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Canadian hockey icon Don Cherry stood up for Connor McDavid’s decision not to go out on the ice to accept the Conn Smythe Award after McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers lost in Game 7 to the Florida Panthers.
Cherry recalled how when Connor McDavid was a minor hockey player his team in the Greater Toronto Hockey League lost to Robby Fabbri’s Mississauga Rebels in the playoff finals, McDavid had also won playoff MVP. “There was a picture taken (of him receiving the award), and no way he wanted to be there.”
Cherry said the voters got it right in picking McDavid for MVP.
Cherry had said previous to Game 7 that his heart was with Edmonton but his head was with Florida to win. He nailed it.
“I thought it was a good game, nothing spectacular. I thought Florida reverted to where they were the first three games. They started to hit.”
What does Edmonton need to keep on winning, he was asked.
“I think they need to get a couple of tough defenceman,” Cherry said. “Florida had a couple of tough big defencemen. Everybody, everybody is looking for a tough, big defenceman.”
My take
1. The story, reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and others, is that McDavid had intended to pick up the trophy, but when he got to his Oilers dressing room and saw the general down mood, he felt he could not leave his teammates in that moment. Essentially, he put his responsibility to the team ahead of his responsibility to the NHL.
McDavid got it exactly right. Family before country. Team before league.
