{"id":442480,"date":"2026-02-03T02:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442480\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T02:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:27:15","slug":"i-just-want-to-be-in-edmonton-playing-hockey-mcdavid-pens-love-letter-to-edmonton-oilers-and-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442480\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I just want to be in Edmonton, playing hockey’: McDavid pens love letter to Edmonton, Oilers and winning"},"content":{"rendered":"

This in from Connor McDavid<\/a>, an inner look at his rocket-fuelled internal combustion engine to win for himself, his teammates, for Edmonton in the Stanley Cup playoffs and for Canada in the coming 2026 Olympics.<\/p>\n

In the Players Tribute,<\/a> McDavid writes, \u201cAll I want to do is win. It\u2019s all we think about in our room. It\u2019s all we talk about in the offseason. It\u2019s why I get up every morning. It\u2019s why I\u2019ve stayed in Edmonton for more than a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

And: \u201cI want to be remembered as a winner. But not just anywhere. Here. To be in this city during a Cup run, to feel that buzz \u2026 it just wouldn\u2019t be the same somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, in regards to losing in the Stanley Cup Final, \u201cI think there\u2019s this narrative that we\u2019re this unlucky, troubled team. The end result hasn\u2019t been there, but it\u2019s not easy getting to two straight Cup Finals. We really pride ourselves on being good playoff performers, and our room knows what we\u2019re capable of. I believe in this group. If I didn\u2019t, I wouldn\u2019t have signed my extension\u2026. I wish more than anything those finals went another way. It sucks. There\u2019s no other way to put it. It breaks my heart. But the only option you have is to use it as fuel for the fire, and show up the next day to the rink determined to get better\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to play golf. I don\u2019t want to sit by the pool. I don\u2019t want to be in the Bahamas. I don\u2019t need a break, or a fresh start. I just want to be in Edmonton, playing hockey. I want to get back there again, whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

My take<\/p>\n

1. I\u2019ve always been a huge McDavid fan. But I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever understood him more or liked him better than reading this post. I\u2019ve always understood how blessed we\u2019ve been in Edmonton to have first Wayne Gretzky play here, and now McDavid.<\/p>\n

But this piece really drives it home. Read the full post here.<\/a><\/p>\n

2. It\u2019s gratifying to know as a fan and as an Edmontonian that McDavid wants to win as much as any fan, then times that by one thousand.<\/p>\n

McDavid has been a great blessing to the Oilers franchise and to this city. We\u2019ve been fortunate enough to witness every moment of his on-ice development as a professional player. It\u2019s been thrilling, even in defeat.<\/p>\n

Imagine how much better it will be when his Oilers finally win the Cup?<\/p>\n

3. There\u2019s been a lot of speculation about why McDavid signed just a two year contract renewal in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

One theory is that he\u2019s put Edmonton Oilers<\/a> management on notice, that he\u2019s telling them with this short deal that if they don\u2019t build a winning team around him in the next two years, he\u2019s out of here.<\/p>\n

Another theory is he refused a massive multi-million per year pay bump \u2014 which he would have got if he demanded it \u2014 because he\u2019s well aware of the Oil\u2019s cap issues in the next few seasons and he wants to make sure that Edmonton has as much cap space as possible to compete in those seasons.<\/p>\n

Maybe there\u2019s some truth to both notions, but having read what McDavid just said, I\u2019m putting more weight now in that second idea, that he\u2019s willing to do anything to win, even taking many millions in pay less than he could command.<\/p>\n

4. I\u2019ve heard some fans and commentators already say that this year should be considered a write-off for the Oilers. I could not disagree more. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are in their prime. And hanging in there are older players like Mattias Ekholm, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.<\/p>\n

As a team the Oilers have played as well since late November as at any time during the regular season in their last two Cup runs, though the defence could still use some major tightening up.<\/p>\n

The time to win is now.<\/p>\n

We can be sure that McDavid and the players are all-in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve no doubt that Kris Knoblauch and the coaches are all-in.<\/p>\n

And you won\u2019t hear a peep of complaint from me when GM Stan Bowman goes all-in at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

5. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever been prouder of Connor McDavid<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Great player.<\/p>\n

Great captain.<\/p>\n

Great Oiler. <\/p>\n

Great Edmontonian.<\/p>\n

Great Canadian.<\/p>\n

At the Cult of Hockey<\/p>\n

\u2018One of the greatest teammates\u2019: Where will Calvin Pickard end up now that he\u2019s cleared waivers?<\/a><\/p>\n

STAPLES: A disgrace in hockey assessment that Evan Bouchard was left off Team Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018please nobody claim him please!\u2019: Hockey world reacts to Oilers waiving fan fave Pickard<\/a><\/p>\n

LEAVINS: The Edmonton Oilers may be missing some of the requisite rocket fuel needed to start on time: 9 Things<\/a><\/p>\n

Player Grades: Edmonton Oilers fail pressure test, losing 7-3 to Minnesota Wild<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This in from Connor McDavid, an inner look at his rocket-fuelled internal combustion engine to win for himself,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[230,155,198,146,5300,5,370,868,4,24,15,104,1585],"class_list":{"0":"post-442480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","9":"tag-connor-mcdavid","10":"tag-edmonton","11":"tag-edmonton-oilers","12":"tag-edmontonoilers","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-leon-draisaitl","15":"tag-mattias-ekholm","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-oilers","18":"tag-ryan-nugent-hopkins","19":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","20":"tag-zach-hyman"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116004339340864645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}