As the Oilers superstar begins his seventh NHL season, he is looking for his voice as a leader. After surpassing himself with 105 points in 56 games last season, only the playoffs remain to be conquered.

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Connor McDavid is not too convinced of this comparison.

This phenomenon has been placed under the microscope since childhood. Young professionals who easily and elegantly challenge already oversized predictions. A generation of geniuses entered a smaller market for his sport.

"I think if you compare LeBron James with me, I think we are obviously a bit different," said the 24-year-old McDavid, the all-around center of the Edmonton Oilers. "He won countless championship titles and reached the finals for many years, and I have never done this. I definitely have a lot to learn. This is where I came from. This is what I think."

McDavid likes to be low-key, which prevents him from spending too much time on this topic. But there are some obvious similarities between McDavid and James. Just like James in the open court, whenever McDavid and the hockey puck meet in space, there will be a sense of excitement of anticipation.

"Once he gets it, you think he will score," Edmonton's veteran goalkeeper Mike Smith said, and it's great to see McDavid stay away from him instead of running towards him as he did early in his career. "The way he creates space for himself, the way he can stay on the edge, and the way he can use ice hockey to generate speed is unmatched by others."

Like James early in his career, McDavid's unique artistry and influence in seeking a breakthrough in the playoffs are unparalleled. It was not until his ninth season that James won the first of his four NBA championships.

McDavid scored a staggering 105 points, 33 goals and 72 assists in 56 games intercepted by the pandemic last season, only allowing the Winnipeg Jets to quickly sweep Egypt in the first round of the playoffs. Demonton was eliminated from the playoffs.

If he maintains 1.88 points per game in the traditional 82 games from 2021, that will translate into 154 points. This puts McDavid in a scarce field with people like Wayne Gretzky. McDavid Since he took over, it seems to have been a stick used to compare with him when he was a child. McDavid won his second Hart Trophy and became the only player to win the Most Valuable Player award with Gretzky in a consistent manner.

"Every year, you always say,'I don't know how he will take it to another level,'" Edmonton defender Nurse Darnell said. "He can always find another way to do this. Last year was a perfect example."

Edmonton wasted one of his best regular seasons during McDavid's 2021 tenure, ending 35-19-2.

In McDavid's six NHL seasons, the Oilers only won one playoff series, the 2017 first round victory over San Jose. Before winning the series, the team missed the playoffs every year. This was a drought that began after their defeat in the 2006 Stanley Cup final. This is roughly why they won the first overall pick in the 2015 draft. , McDavid scored a place in the first round.

The goal is the same as McDavid’s goal when he came to Edmonton, when he was a fresh-faced teenager, full of franchise hopes: to restore the frustrated Oilers to their prestige in Gretzky’s era. level.

"I think we are no longer young players, but we have always been considered a young team. We are always looking for a common path. We have done this and learned our lessons. I think now is the time Let's put the whole thing together and grow up in a sense," McDavid said.

McDavid will play in Edmonton again with Leon Draisaitl, another former Hart champion. Edmonton’s general manager Ken Holland has joined guards Cody Sisi and Duncan Keith during the busy offseason, as well as forwards Warren Fogler, Zach Hyman and Derek. Ryan.

McDavid is the highest paid player in the NHL and the fourth year of an eight-year contract worth $100 million, but he thinks he is one of the players in Edmonton who needs to improve himself to succeed in the playoffs, even if he The game made him unparalleled to a large extent.

"I am as responsible as the next person. I think my game also needs to change to make us successful, and it still needs to change, so I own it," McDavid said.

McDavid carefully and cautiously emphasized the need to be more outspoken. For example, he recently called the defense of Christopher Tanev of the Calgary Flames "dangerous" and even agreed to conduct relatively rare one-on-one interviews.

"For me, in the media, I have always been relatively quiet, just to make it through," McDavid said. “I’m still just trying to find my place in the game and in the hockey world. As far as entering my seventh year, I’m just beginning to feel comfortable and feel that I can share my views instead of Being told to go somewhere, it’s okay if this happens, but just using my voice and sharing some of my views on things, I feel more comfortable and a little better.”

The nurse who lived with McDavid at the beginning of his NHL career affirmed that McDavid was full of personality behind the scenes.

"Since he became a top hockey player in Canada and the world as a teenager, he has been a lot of attention," the nurse said. "So, he has lived under the spotlight for so long. With this spotlight comes a lot of expectations. What makes him so special is that he can express his views without saying too much."

McDavid is the spokesperson for his movement, and now it may be seen more widely in the United States.

This season, ESPN and Turner Sports will broadcast NHL games nationwide for the first time in 16 years. Edmonton plans to participate in nine national televised games, six of which are in Turner, more than any other team on the Internet. Standard bearer Gretz retired as Edmonton's vice chairman in May and will become Turner's studio analyst.

"We are a bit like a small town team. In a sense, we are not the largest market in the world, but for us to get national TV time, and this is also true in the United States, I think this is exciting for us. . I think we want to be one of the teams that everyone wants to watch," McDavid said.

Gretzky had predicted that whether McDavid would raise the Stanley Cup is not a question, but when. McDavid's teammates have completed their predictions of the types of ceilings that exist.

"From an outsider's point of view, you see bright spots every night, but what people don't understand is that what he did is not reflected, what he did on and off the court," Smith said. "Three or four times in a game, you kind of looked at the bench, everyone looked at each other,'Did you see it?'"

Some of McDavid's offseasons have been perfecting the quieter parts of his game, such as faceoffs. He asked nurses to train with him this summer to create motivation for the new season. "His dedication and attention to detail, really, there is no way to hope for the coming year, because you never know what he can bring," the nurse said.

One of the areas McDavid hopes to improve is his defense, which raises a hypothetical question:

How will McDavid stop McDavid?

"I will not answer this question," he replied. "I will not reveal any secrets."

Even a superstar with no upper limit like McDavid has his limitations.