opportunity and avoid the danger. Big time competitor albeit a 'quiet' one but lethal.
Analysis: Craig Button - TSNs Direct of Scouting
An intelligent and highly creative player who makes dynamic plays that will pull you out of your seat…a fluid skater who moves with outstanding speed, agility, solid quickness and an impressive change of pace…he controls the game whenever he touches the ice, and uses his intelligence and vision to put the puck exactly where he wants it…has a very sharp, accurate shot that allows him to pick corners or small openings on the tender even while in full flight…not afraid to work the wall and retrieve pucks himself…has all the tools to become the NHL’s next superstar…just an incredible offensive talent. (August 2014) - Future Considerations
Full analysis:
What to say about McDavid, against junior competition he looks dominant, almost too dominant for his own sake as at times it seems even his own teammates cannot process the game at the same speed and with the same savviness McDavid does.
Has elite speed and stickhandling, extremely fluid on his skates, the stride does not look choppy but instead smooth almost effortless and yet he seems to blow by his opposition with ease. Top notch mobility, changes angles and adjusts speed depending on the play he's going for with ease. Has both dimensions where he will either explode past a checker by utilizing his acceleration, or slow down and use his angling and elite hands to gain time and space to make a play, both with equal proficiency, thus he has the straight-ahead power capability of typical intense-straight line forwards as well as the composure and patience of typical playmaking and cerebral forwards.
This multi-dimensionality should make him hard to defend both passively positionally or aggressively physically. His elite vision will break down passive positional defenses, while playing him aggressively one-on-one can be broken down with his speed and elite stickhandling.
On his skates he has a low centre of gravity that allows him to fight off checks, he doesn't have a huge frame but uses leverage to maintain body position against checking. While that serves his puck protection all over the ice, it comes in especially handy at the boards against bigger players, where he is still able to keep possession of the puck with angling and leverage and then use his vision to make a play off it to his teammate. That low center of gravity, body angling, and leverage is especially important for average sized and below players at the next level as it allows them to keep a semblance of a puck-protection game even against bigger and stronger pro players which in turn doesn't reduce them to a purely up-and-down off-the-rush players.
McDavid likes to change speeds to open up angles, can blow by guys or slow it down to make a play off the space that just opened up, often both on the same shift as he uses the former to gain entry and the latter to set-up in the zone, all the while displaying his elite stickhandling ability that allows for control even at top speeds.
In traffic he is very adept at creating with minimal time, by processing the game quicker than the opposition and combining that with his mobility, low centre of gravity, technical skills, and vision, he easily takes advantage of the play in tight, creating the space and then exploiting it. Is extremely adept at taking advantage of developing "soft spots" both with the puck on his stick where he will either make passes into them or skate the puck into the space himself, or without the puck with his positioning as he reads the space extremely well and positions himself in the "soft spots" as an available option for a pass.
Has that quality where 50-50 pucks tend to end up on his stick more often than not, bouncing pucks, swatting pucks mid-air, getting it out of his or someone else's feet etc. with some players it just seems like they get those bounces and McDavid certainly has that quality to him.
Shifty, has a start-stop and gear change ability that backs off defenses and utilizes his vision and elite technical skills to create off the gained space. The only obvious area that isn't elite for a prospect is his shot, which has room for improvement. Projects as a 1st line center with elite skill level and vision.
Developmental focus: Most obviously his shot from distance, which is just about the only thing that isn't elite. Other than that, just the things that come with maturity - getting to the pro-level fitness of 20 year olds, faceoffs etc.
Projection: Franchise forward, 1st line center, 1st PP unit
The Hockey Writers Scouting Report
Quotes
I mean, any of those 14 teams (in the lottery) it would have been an absolute honor. If I am selected by Edmonton it will be amazing, a dream come true. They have a lot of amazing young players there - Connor McDavid
"It’s always been important to me to not be ‘that guy.’ My Dad told me that when I was going into the OHL. There was all sorts of talk about me skipping out on Erie, going somewhere else, and it was my Dad who told me, ‘You don’t want to be that guy.’ I am grateful to him for that advice because it’s so true, he was so right. The last three years in Erie have been the best three years of my life. I’ve always said I would be happy and honoured to play for any team. I have always felt strongly about that.â€
Jeff Jackson, Connor McDavid's agent "if he's selected, he'd be honoured to play for the Edmonton Oilers." Courtesy TSN 1050
“He’s as good as I’ve seen in the last 30 years, the best player to come into the league in the last 30 years, the best to come along since (Mario) Lemieux and (Sidney) Crosby. He can definitely change a franchise’s fortunes, I think it’ll be a perfect fit for Connor in Edmonton. Not one bit is Edmonton a suffocating place to play. He’ll be treated like an Edmontonian. People will give him his privacy while they’re enamoured by his ability." - Wayne Gretzky
“He’s more than just a franchise player. He’s going to be the captain on that team in a few years. And if he’s not, and somebody else is the captain, they’re going to have phenomenal leadership on that team.
“They said that Edmonton won the lottery. This is an immeasurable lottery. This is more than winning the lottery. I don’t know how you describe winning this. I don’t know if they have words to describe what the Oilers have won here.
“I don’t know how you measure winning this lottery that they won. You put that new building they got coming and now Connor McDavid coming, too? What a combination that’s going to be.†- Sherry Bassin (Erie Otters Owner)
Photoshop + GIF's
Credit to Del Preston for the GIFs and Blunderbore for the beautiful paint art
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