So far in the IIHF World Championship, Connor McDavid is leading his team in points with six assists. Can he maintain that type of production moving forward?
Ever since Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid was named Captain of Team Canada a few weeks ago; pressure has been mounted on his shoulders. The last time that Team Canada won gold in the IIHF World Championship tournament was in McDavid’s rookie season in the NHL.
With Team Canada, not faring well last year, all eyes have lasered in on this young superstar and how he would lead this team to a gold medal. It isn’t like he’s on a solo act and single-handedly carrying this team on his back as he does with the Edmonton Oilers, he has a lot of talented help that can pull their weight on the squad.
It has shown in the three games that Team Canada has played in that they are one of the highest scoring teams in the tournament. Guys like Tyson Jost, Ryan O’Reilly, and Edmonton’s very own Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have been leading the team in scoring with three apiece.
Including those three guys, 12 players have at least scored a goal in these first three games so far in the World Championship. That kind of firepower and depth will only help them in the long run against the current powerhouses in the tournament, especially the team they lost to last Friday: Team USA.
The Captain
That’s why it’s fascinating to see Connor McDavid taking a backseat in the scoring department so far. He’s only registered one goal in the tournament but has racked up six assists and is tied with Mathew Barzal in leading the team in that category.
McDavid is probably taking a cue on how his NHL season was a disaster by having him being the focal point of the offense, so he took on a different role instead. It’s brilliant on his part since his team is taking on sub-par competition in the preliminary rounds of the tournament.
If Connor McDavid can keep this up and play the role of playmaker for his team, they’ll be tough to beat moving forward. It just depends if it will work against teams like Sweden, Russia or the United States; especially if they get on the scoreboard early and Canada has a hard time mustering goals.
Maybe McDavid might be forced to carry the scoring burden but let’s pray that doesn’t happen.