Edmonton Oilers: Expect Connor McDavid to play angry in 2020-21

Connor McDavid is coming for the National Hockey League in 2020-21.

Setbacks tend to spark the greatest comebacks and, after fluffing their lines this past season, expect Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to play angry in 2020-21.

McDavid is the most talented player to wear an Oilers jersey since Wayne Gretzky but, so far anyway, McDavid has yet to taste the same level of team success that The Great One did in Edmonton.

Granted, it is still early days but, for all of McDavid’s individual brilliance, he hasn’t come close to getting his hands on the greatest prize in all of sports.

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That isn’t an indictment on the 23-year-old who has come better as advertised, putting up a staggering 469 points (162 G, 307 A) in 351 career regular season games, but rather on the franchise who have failed to surround their prized asset with enough weapons to win.

Granted, the tide did start to turn in 2019-20 following the appointment of renowned team builder Ken Holland as General Manager, while the highly regarded Dave Tippett is the right Head Coach for this team.

Under the guidance of that experienced duo, the Oilers made notable progress last year and it also helped that Leon Draisaitl continued to establish himself as a star in his own right, leading the entire NHL in points with a career-high 110 (43 G, 67 A) in just 71 regular season games.

However, just when all seemed sunny and right in Edmonton, the Oilers were exposed by the Chicago Blackhawks in more ways than one and were eliminated in the best-of-five Play-In series three games to one.

It was a sobering reminder that the Oilers are a still a considerable amount of pieces away from being a true contender, despite boasting one of the best players in the modern era in McDavid and a true superstar on the rise in Draisaitl.

The fact that McDavid has only played in a grand total of 17 postseason games in five years must be setting off alarm bells in Edmonton, with the organization not wanting to waste the career of a generational talent.

That’s why they hired Holland who orchestrated a dynasty in Detroit with the Red Wings, and that’s why Holland set about retooling this Oilers roster during the offseason, making impressive signings in Free Agency in offensive defenseman Tyson Barrie and center Kyle Turris.

Granted, they failed to address goaltending which has been a major bugaboo, but Edmonton should be a better team in 2020-21 with the moves they made over the summer and the fact that they have a fresh wave of young talent starting to establish themselves in the NHL.

However, the real X-Factor for the Oilers will be the play of McDavid, who will no doubt be playing with a real fire in his belly this coming season after being denied a chance to make a deep postseason run yet again.

While still only 23, he’s been in the league for five years now and, as we all know, athletes’ careers don’t last forever.

Therefore, McDavid will be desperate to make up for lost time by ensuring that the Oilers are competitive in 2020-21 and are primed to take a real run at it in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Being in an all-Canadian Division might help but, as he has shown countless occasions before, McDavid boasts the skill set and the mentality needed to throw this team on his shoulders and drag them over the finishing line if he needs to.

With Draisaitl also outshining him somewhat recently, it wouldn’t surprise me if McDavid puts up absolutely monster video game numbers in 2020-21 because, let’s face it, when he’s in the mood there is not a player in the world who can stop him.

Recording 97 points (34 G, 63 A) in 64 regular season games last year, don’t be surprised if McDavid gets back to triple digits for the fourth time in his career and maybe even sets a new career-high in points.

After all, the time for messing about is now over and Connor McDavid will be playing angry in 2020-21 as he attempts to discover the team success that has been so severely evaded him so far.

That is incredibly good news for the Edmonton Oilers who need to start winning and fast in order to appease their face of the franchise, but it is absolutely terrifying news for the rest of the NHL who struggle to contain the superstar as it is.

Watch out because 2020-21 may well just be the year we remember as the season Connor McDavid really came of age and took things to a whole new level.