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McDavid Wants a “Best-on-Best” Tournament if No Olympics

Connor McDavid is disappointed the NHL won’t be part of the Olympics and is hoping an alternative best-on-best can be organized.

Add Edmonton Oilers’ superstar Connor McDavid to the list of NHL players extremely disappointed with the NHL’s decision to pull out of participation at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to COVID-19 concerns. He understands the dangers and why the league made the decision it did, but it doesn’t change his thinking that “we do need to find a way to get a best-on-best tournament done at some point here.”

Related: Christmas Wish List: Oilers, Flames, Canucks, Kraken

There’s no time to host a World Cup of Hockey in February because planning an event of that scale takes time, but McDavid would like to see something. He said, “They pushed the Summer Olympics back one year, maybe that happens again this year.” While speaking with Oilers beat reporter Tony Brar, he added, “We can’t go six, seven, eight years without playing best-on-best. I’d like to see something worked out if the Olympics don’t get pushed.”

Because this is now the second straight Winter Games that NHL players will miss and the last time the NHL was part of a World Cup of Hockey was in 2016, — McDavid was captain of Team North America — he thinks another World Cup of Hockey would be a great second option, even if there’s no way to reproduce the feeling and importance of the Olympics for NHL players.

He called the Olympics the biggest stage in sport and said, “The Olympics is a stage that’s on such a global scale and I think everybody wants to play on that stage.”

Needless to say, fans are likely in agreement that if the Olympics aren’t going to happen, something should take its place if it can be organized safely and put the best players from every NHL on the ice together and isn’t called the NHL All-Star game.

Next: Christmas Wish List: Wild, Blackhawks, Coyotes, Blues

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  1. Pingback: Oilers' Mike Smith on Playing vs. Blues on Wednesday: "I'm Available"

  2. Pingback: Oilers’ Mike Smith on Playing vs. Blues on Wednesday: “I’m Available” – Hockey 1 on 1

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