Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey centre and captain for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

After being named Player of the Year for the 2011–12 season of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, recording 79 goals and 130 assists, Hockey Canada, the governing body for amateur hockey in Canada, granted McDavid "Exceptional Player" status, which permitted McDavid to play in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) a year earlier than would otherwise be permissible for a player his age. He was only the third player to receive that status, after John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad.

McDavid began playing for the Erie Otters in the 2012-13 season after being picked first overall by the team in 2012 OHL Priority Selection draft. McDavid was named the top North American prospect by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, where he was ultimately selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.

Minor
McDavid played minor hockey with the York-Simcoe Express of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) before moving to the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), where he played bantam and minor midget hockey. In 2011–12 he recorded 79 goals and 130 assists for 209 points in 88 games at the minor midget level, and was named the GTHL Player of the Year.

Junior
Because of his high level of play, McDavid was granted Exceptional Player status by Hockey Canada and was allowed to be entered in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection at age 15, a year earlier than he would have otherwise been eligible. He was the third player given that status; John Tavares was granted it in 2005, followed by Aaron Ekblad in 2011.

McDavid was selected first overall by the Erie Otters at the Priority Selection. As the first overall selection, McDavid was awarded the Jack Ferguson Award Throughout his inaugural season, McDavid would play on a line with Connor Brown. Starting in his second game of the season, McDavid recorded a point in fifteen consecutive games, and was named the OHL Rookie of the Month for both October and November. During a game against the Owen Sound Attack on March 9, 2013, McDavid recorded two assists, giving him 37 for the season and setting a new team record for assists by a rookie. He also tied Tim Connolly for most points by a first-year player, with 62. In the team's final game of the season, March 16 against the Guelph Storm, McDavid recorded four assists, giving him 66 total points during the season and passing Connolly for the most points by an Otters rookie. McDavid finished the season with the most assists by an OHL rookie with 41 and second in scoring for first-year players, with 66 points. In recognition of his play, McDavid was awarded the Emms Family Award as the top rookie in the OHL, was a finalist for CHL Rookie of the Year, and was named to the OHL First All-Rookie Team. Dallas Stars's general manager Jim Nill said of McDavid, "Well, he's a franchise player. Somebody is going to draft him and he's going to be the cornerstone of the franchise for 15 years, for 20 years. Those players only come along so often."

Following his 2013-14 season, McDavid won the William Hanley Trophy (the OHL's most sportsmanlike player), the Bobby Smith Trophy (OHL Scholastic Player of the Year), was named the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year, and named to the OHL Second All Star Team.

During training camp for the 2014-15 season, McDavid was named the captain of the Erie Otters. McDavid had a strong start to the season before breaking his hand in an on ice fight on November 11, 2014. At the time, McDavid was leading the OHL in points, having scored 16 goals and 35 assists in 18 games. McDavid missed six weeks of play as a result of his injury, returning to the ice to play for Canada at the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championships. He rejoined the Otters on January 8, 2015, scoring a goal in a 4–3 loss against the Sarnia Sting. In the 47 games that McDavid played with the Otters during the 2014-15 regular season, he registered 44 goals and 76 assists, finishing third in OHL scoring. McDavid had a dominating performance during the OHL playoffs, scoring 21 goals and 28 assists and leading all players with 49 points (in comparison, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds player, Nick Ritchie, was second in playoff scoring with 26 points). He was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP despite the fact that the Erie Otters were eliminated in 5 games in the OHL Championship by the Oshawa Generals. New York Islanders captain, and former Oshawa General, John Tavares, was in attendance during Game 3 of the 2015 finals and said of McDavid: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with that kind of acceleration — you think he’s at top gear and there just always seems to be another level.

Following the 2014–15 season, McDavid was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy for the OHL Player of the Year and was named CHL Player of the Year. He is the most decorated player in OHL history.

Professional
McDavid was drafted first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers. On July 3, 2015, McDavid signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team. He made his NHL debut on October 9, 2015, in a 3–1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. McDavid scored his first goal (and point) four nights later against goaltender Kari Lehtonen, in a 4–2 loss to the Dallas Stars. On November 3, 2015, he broke his clavicle during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers and missed 37 games. He returned to the line-up on February 2, 2016, scoring a goal and gaining two assists. In his first game against his boyhood team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, McDavid had his first five-point night, recording a point on every goal in a 5–2 victory, including three assists (on three Jordan Eberle goals) and two goals. He finished 3rd in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year despite participating in only 45 games in his rookie season.

On October 5, 2016, McDavid was named captain of the Oilers, making him the youngest captain in NHL history. At 19 years and 266 days, McDavid was 20 days younger than Gabriel Landeskog when he was named captain of the Colorado Avalanche.

On November 19, 2016, in a game against the Dallas Stars McDavid recorded his first career hat-trick in a 5–2 win ending a 10-game goal drought. On January 18, McDavid recorded his 100th career point with an assist against the Florida Panthers, doing so in 92 games and becoming the fourth fastest active player to reach 100 points.

International play
McDavid first played in an IIHF tournament in 2013 when he joined the Canadian under-18 team at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championship in Sochi, Russia. The youngest player on the Canadian team, McDavid played his first game against Slovakia on April 18, where he recorded one goal and two assists. After recording a hat trick against Sweden, McDavid was named the best Canadian player of the game. He led the tournament in goals and points while helping Canada win a gold medal for only the third time since the tournament's inception in 1999, defeating the four-time defending champion, the United States, in the final. Jim Nill, then chief scout for the Detroit Red Wings, said of his performance that, "I guess you could say he is kind of The Next One. Every so many years [a player arrives like] Gretzky, Lemieux. I think he is making a statement. Is he [the next] Crosby? I think he is the next guy."

McDavid played for Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship where the team finished fourth. He also represented Canada in the 2015 World Junior Championships in Toronto and Montreal where they won gold on January 5, 2015. He served as one of the two alternate captains for the team. In the 7 games McDavid played at the tournament he scored 3 goals and a tournament-leading 8 assists. He was named to the tournament all-star team.

He won gold playing for Canada at the 2016 World Championship.

In the 2016 World Cup of Hockey he was captain of Team North America, composed of players age 23-and-under from Canada and the United States.

Personal life
McDavid was born in 1997 in Richmond Hill, Ontario to Brian and Kelly McDavid. He has an older brother named Cameron. McDavid first skated at age 3, and was playing hockey the next year; as he had to be 5 years old, his parents lied about his age. When McDavid was 6, the hockey association in his hometown of Newmarket would not let him play above his age group. Instead of having him play in the lower level, McDavid's parents enrolled him with a team in nearby Aurora, where he played against players as old as 9. McDavid would later join the York-Simcoe Express, a team in Aurora, Ontario, where he was coached by his father, Brian; the team would win four Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships.

The decision to leave the York Simcoe Express in 2011 to join the Toronto Marlboros, according to McDavid, came at a personal cost, with both he and his parents losing friends over the decision.

McDavid considered attending Boston University and playing hockey for their team, the Terriers, but decided it would be best for his development to play in the OHL.

Being from Southern Ontario, McDavid followed various sporting teams in the area. His favourite team growing up was the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he also followed the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays. In addition to the Maple Leafs, McDavid was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins due to the presence of his favourite player, Sidney Crosby. McDavid says his most comparable NHL player is Toronto Maple Leafs centre Tyler Bozak due to his good skating and "pass first" mentality