MILAN \u2014 It probably wasn\u2019t by design, but Connor McDavid was first on the ice for practice Thursday.<\/p>\n
No. 97 is already leading this team on the ice with arguably the best hockey he\u2019s ever played in his career, 11 points (2-9) leading the Olympic tournament.<\/p>\n
But suddenly, in the aftermath of Sidney Crosby\u2019s injury, he\u2019s leading Team Canada in other ways.<\/p>\n
While head coach Jon Cooper wasn\u2019t ready to go there Thursday, refusing to rule Crosby out of the tournament, international rules stipulate someone has to wear the captain\u2019s \u2018C\u2019 on his sweater. And that someone will undoubtedly be McDavid in Friday\u2019s semifinal if No. 87 is indeed out as expected.<\/p>\n
What has McDavid learned from Crosby\u2019s style of leadership?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question,\u201d the Edmonton Oilers captain said Thursday after practice. \u201cI think Sid is just himself, and it doesn\u2019t need to be anything more or less. I think everybody\u2019s different in their own way. Obviously, everybody goes about things differently. That being said, Sid\u2019s an unbelievable leader, and everybody here watches him and is trying to learn off him.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is true, however, even before Crosby\u2019s injury, is that the torch had started to be passed over gradually to McDavid. Perhaps that began the moment McDavid scored the championship-winning goal at 4 Nations.<\/p>\n
In McDavid\u2019s second best-on-best event in 12 months, he has organically expanded, at his own pace, into a bigger leadership role on Team Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve watched it grow,\u201d Cooper said of McDavid\u2019s form of leadership. \u201cYou know, you get to that 4 Nations tournament, and I think everybody was looking to Sid in that tournament. Guys like (Drew) Doughty and (Brad) Marchand, the guys that have been there for a number of years were the more vocal guys who stepped up. But I\u2019m seeing much more out of the group now, especially Connor. I think he\u2019s much more \u2014 not that he wasn\u2019t comfortable, but I think there was a lot of uncertainty, especially because we hadn\u2019t seen best on best and this group hadn\u2019t been together for so long. In this tournament, he\u2019s been fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that was true even before Crosby\u2019s injury. Now that becomes paramount in a do-or-die semifinal game with a very tough Finland team on Friday.<\/p>\n
I asked McDavid about his comfort level taking on a bigger leadership role on the bench and in the dressing room, while keeping in mind that there are a lot of leaders on Team Canada to rally around, not just him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got lots of guys that lead,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of this team. Everybody in that room is a leader in their room. That won\u2019t be an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the thing is, even if Crosby is sidelined, that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s not around the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s Sidney Crosby. He\u2019s gonna have a big influence, no matter what,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cIn the lineup, not in the lineup, he\u2019s gonna have a big influence. That\u2019s what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
The void, though, is hard to put into words. Hearing these NHL stars on Team Canada marvel at Crosby\u2019s influence over the past two weeks speaks to how unique his aura has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know what words to use,\u201d said Doughty, the only other player to skate alongside Crosby in two previous Olympics. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s the guy that showed all the young guys, young players growing up, what it means to be Canadian, what it means to be a Canadian hockey player \u2026 So that just shows you how special it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Bennett\u2019s front-row seat to Crosby last year at 4 Nations and now at the Olympics has left him impacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s the most beneficial for me as a player, and I think even as a person, just watching him, how he goes about his day-to-day, how he treats everyone,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cHow he leads by example. Really, everything that he does, I just wanna do the same things. I think he does everything right. And there\u2019s a reason why he is who he is, and why he\u2019s had so much success over his whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having said that, if there\u2019s anyone who can step into those legendary leadership skates, it\u2019s indeed McDavid. His play is already doing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say enough good things about him,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cNever played against a player like him in my entire career. And, you know, great guy off the ice, fun to hang around, and then when it\u2019s game time, he\u2019s dialed in and ready to go. And he puts that jersey on and he\u2019s the best player on the ice every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett, last year\u2019s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as NHL playoff MVP, has gone head-to-head with McDavid in two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, the Florida Panthers coming out on top both times. But what Bennett is seeing now as a teammate of McDavid\u2019s on this Olympic stage, well, it\u2019s a whole other thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to watch. You can see how important this is to him, how much he wants it. He\u2019s given everything he\u2019s got \u2014 playing physical, doing everything he does. He\u2019s on another level right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDavid will need to stay on that special orbit for Team Canada to win two more games here. The potential absence of Crosby will put even more on McDavid\u2019s plate.<\/p>\n
No. 97 has already formed a special chemistry with 19-year-old wonderkid Macklin Celebrini. When Team Canada decides to sprinkle in some Nathan MacKinnon on that unit, it\u2019s something to behold.<\/p>\n
MacKinnon and Celebrini both scored in Wednesday\u2019s quarterfinal game. It\u2019s not all on McDavid\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t kid yourself, if Crosby isn\u2019t in uniform Friday, every single player in that dressing room will take their cue from the best player in the world.<\/p>\n
And I think he\u2019s ready for that new level of Team Canada responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 It probably wasn\u2019t by design, but Connor McDavid was first on the ice for practice Thursday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[146,5,54125,4,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-463594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-edmonton-oilers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116098373652925872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463594","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=463594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}