by: Mark Pare
Hockey seasons are winding down and scouts are taking an extra look at the stars of tomorrow.
For NHL teams, the hope is that they’re able to grab a dynamic player that can be a major contributor for many years and possibly lead their franchise to a Stanley Cup.
Although not eligible until the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, there has been talk for a few years about one player who’s developed that reputation for himself, Erie Otters forward Connor McDavid.
But don’t tell him that.
True to his humble nature, the Newmarket native will be the first to say he hasn’t “really done anything” thus far in his hockey career and is still taken a back at how he’s seen in the hockey world.
“It’s my second year in the OHL, a million guys do that,” he told BayToday before a recent game in North Bay, “It’s been crazy how the attention’s gotten crazy but I don’t think I feel I deserve it at all.”
He was the first overall selection in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection after being granted exceptional status as a 15-year old, only the third such player to do so after New York Islanders forward John Tavares in 2005 and Barrie Colts defenseman Aaron Ekblad in 2011.
McDavid was named last year’s OHL Rookie of the Year. He was second (behind Sarnia’s Nikolay Goldobin) in rookie scoring, tallying 25 goals and 66 points in 63 games and was also named onto the OHL First All-Rookie Team, receiving the most votes from OHL General Managers.
“You build championships around players with this special ability,” Otters GM Sherwood Bassin told media in a conference call after McDavid won the Emms Family Award for best rookie.
Although he continues to put up points, McDavid’s key improvement has been his plus/minus. He says his defensive game was something he and his coaches wanted him to work on this season after finishing a minus-24 in 2012-13.
“That (stat is) not good enough at all,” he said, “I think it was important for me to be even stronger in both ends (this year).”
And that he has, ranking among the top 20 in the category and staying within a much more attractive plus-30 range at the tail end of this year.
Some of that can come from the turnaround the Otters have had this year. Erie was in the basement of the Western Conference at the end of last season, missing the playoffs for their second straight year with a 19-40-4-5 record but are in the thick of things this year.
They’ve already eclipsed 45 wins with six more games to go and will be a force in the post-season. A lot of that success can be attributed to a collection of players including McDavid, the OHL’s leader at 111 points Connor Brown, goal scoring leader Dane Fox (who could likely hit 60 by the end of the year) and 30+ goal scoring Swede Andre Burakovsky.
McDavid feels an understanding in his role as a returning player and has passed 80 points on the year, including 61 assists through 50 games.
“Obviously I’m still a younger guy on the team and we have a lot of older players that are very talented,” he said, “Even though I’m a young guy, I still do feel like I’m a little bit of a leader on the team but in terms of on the ice, I don’t think I’m just the assist man. It looks that way on the stat sheet but I try not to be.”
Some of those totals could be even higher if not for his international commitments with Team Canada.
In 2012-13, he won Gold in the U-18 tournament, was a part of Team Ontario at the U-17 Challenge and this past December, McDavid made the trip to Sweden as part of the World U-20 Jr. Hockey Championship.
In Malmo, McDavid also had his first opportunity to play against another highly touted 1996 player in US-born Jack Eichel.
“I saw him at the U-18’s and the U-17’s so I got to know him a little bit,” McDavid said.
“Obviously he’s a great player and he’s got a lot of talent and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next year.”
Eichel has spent the last two seasons in the US National Development Program and is already lined up to play NCAA hockey for Boston University in the fall.
Now just turned 17 on January 13, McDavid will play his third season with the Otters through 2014-15 and while his sophomore year isn’t over yet, looking back, he admits the attention is “pretty special.”
“As a young player growing up, it’s something you dream about to put yourself in this position but the work certainly isn’t over,” he said.
“Still a ton of hard work to finally reach my goal. To play in the NHL.”
Originally published on www.BayToday.ca
