Insider Critical of McDavid’s Play and Postgame Comments After Lightning Loss

Connor McDavid isn’t one to make headlines with what he says to the media, but as frustrations boil over in Edmonton, it’s become harder for him to hold back from sharing his honest opinion.

---

That shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing—most of the time, the hockey world is clamoring for more honesty and personality in interviews. However, insider Frank Seravalli didn’t love the comments McDavid made about Jon Cooper, the Lightning, and his coach, Kris Knoblauch, after another tough loss on Saturday night, especially given the way he played.

Seravalli said:

“That’s not what I want to hear coming out of my leader’s mouth after a game. I don’t want to hear him pouring some gasoline on this fire of a season where we’ve really struggled. I don’t want to hear him gushing about another team’s coach.

If we’re all having a truly honest, intellectual conversation, the truth is that under Jon Cooper, Connor McDavid fell short with Team Canada just a few weeks ago in Milan. And how great that experience was—you still lost.

And if we really want to talk about McDavid and some potential criticism here, it should be stated, I think, that part of the reason Canada lost was his choice selection and his interest in trying to win three-on-three on his own in that gold medal game, which we saw shades of in this game against the Tampa Bay Lightning the other night—trying to do too much himself. And part of that trickles through the rest of the Edmonton Oilers ecosystem,”

The 29-year-old McDavid scored one goal and was a -3 rating in the 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay. He was also, of course, held off the scoresheet in the gold medal game against Team USA that Seravalli referenced.

McDavid cleared things up when speaking to the media on Monday, reassuring that nothing he said was intended as a shot at Knoblauch or the Oilers.

He surely isn’t thrilled that the story has blown up the way it has, but all he and the team can do is block out the noise and use it as fuel to finish the regular season strong.

Thankfully for Edmonton, all of the teams behind them in the Pacific Division are struggling themselves, though they still have games in hand. The Oilers can’t afford to keep stumbling along and leaving points on the table—because if they do, they’ll likely find themselves fighting just to make the playoffs altogether.

Next: Connor McDavid Backtracks on Knoblauch Comments That Sparked Reaction