Even the great ones have to serve their time if they do the crime. This week, Connor McDavid is missing three games after he cross-checked Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks in the head during the late stages of the Edmonton Oilers’ 3-2 loss in Vancouver last Saturday.
McDavid’s cross-check was born of frustration, after a prolonged scuffle between the two players as the Oilers pressed for the equalizer with their net empty and an extra attacker on the ice.
“I can’t have that reaction,” McDavid said on Wednesday, when he spoke to reporters after participating in an hour-plus practice with his teammates at Rogers Place ahead of Thursday’s rematch against the Canucks. “Obviously, I know that. Everyone knows that. Not the reaction that I’m proud of, or that anyone wants to see out of me.”
According to the NHL rule book, Garland’s long wrestling match with McDavid could easily be considered holding or even interference, since the puck was nowhere near the two. And while the whistle wouldn’t be blown for a penalty while Edmonton had possession of the puck, neither referee appeared to have his arm in the air at any time to signal a delayed call.
If that had happened, the Oilers could have surrendered possession in order to free McDavid and set up an offensive-zone draw. But in the heat of the moment, with time ticking down, it’s unlikely that would have occurred. Even if the delayed call was made by the referee who was closest to the play, back in the neutral zone, it’s hard to say if anyone would even have noticed.
“I had my head between my legs, so I didn’t see,” McDavid shrugged.
As tempers flared during the subsequent play-stoppage, Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers also cross-checked Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard in the face. In the end, the league elected to punish the pair equally, each with three-game bans.
Both players have been suspended in the past. When Myers was a member of the Buffalo Sabres, he was sidelined in both 2012 and 2014, for three games each time. McDavid was out of action for two games in 2019, after an illegal hit to the head of New York Islanders’ defenseman Nick Leddy.
Leddy did not miss time after that incident. Garland was also uninjured, and bore no ill will.
“I just thought that was maybe the best way for us to win a game, was to do that,” Garland said after Saturday’s game. “Passionate guy. A good dude, and just his passion in a tight game, late in the game. Everybody has fire in their belly, trying to win a hockey game, so that’s the stuff that happens.”
Now, the attention is shifting to the question of whether McDavid, and the Oilers as a team, get the calls that they deserve.
Since McDavid entered the league in 2015, Edmonton has been the NHL’s most dangerous team with the man advantage, averaging a 24.4 percent success rate over 748 games heading into league action on Jan. 22. The Oilers’ peak came in 2022-23, when they were converting on 32.4 percent of their chances. Last year, that number slipped to 26.3 percent and this season, they’re at 23.9 percent — still in the top 10.
What’s interesting is that the number of penalties that the Oilers are drawing has also trended down. In 2022-23, they were averaging 3.94 penalties drawn per 60 minutes of play. Last season, that number slipped to 3.60. This season, it’s all the way down to 3.18 — the lowest of the McDavid era and 27th of the league’s 32 teams this year.
With the Oilers sitting fifth in the NHL standings on Wednesday, they’re clearly one of the toughest opponents in the league. They’re also one of the NHL’s best-skating teams according to NHL Edge data, and are in the 90th percentile in the amount of time spent in the offensive zone and in the 96th percentile in shots on goal.
While the savvy timing of Garland’s bear hug may never have drawn a call under any circumstances, the Oilers may have a legitimate gripe that they receive fewer power-play opportunities than they deserve.
“It feels like we’re attacking a lot,” McDavid said. “We’ve got the puck a lot. We certainly have do that. We attack the net a lot. I think we average, second-most shots a game, so we’re obviously going at the net a lot. You’d think that would result in more penalties drawn, but for whatever reason, it’s not. We’ll just keep plugging away. Nothing we can do about it.”
Since McDavid came into the league, his 344 penalties drawn are the most in the league. But his margin over more agitating players like Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins, Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers and Nazem Kadri of the Calgary Flames is relatively small.
McDavid’s danger level is unquestionable. He’s a five-time scoring champion and three-time Hart Trophy winner, and his personal NHL Edge data this season shows him in the 99th percentile in both speed and offensive zone time per game. Yet his 1.38 penalties drawn per 60 minutes over his career ranks 16th among players with more than 400 games played since the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
McDavid peaked at 1.80 penalties drawn per 60 in his sophomore year, the 2016-17 season. And even last year, he was above his career average at 1.52. But this season, the number has dropped off a cliff. Even though he seems to be as dangerous as ever, he’s drawing just 0.89 penalties per 60 this year. That, by far, is the lowest number of his career, and ranks him 229th in the league — and fifth on his own team.
So while the outcry over the severity of McDavid’s suspension may seem excessive to hockey fans outside Oil Country, the numbers suggest that the faithful do have a legitimate grievance about the officials’ tendency to look the other way.
Stay tuned to see whether Connor McDavid and the Oilers start drawing more power plays when he returns after his suspension against the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 27.
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