Predication time: The coronation of Connor McDavid is at hand.
The captain of the Edmonton Oilers has very few spaces remaining on his list of hockey accomplishments — and the biggest is winning a Stanley Cup.
Bank on McDavid and his teammates to complete that feat against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final, starting Wednesday.
Yes, the Panthers are the defending champs and have shown they’re just as strong while eliminating, in order, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes en route to their third consecutive trip to the finals.
Yes, the Panthers dispatched the Hurricanes in an easy five games thanks to their deep crop of forwards, a defense corps making a difference at both ends of the ice, and a top-flight, consistent goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky.
Seeing as the Panthers beat the Oilers in last year’s Final before lifting hockey’s Holy Grail, it’s understandable how history could repeat itself.
Except for the McDavid effect that will make the difference this year.
Like the Panthers, the Oilers also boast a deeper and more experienced squad than the one that took Florida to Game 7 last year — forcing the series the distance after dropping the first three games.
The extra motivation of exacting revenge while claiming Edmonton’s first Cup title since 1990 will be the driving force for McDavid. And he’ll happily pull along his squad to the finish line after knocking out the Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars. Frankly, it was done with relative ease after the Oilers lost their first two games. Since then, Edmonton has posted a 12-2 record.
It just feels like the time has come for McDavid, who has delivered everything expected of him since being drafted first overall in 2015. The time has come to put “Stanley Cup champion” on his résumé.
It’s a movie we’ve seen before with all the truly elite players who revolutionized the game — dating back to the likes of Rocket Richard and Gordie Howe, and running through the luminaries of Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby.
With all those superstars, it was never a matter of if they’d have their names etched on the Cup — it was always a matter of when.
Those are players who always had the ability to step up in the biggest moments and deliver. It was only a few months ago McDavid notched the overtime-winning goal for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States. Given the political climate involved, it was more than just a goal — and apropos that McDavid netted it.
How this series reaches its conclusion will be enthralling. The Oilers and Panthers have been the class of the playoffs, and this year’s Final carries the added weight of a built-in rivalry from the 2024 championship series.
But when the final buzzer sounds and “We Are the Champions” starts to blare, it will be Connor McDavid taking his spot among the greats.
