Connor McDavid Wasn’t Himself Against Ducks – Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

There is something about Connor McDavid. In the first three games of the Pacific Division series opener between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, McDavid has not been his fastest and most skilled self. In fact, even before he rolled his ankle in Game 2, he was moving the puck the wrong way, making blind passes and looking like the best player in the world.

McDavid Could Be Someone After All

Every professional athlete has his limitations, no matter how great. I think McDavid may have hit a wall before the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs even begin. The amount of hockey, pressure situations and travel that McDavid has experienced over the past three seasons has been immense.

Two Stanley Cup Finals, the 4-Nations Faceoff and the Winter Olympics have all contributed to McDavid looking like he needs rest, time to reset and retool. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to win, but the pressure he’s been playing in, not to mention travel and injuries, may have caught him off guard this spring.

Ducks Play McDavid Tough

McDavid would be the first to not use injury or fatigue as an excuse for why he and the Oilers struggled against the Ducks. The truth is, the Ducks, including young defenseman Jackson LaCombe, are beating McDavid so far in the series. Give a lot of credit to LaCombe and the talented Ducks program for how well they kept McDavid because he deserves it. The Ducks’ coaching staff, led by head coach Joel Quenneville and assistant coach Jay Woodcroft, also did a masterful job of integrating McDavid and the rest of the Oilers’ top players, for that matter.

Oilers Go as McDavid Goes

Remove McDavid from the Oilers’ roster, and you have a middle-of-the-pack team, even if they still have quality players like Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Evan Bouchard, who also struggled mightily against the Ducks. McDavid, along with Draisaitl, has been responsible for covering up a lot of mistakes over the years which can have an effect when you see both of them looking familiar. Even though Draisaitl recently returned from the long injury list before the playoffs, he, too, did not look like the old Draisaitl in this series against the Ducks.

No Excuses, Just Facing the Truth

The Oilers may decide to mix it up and start playing defensive hockey, tie the series with the Ducks and keep winning. It doesn’t really look like that, though. It may be time to face the reality that McDavid’s Stanley Cup winning window may be over soon. Everyone from Oilers owner Daryl Katz, hockey CEO Jeff Jackson, general manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch should bear responsibility for the team’s shortcomings during the McDavid era.

Rest and Reset May Be What McDavid and Oilers Need to Make One Last Run

If the Oilers continue to lose this series against the Ducks, there may be a small silver lining for the franchise. McDavid, Draisaitl and the team need time to rest and heal not only physically but mentally as well. The Oilers signed McDavid for two more seasons; they will have cap space to play with in the offseason, and maybe management can take some time to adjust things from scoring to injecting more speed into the lineup. However, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s see what happens in Game 4. McDavid may have another miracle or two left in him.